CR North defeated Cheltenham in an opening round game of the District One 6A Tournament on Friday night. Photos courtesy of Donna Longacre.
#11 COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 55, #22 CHELTENHAM 22
Council Rock North threw some serious defense at Cheltenham in the second half of Friday’s District One 6A opener – the suffocating, in-your-face variety, and the Lady Panthers had no answer, scoring just two points in the third quarter as the Indians opened up a 34-17 lead on their way to the convincing win.
“I did look up at one point with a minute to go and saw they hadn’t scored yet in the third quarter,” North coach Lou Palkovics said. “Defensively, I thought our effort was there.
“Offensively, I thought we struggled a little bit in the first half with making layups and with some parts of the mental game. I don’t like to make excuses for my team, but I’ll make an excuse even though I don’t think this is the excuse – they were nervous. It’s the first time they’ve been favored in a district game in a while.”
The Indians opened up an 11-4 lead when Emily Mackin scored on a fast break, but they led by just a 13-7 score after one quarter.
A three-point play by Camryn Polinsky gave the Indians an 18-10 lead, and when Becca Margolis turned a steal into a basket, the Indians led 20-10. A putback by Mackenzie Tinner stretched the Indians’ lead to 12, but Kai Williams turned a Nashira Brown pass at the end of the press into an easy bucket to make it a 10-point game. A basket by Hannah Weiler in the low post sent the Indians into halftime with a 27-15 lead.
“For the first half, we had jitters because it’s our first district game,” Weiler said. “We’re supposed to win, and I feel as though that made us really nervous in the first half. I feel like when we’re favored, we get nervous – we turn the ball over and we don’t get good shots.
“During halftime, coach talked to us, and we collected ourselves and realized if we came out hard we could beat them easily. We came out really hard in the second half and played smarter basketball.”
The Indians owned the second half. Tinner, who was fouled after pulling down an offensive rebound, buried a pair at the foul line to open the third quarter, and when Margolis turned a steal into a basket, the Indians led 32-15.
Dana Bandurick – who scored 11 points in the quarter – went on a 6-0 tear of her own that was interrupted by a Caitlin Wallace basket, but moments later, Bandurick converted a three-point play to put the Indians on top 44-17 heading into the final quarter.
Margolis opened the fourth quarter with back-to-back buckets after Lady Panther turnovers, and a basket by Weiler capped an overpowering 23-2 Indian tear to open the second half.
“They weren’t getting shots – in the third quarter, they had two points, and I feel like that gave us a lot of confidence,” Weiler said. “We picked up our game and started making shots. That’s really what got us going.
“This game was really important because if we lost we would have been done. This gives us (two) more games, and hopefully, we’ll get to states.”
Margolis (six steals), Bandurick (five steals) and Mackin (three steals) led the Indians’ defense. Margolis and Bandurick also paced the Indians’ balanced attack with 13 points each. Bandurick added five rebounds and three blocked shots. Tinner finished with seven points, six rebounds and two blocked shots while Weiler gave the Indians strong minutes off the bench with seven points and five rebounds.
Underscoring the Indians’ defensive dominance was the fact that Mia Leonard’s five points – less than half her average – led the team.
“Defensively, we get a lot off of our presses,” Palkovics said. “We’ll run a press to start an offense.
“I think if we would have played a half court man all game – this is not to take anything away from Cheltenham, but I think there would have been a possibility of keeping the game under 10 points. I really thought we were playing great in the half court defense. Most of their points were coming off either maybe 
getting a run-out on the press or free throws. Once we got them into a half court offense, I was really impressed with the way the girls played.”
One team’s joy is another team’s heartbreak, and there was no mistaking the Lady Panthers’ disappointment as the final minutes and seconds ticked off the scoreboard clock.
“It’s a hard way to end a season like that, but I told them, ‘Don’t let one night diminish three months of work,’” Cheltenham coach Brendan Nolan said. “As a team, I think we overachieved by most people’s standards, and a lot of individuals on this team overachieved.
“Mia Leonard, Caitlin Wallace played better than anyone thought they would play all year long. We just need to focus on that and shake this one off.”
Nolan bids farewell to four seniors – Leonard, Wallace, Nashira Brown and Danielle Brown.
“They’re four quality kids, excellent kids,” the Panthers’ coach said. “All four are very good students, they’re good citizens in the school, and they’ve withstood a lot of things over the last three years.
“All four of them emerged as leaders of a really great group, and I enjoyed this group every day. Yeah, we turned the ball over a lot, yeah, we struggled scoring sometimes, but sometimes you have to put things in perspective – what’s important and why we do what do. Those are four great kids. I don’t know if I’ll have a senior class that 
matches them as people.”
Council Rock North (16-7, 11-1 SOL) will travel to sixth-seeded Conestoga for a second round game on Wednesday. Cheltenham closed its season with a 12-11 record (8-6 SOL).
Cheltenham 8-7-2-5 22
Council Rock South 13-14-17-11 55
Cheltenham (22) – Mia Leonard 1 3-5 5; Caitlin Wallace 0 0-1 0 Courtney Murray 1 1-2 4; Taylor Johnson 1 0-0 3; Kelia Holmes 2 0-0 4; Kai Williams 2 0-2 4; Nashira Brown 1 0-0 2; Totals 12 4-10 22.
Council Rock North (55) – Becca Margolis 6 0-0 13; Camryn Polinsky 1 1-1 3; Megan Haggerty 1 0-0 2; Sydney Blum 1 0-0 2; Olivia Boyle 1 0-0 2; Emily Mackin 2 0-0 4; Dana Bandurick 5 3-8 13; Kaelin Mealy 1 0-0 2; Hannah Weiler 3 1-2 7; Mackenzie Tinner 1 5-6 7; Totals 22 10-17 55.
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