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NEWTOWN - Council Rock North cut down the nets on Tuesday night.
The Indians beat Abington, 60-38, to clinch the Suburban One National Conference championship.
"We came out really hard," Indians senior guard Juliann Fricke said. "We didn't want our game against (Council Rock) South (on Friday) to be a tight game. We wanted to be able to come out and play loose."
North (19-2 overall, 13-0 SOL) can secure a perfect league record with a win on Friday against an improving South team that has won five of its last six games.
"I feel like we're building a lot of momentum going into the South game and the playoffs," senior Kate Logan said. "It would be nice to finish the league undefeated. We have not done that in a long time."
The Abington game was supposed to be a huge test for North. The Indians won the first meeting, but standout Abington center Emily Leer didn't play in that game because of a knee injury. Leer's return was expected to even things out.
North didn't let that happen.
The Indians jumped out to an early 12-4 lead over the first seven minutes. But Abington bounced back with six consecutive points to shrink the deficit to two points, 12-10, about a minute into the second quarter.
Scull hit a three-pointer at the 6:40 mark of the second quarter and that sparked a 14-1 run by the Indians. It was never close again.
North led 28-14 at halftime and 47-21 after three quarters.
"I think we were scared or something," Abington coach Dan Marsh said. "We had won six in a row, but we came out trying to do things as individuals. Everybody was trying to do too much. It was ugly. We didn't look like a cohesive team."
Forward Sarah Kiely scored 24 points to lead the Indians, and Scull added 11 points. Kiely also had 11 rebounds and a pair of blocked shots.
Leer and forward Liz Layton had 10 points apiece for Abington (15-5, 10-3). But Leer scored six of her points in the last five minutes, while Layton scored eight of her points in the final three minutes.
Council Rock's defense smothered the Ghosts for most of three-and-a-half quarters. Abington had totaled only 22 points with five minutes remaining in regulation.
"Our defense was top-notch," Kiely said. "We were playing aggressively. It was senior night. We had to win."
No one, it seems, on either side saw a lopsided game coming.
North coach Lou Palkovics said, "As coaches, you sit around before the game and ask each other, 'What kind of feel do you have?' We all had not such a great feel. With Emily playing, we thought we would have match-up problems."
North should enter the upcoming Class AAAA District One tournament as one of the top four or five teams and could contend for a title. Its only losses this season were to Central Dauphin, which is one of the top teams in the state, and to rival Cheltenham, which is another district contender.
Abington had been playing extremely well, but doesn't have a lot of time to shake off this disappointment. The Ghosts face Methacton on Thursday and Bensalem on Friday.
"I hope we can bounce back," Marsh said. "This is an embarrassing loss and it shows that we really have work to do. But I know what this team is capable of. I've seen it."
Abington (38)
Ajanae Boone 3 2-4 8; Jen Kelly 0 0-0 0; Aiyannah Peal 3 0-2 6; Tess Johns 1 0-0 2; Emily Leer 2 5-8 10; Liz Layton 5 0-2 10; Chynna West 0 0-0 0; Jessica Schmidt 0 0-0 0; Shiela Longo 1 0-0 2; Sam Stutz 0 0-0 0. Totals: 15 7-16 38.
Council Rock-North (60)
Juliann Fricke 2 0-1 4; Devin Gold 2 2-3 6; Kelly Scull 4 2-2 11; Sarah Kiely 11 2-4 24; Kate Logan 1 1-2 4; Rebecca Houser 0 0-0 0; Alexandra Mangogna 1 0-0 3; Steph Brennan 0 0-0 0. Totals: 23 11-17 60.
A: 6-8-7-17—38
CRN: 12-16-19-13—60
Three-point goals: Leer (A); Mangogna, Scull, Logan (CRN).
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