The Souderton at North Penn girls’ basketball game on Friday night will be an SOL Featured Game, sponsored by Millennium Administrators. Check back for photos and a complete game story.
By Mary Jane Souder
Bianca Picard remembers it all too well – her Souderton squad rolling into its game against Perkiomen Valley last season with an impressive 7-2 record but then falling to a sub-.500 Viking squad 32-31.
The loss marked the beginning of a forgettable six-game losing streak for the Indians, who finished the season with an 11-11 mark and found themselves at home when the postseason rolled around..
“It was one of those games where I think we went in too confident, and after that, it was hard to bounce back and find confidence again,” Picard said. “After that game, it was just loss, loss, loss, and nobody really stepped up to say, ‘Come on guys, we have to work together as a team,’ and it just ended badly. Nobody was really leading the team.”
“I cried probably after every single game. My mom always tells me, ‘The amount of work you put in is the amount of work you (get) out.’ Personally, I put a lot of work in and a lot of my teammates put a lot of work in, so to see us not get anything out of it probably was the most disappointing.”
Senior captain Libby Wetzler acknowledged that last season was a bitter disappointment.
“It was rough obviously,” she said. “We started out really strong and then I think we kind of got complacent.
“We went into the Perk Valley game, and we thought we would win and we didn’t go out as hard as we should have. It was one of those things where you expect to win, and that’s an awful attitude to bring to a game.”
With five returning varsity players, the Indians enter the 2012-13 season with firm resolve to turn things around.
“Every practice we practice with the intensity that we want to bring to every game,” Wetzler said. “This year’s team reminds me a little of my sophomore year because that was a year we had lost a lot of valuable seniors, and people didn’t have high expectations.
“We ended up exceeding our own expectations and made district playoffs. This year is a fresh start.”
The Indians were impressive en route to a 22-21 halftime lead in Tuesday’s non-league opener against Council Rock South but then stumbled in the second half before falling 47-36.
The game, in some ways, was a microcosm of the Indians’ season last year – a good start but a disappointing finish.
“The good news is it’s not a talent issue and it’s not an intelligence issue –we have both of those things, which means other issues that come up can be fixed with talent and intelligence,” Souderton coach Lynn Carroll said. “This is somewhat of a young team. We do have five returning varsity players, and moving forward, there were things specific to Tuesday night’s game that we were able to work on, but I really can’t picture an issue that we could come across that this team can’t handle.
“Now, can we handle it in the middle of the game or can we not handle it until the next day of practice. I think that’s going to determine the outcome of a lot of games.”
Carroll went on to say she has a lot of faith in this year’s squad.
“One thing I know they have is determination,” she said. “These girls want to win. They really want to win.
“They were not happy with themselves after Tuesday’s game. At Wednesday’s practice, they were positive, but I think for the five that are returning – last season was as disappointing a season as I have ever had as a coach. We all knew we underperformed, we underachieved.
“Those five and the girls who were on jayvee last year and watched it happen – none of us want that to happen again. That’s been a theme of ours through the summer and the fall and into the start of the season. Tuesday was a reminder of what that can feel like. I really see the determination in them to not just go through the motions and say they don’t want to let it happen again, but they don’t want to let it happen again. They’re practicing hard.”
The Indians are hoping to take the lessons they learned in their loss to Rock South into Friday’s SOL opener at North Penn against the defending district runner-up Maidens.
“At the end of the season, there’s going to be a list of teams – and Council Rock South is on that list – that we could have won,” Carroll said. “That list needs to stay really, really short.
“There’s not a team on our schedule that we can’t beat. If we keep that list short, then the Council Rock South game isn’t as big of a disappointment, but if we add a lot of teams to that list, we’re looking at a similar season that we faced at the end of last season.”
If Picard’s reaction to the loss is any indication, it’s clear the Indians will not settle for a rerun of last season.
“After we lost, I was up until three o’clock,” she said. “I thought of how many shots I took that weren’t falling – I could have done something else. I could have passed it more. You start to second guess yourself, and that’s the hard part.
“(The first half) was a good statement that we are a good team. We’re better than we were last year. I think this is the best team I’ve been part of.
“I would rather have that happen in the first game than in the middle of the season. Now we know we won’t let it happen again. We all have that desire, and we’re all working hard.”
And working hard, according to Picard, is the key.
“We will not lose and not have worked hard,” the junior point guard said. “We will win if we work hard and do the little things like box out, offensive rebounds.
“If we don’t do our jobs, we’re not expected to win. We’re not going to earn it, so we have to earn it because in the past years, we haven’t earned it. We have a lot of leaders this year, we’ve worked hard, and I’m excited. I can’t wait.”
Just the facts:
Souderton at North Penn, Friday, Dec. 14, 7 p.m.
This year’s record: Souderton 0-1, North Penn 3-0
Last year’s record: Souderton 11-11 overall (7-7 SOL), North Penn 21-7 (11-3 SOL)
Last meeting: Feb. 7, 2012 – North Penn 61, Souderton 37 (NP – Steph Knauer 17 points, Lauren Crisler 16 points, Vicky Tumasz 12 points; Souderton – Liz Mower 12 points, Allison Gallagher 7 points)
Last game: Council Rock South 47, Souderton 36 (Bianca Picard – 10 points, Sarah Derstein – 10 points)
North Penn 36, Downingtown West 35 (Erin Maher – 9 points, Vicky Tumasz – 8 points, Lauren Crisler – 7 points)
Souderton
Projected starters:
#3 – Allison Gallagher (5-8, Jr.)
#10 – Katie O’Connor (5-8, Jr.)
#21 – Libby Wetzler (5-10, Sr.)
#25 – Bianca Picard (5-5, Jr.)
#31 – Sarah Derstein (5-10, Soph.)
The rest of the Indians:
#5 - Hannah Bergey (Jr.)
#11 - Devon Boehm (Jr.)
#12 - Jessica Kraus (Sr.)
#14 - Noelle Noble (Soph.)
#22 - Courtney Day (Sr.)
#23 - Marissa Sandone (Fr.)
North Penn
Projected Starters:#4 – Erin Maher (6-0, Jr.)
#15 –Tehya Daneker (5-10, Sr.)
#20 – Lauren Crisler (6-2, Sr.)
#21 – Brianna Cullen (5-7, Jr.)
#22 – Vicky Tumasz (5-6, Jr.)
The rest of the Maidens:
#4 – Jenn Halcovage (5-7, Sr.)
#5 – Sierra Simon (5-7, Jr.)
#11 – Laura Kane (5-4, Sr.)
#13 – Mikaela Giuliani (6-0, Fr.)
#14 – Jackie Bilotti (5-5, Soph.)
#24 – Leiana Dean (5-6, Fr.)
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