Check out the recaps for SOL girls’ basketball teams in action in the District One Tournament on Wednesday. Abington/CB West photos provided courtesy of Jon Sklut. Pennsbury/Upper Dublin photos courtesy of Daryl Rule of J&D Photography. PW/Great Valley photos courtesy of Larry Small. Check back for galleries of all three games. All SOS photo galleries for GIRLS’ BASKETBALL can be viewed by clicking HERE.
Class 6A
#1 PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH 53, GREAT VALLEY 9
This game was over almost before it began.
The Colonials jumped out to a 19-5 lead after one quarter and by halftime upped that lead to 33-7 on their way to the mercy rule win over the Patriots.
“We haven’t played a game in a week, and our girls came out fired up,” PW coach Dan Dougherty said. “We had a really nice crowd.
“Lainey Allen was spectacular in the first quarter. She had eight points in the first quarter, and she had 10 of her 16 by halftime. It was really just all around balanced scoring, but Lainey was really good in the first quarter. In the second quarter, Abby Sharpe had six of her 13 points.
“Defensively, the starting five plus Fiona Gooneratne and Angelina Balcer – (Great Valley) scored their seventh point 30 seconds into the second quarter, so the entire rest of the second quarter, the entire third quarter and almost six minutes into the fourth quarter we held them scoreless. Our team defense was outstanding tonight to hold a team scoreless for that long of a stretch. Our girls were just taking everything away, and everything Great Valley tried – it just didn’t work.”
With the win, the Colonials earned a berth in the state tournament for the sixth straight year.
Lainey Allen’s 16 points led the Colonials while Abby Sharpe had 13. Erin Daley and Jordyn Thomas both had seven points.
Plymouth Whitemarsh (26-0, 16-0 SOL) will host #9 Haverford in a quarterfinal contest on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. The two teams met during the holiday break at the Diamond State Classic in Delaware. The Colonials won 50-35.
“They have a really good player, Caroline Dotsey, who’s a junior with multiple D-1 offers,” Dougherty said. “When we played them, both teams were dealing with three games in three days. They were down a couple of players to COVID, and we were without Abby Sharpe. It will definitely be different the second time around.
“This is the third time we’ve played Haverford in districts in the last four years. Lauren (Pellicane) is a great coach. This is the first time they’ve qualified for states. I’m happy for them. They’ve been on the brink of making states. Three years ago, when our group were freshmen, we beat Haverford in a do-or-die game to make it to states.”
Great Valley 5-2-0-2 9
Plymouth Whitemarsh 19-14-9-11 53
Great Valley (9) – Gia Sioutis 2 0-0 4; Peyton Rhodes 1 0-0 2; Laura Lum 1 0-0 3. TOTALS 4 0-0 9.
Plymouth Whitemarsh (53) – Angelina Balcer 1 0-0 3; Kaitlyn Flanagan 1 0-0 3; Fiona Gooneratne 1 0-0 2; Erin Daley 3 1-1 7; Abby Sharpe 4 5-6 13; Caitlin Dinh 0 2-2 2; Lainey Allen 7 2-4 16; Jordyn Thomas 2 3-4 7. TOTALS 19 13-17 53.
3-point goals: GV – Laura Lum; PW – Angelina Balcer, Kaitlyn Flanagan.
#2 SOUDERTON 43, #15 CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 39
Sometimes you simply have to tip your hat to your opponent.
That’s exactly what coach Lynn Carroll and her players did after escaping with a win over Titans’ squad that – thanks to the late-game heroics of Taylor Hinkle – roared back from an 11-point deficit early in the fourth quarter to knot the score.
“Taylor Hinkle took over the game,” Carroll said. “I’ve never seen her play like that. It was incredible.
“Casey (Harter) is one of the best defenders in the area, and she defended her well, and Taylor just made big shots. It became very apparent that every time down the court she was looking to go.”
There was certainly nothing to suggest the game would come down to the wire when Mikayla McGillian scored after pulling down an offensive rebound to give the Indians a seemingly comfortable 33-22 lead early in the fourth quarter.
A basket by Yoyo Samayoa was followed by a Souderton miss, and when Mackenzie Erb buried her fourth 3-pointer of the game, the Titans trailed by six (33-27) with just over six minutes remaining.
“Mackenzie Erb had four huge, huge 3s,” Carroll said. “It creates a little bit of a mismatch for us defensively when she’s out there. They missed her a lot when they didn’t have her. That’s really, really big for them.”
Harter answered with a basket for the Indians, but Hinkle returned the favor at the other end, prompting Carroll to call a timeout.
Harter found Erin Bohmueller for an easy deuce out of the timeout, but again, Hinkle answered with a basket at the other end. A Souderton miss set the stage for a Hinkle 3-pointer, and just like that, it was a 37-34 game with plenty of time remaining.
After failing to capitalize on back-to-back Souderton turnovers, South’s Allison Sauers turned a steal into a layup to make it a 37-36 game with 1:15 remaining. Seconds later, Bohmueller sank both ends of a one-and-one to give the Indians a 39-36 lead, but Hinkle once again answered, this time banking home a three that knotted the score.
“When she made that three, I was like – ‘I don’t even know what to do now. I don’t know how to play defense on her,’” McConnaha said. “She’s an amazing player, super smart, great shooter. I’m very impressed with her.”
With 36.7 seconds remaining and the score deadlocked, McConnaha stepped to the line for a pair of foul shots.
“I’ve been struggling with my foul shots actually,” the Indians’ junior forward said. “So I’ve been working a lot in practice to help me figure out what I need to do to make them.
“What I did before those foul shots, I told myself, ‘You can make these, come on, you’ve got this.’”
The junior forward calmly sank both shots, and the Indians led 41-39. The Titans misfired at the other end, giving the Indians possession under South’s basket. With the Titans pressuring fullcourt, McConnaha threw a baseball pass to a breaking Bohmueller, who raced in for a layup and the 43-39 lead that held until the final horn.
“The plan was – if it wasn’t long, then it was Casey, but if it’s long, I’m throwing that ball,” McConnaha said. “All I said to myself was – ‘Come on Erin, you’ve got this, come on Erin, you’ve got this.’ Sometimes I have a tendency to throw it a little too hard.”
“I saw her throw the ball, and my heart skipped a beat,” Harter said. “I knew it would work, but it was definitely relieving when Erin made the layup.”
The Indians appeared to seize early control of the game. After Allison Sauers scored an early bucket for the Titans, the Indians scored 13 straight to close out the quarter and led 15-2 when McConnaha scored a bucket in close to open the second quarter.
The Indians took a 23-14 lead into halftime and still led by nine after three quarters, a lead that turned out to be anything but secure.
“Obviously, the first quarter set the tone for us and allowed us to suffer the way that we did a little bit in the second half,” Carroll said. “There’s a few things offensively down the stretch that we need to clean up, but to be winning the entire game and in the last minute of the game it’s suddenly tied, we come back down and hit our foul shots.
“As the second seed, you like to think you’re going to get an easy one the second round. Everybody knows that CB South is much better than a 15 seed. If nothing else, it continues to force us to have good habits.”
Hinkle led all scorer with 20 points, including four 3-pointers. She scored 15 of her points in the second half – 10 in an inspired fourth quarter.
“She’s just a really good player, and obviously, she went off – she made everything,” Harter said. “She brought them back and made it close.”
“It doesn’t surprise me,” South coach Beth Mattern said of Hinkle’s standout effort. “When I watch her at practice, I know that she has the ability to use her limbs and turn that defense into offense. She was really trying to will us to a victory tonight in the fourth quarter.”
Also for the Titans, Erb – just returning to action after being sidelined with a high ankle sprain – added 12 points on four 3s.
“Mack really stepped up tonight too,” Mattern said. “The two of them together had eight 3s. You’re talking about two players that started as freshman and invested four years into this program and just really were up to the moment. We tried to take a little pressure off of Mack coming off her ankle injury by coming off the bench. She really stepped up and has been playing really well for us.”
Harter’s 14 points – 10 in the first half – led the Indians. The junior point guard also had seven rebounds, three assists and a blocked shot. McConnaha added 10 points and seven rebounds. Bohmueller contributed nine points, and McGillian had eight. Brooke Fenchel had four assists.
It was just enough to escape with a win in the third meeting between the two SOL Colonial schools.
“We came off a strong start, and we didn’t let them get easy shots, but they definitely started hitting shots, and that brought them back in the game,” Harter said. “But I think we held it together until the end, and that’s how we came up with a win.”
The win guaranteed the Indians a spot in the state tournament.
“We made a list of goals at the beginning of the season, and that was definitely high on the list.” Harter said. “It wasn’t the highest one, but it’s definitely very exciting to know we’re not done yet and we still have states. We want to go as far as possible, and we’re all just really excited and proud of how far we came so far.”
“It feels very good,” McConnaha said. “Especially as a junior and we still have a second year coming around, so it feels really huge to be out here playing our hardest.”
Souderton (22-3, 15-1 SOL) will host #7 Perkiomen Valley in a quarterfinal game on Saturday at 2 p.m. Central Bucks South (13-11, 8-8) will travel to Neshaminy for a playback game on Saturday. The winner will earn a state playoff berth.
Central Bucks South 13-10-8-12 43
Souderton 2-12-8-17 39
Central Bucks South (39) – Taylor Hinkle 8 0-0 20; Mackenzie Erb 4 0-0 12; Maddie Tantum 0 1-2 1; Allison Sauers 2 0-0 4; Yoyo Samayoa 1 0-0 2; Kristen Conway 0 0-2 0. TOTALS 15 1-4 39.
Souderton (43) – Erin Bohmueller 3 2-2 9; Mikayla McGillian 4 0-0 8; Casey Harter 7 0-0 14; Grace McDonough 1 0-0 2; Teya McConnaha 4 2-2 10. TOTALS 19 4-4 43.
3-point goals: CBS – Taylor Hinkle 4, Mackenzie Erb 4; Souderton – Erin Bohmueller.
#4 PENNSBURY 36, #13 UPPER DUBLIN 30
The Falcons survived a scare, fighting of a determined Flying Cardinal squad to eke out the win in a game they trailed much of the way.
“Down one, we went to Ava (Sciolla) up top, and she made a shot that she has made so many times in her career from about 22 feet away to give us a two-point lead with about a minute to go,” Pennsbury coach Frank Sciolla said. “She did a good job keeping her composure in the second half because she does such a great job for us drawing heavy contact even though it rarely pays off in the traditional way for her.
“In the final minute, we got several stops and Nevaeh Dash and Sofia Vitucci knocked down free throws after we rebounded misses.”
The Cardinals suffered a tremendous setback when – with six minutes remaining – sophomore Amy Ngo suffered a leg injury and was taken from the court on a stretcher and transported to the hospital. At the time, the Cardinals led by two, 25-23.
“Amy would have been at the line shooting two for us, and she’s an 80 percent foul shooter,” UD coach Morgan Funsten said. “It was probably a 35-40 minute break in the action, and we ended up going up by three (26-23).
“They made back-to-back baskets to go up by one. When the situation happened, it was a very upsetting moment for all of us. What was so impressive with our girls is twice we took leads afterwards. We took their initial shot and got down one, came back and went up one, down one, tied 
it up on one foul shot, and the next time down, Aditi Foster hit one-of-two to put us up one with about two minutes to go.
“We got a stop on defense, and they forced us into a turnover with about 1:10 to go and we’re still up one. With about 55 seconds to go, Ava (Sciolla) made a really nice 3-point shot from the right wing. It was a great shot by a great player.”
Early on, the two teams battled to an 8-8 tie after one quarter, and it was the Cardinals outscoring the Falcons 11-5 in the second quarter to go into halftime with a 19-13 advantage. “Upper Dublin came out and played exactly as you’d expect,” Sciolla said. “They were poised and had a clear game plan. Late in the first (half), they caught us sleeping and scored a couple big buckets off sets that we were prepared for, but to their credit, they adjusted and executed.
“The first half was fantastically physical. We had some tremendous drives to the basket into hard contact to no avail and entered the half with three players in foul trouble. Upper Dublin had the tempo in their control and that’s a game they win so often
“In the second half, we had to go deep into our bench, but fortunately, we often do, and Sofia Vitucci and Ava got to the rim. After trailing by six after three, we cut it to two. At that point UD’s outstanding sophomore guard, Amy Ngo, was fouled on a back door cut and hit the floor hard and unfortunately was injured and lost for the game at the six-minute mark. At that point, the game went back and forth, and we lost Nicole Pompili on a block/charge call.”
Sciolla’s 15 points and 10 rebounds led the Falcons, and Vitucci added 12 – eight in the fourth quarter. Nevaeh Dash added seven points.
“Bliss Brenner guarded (Sciolla) all night and did a really nice job,” Funsten said. “I thought Geena Sarnoski did a great job on Pompili. You can go down the list. When Amy was in the game, I thought she did a great job on Vitucci, and Aditi Foster did a great job on Dash.
“It’s the type of game where, as a coach, you feel you could do something more. They did everything that we asked and more. They played with confidence in a really tough setting. It was a great environment. It had the making for a really special night, and it’s a shame that happened. You don’t want it to happen to anybody, but Amy is just so obsessed with basketball. It’s a little extra sting when it’s someone who’s obsessed with the game.
For the Flying Cardinals, Ngo’s 10 points led the way. Sarnoski and Foster both had seven points. Foster also had five rebounds and three steals. Bliss Brenner had four rebounds and four assists.
“Upper Dublin played really well and was certainly deserving to win the game especially considering the atmosphere they were playing in,” Sciolla said. “Senior leaders like Brenner and Sarnoski are invaluable. They both made big plays for the team and watching their careers has been fun because they play the game the right way. The biggest thought right now is of Amy Ngo. She’s a great competitor and we hope that everything is okay and that she’s back and able to play this spring.”
Pennsbury (23-3, 14-2 SOL) will host #5 Abington in a quarterfinal contest on Saturday at noon. Upper Dublin (16-9, 12-4) will travel to Central Bucks West on Saturday for a playback game at noon.
Upper Dublin 8-11-6-5 30
Pennsbury 8-5-6-17 36
Upper Dublin (30) – Alaina Sanders 0 1-2 1; Bliss Brenner 1 0-0 3; Aditi Foster 3 1-2 7; Geena Sarnoski 3 1-2 7; Colleen Klammer 1 0-1 2; Amy Ngo 3 4-4 10. TOTALS 11 7-11 30.
Pennsbury (36) – Ava Sciolla 6 2-3 15; Presley Foote 0 0-1 0; Layla Matthias 0 0-2 0; Sofia Vitucci 4 4-4 12; Nicole Pompili 1 0-0 2; Nevaeah Dash 2 2-4 7. TOTALS 13 8-14 36.
3-point goals: UD – Bliss Brenner; Pennsbury – Ava Sciolla, Nevaeh Dash.
#5 ABINGTON 62, #12 CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 47
Jaida Helm scored a game high 21 points, but the Abington junior had plenty of help. Cire Worley added 17 points and Abril Bowser had 13 as the trio combined for 51 of their team’s points.
“Jaida was one of the keys,” Abington coach Dan Marsh said. “I got on her at halftime and said, ‘No more jump shots. Get inside and dominate,’ and she did that. She had 14 points in the second half. She was getting putbacks. She just did a little bit extra.
“This is really the first time these kids have experienced playoff basketball because even last year there were no crowds. Both schools were represented well. It was fun.”
The Ghosts took a 31-22 lead into halftime with Worley and Bowser both scoring nine points on three 3s in the half. The Bucks trimmed that lead to 41-35 after three quarters, but the Ghosts closed out the game with a 21-point fourth quarter.
“Dani Brusha forced a couple of their turnovers,” Marsh said. “It was just a good team effort.
“This was a rough couple of weeks for us. Losing three times to PW – that can really damage a young team, and they can really start doubting themselves. Then we had the Hatboro fiasco (a 68-62 loss). We needed to get back on the court. Our rust showed a little bit. Eventually, we were able to get West’s wheels to fall off. I think we were up 20 at one point, but they battled back. West played hard.”
With the win, the Ghosts ensured themselves a berth in the state tournament.
“It’s awesome,” Marsh said. “Now we’re playing with house money. The pressure is off because what we wanted to do was get in the state tournament.
“I think last year we would have qualified, but they didn’t take many teams (in the COVID shortened season), so we have not been to states since Khalis Whiting’s freshman year, so after a two-year hiatus, we’re back in states.”
Emily Spratt had a big game for the Bucks, finishing with a double-double that included 19 points and 10 rebounds. She also had four steals. Tai Henkels added 11 points, 10 rebounds and five steals while Alexis Castro had eight points and five rebounds.
Abington (20-5, 13-3 SOL) will travel to #4 Pennsbury for a quarterfinal game on Saturday at noon. Central Bucks West (17-8, 11-5) will host Upper Dublin in a playback game with a berth in the state tournament on the line.
Central Bucks West 11-11-13-12 47
Abington 10-21-10-21 62
Central Bucks West (47) – Tai Henkels 4 0-0 11; Katie Finnan 0 0-1 0; Nia Perry 1 0-0 3; Emily Spratt 6 6-9 19; Alexis Castro 3 2-4 8; Ava Longo 3 0-0 6. TOTALS 17 8-14 47.
Abington (62) – Cire Worley 5 4-7 17 Abril Bowser 4 2-2 13; Jaida Helm 7 7-8 21; Maya Johnson 1 0-0 2; Dani Brusha 1 0-0 3; Piper McGinley 1 2-2 4; Lila Stonehouse 1 0-0 2. TOTALS 20 15-19 62.
3-point goals: CBW – Tai Henkels 3, Emily Spratt, Nia Perry; Abington – Cire Worley 3, Abril Bowser 3, Dani Brusha.
#7 PERKIOMEN VALLEY 44, #10 NESHAMINY 32
The Vikings took a 13-10 lead into the second quarter and stretched that lead to 27-17 by halftime. A pivotal stretch in the opening half came when the Vikings connected on five consecutive 3-pointers from the end of the first quarter and into the second.
“Their 3-point shooting was fabulous,” Neshaminy coach John Gallagher said. “They’re on their home court, it helps. They took advantage of it, and it was all different kids.”
Lena Stein had a pair of 3s, and Grace Miley had one and accounted for 11 of PV’s first half points.
“We’ve just got to defend the 3-point line better,” Gallagher said. “I mean, they shot really well. I think it was like 16-10 at one point, and then they hit every shot that they took. They had to start eventually missing, and once we extended our defense, they were able to get in the lane and they found the big kid down low.
“You have to give Perkiomen (Valley) credit, when we started scrambling, they always found the big freshman (Quinn Boettinger) inside and she finished around the basket. She was a force early in the game, staying in the lane and blocking our drives. Then, they locked on our shooters outside, so they had a really good game plan.”
The Vikings took a 39-26 lead into the fourth quarter. The Redskins – who upped their defensive pressure – pulled to within nine and had a chance to get closer but could not capitalize.
“We stepped outside of what we were comfortable with because they were getting us pretty good, but once we stepped outside of it – I probably should have done it a little bit sooner,” Gallagher said. “We had back-to-back possessions that resulted in what I would call careless turnovers. I thought if we had got it to five or four, it might breathe some life into us.”
Lola Ibbarondo, who connected on a pair of 3s, scored 13 points to lead the Redskins. She also had six rebounds, four steals and three assists. Reese Zemitis added nine points and seven rebounds while Taylor Gurysh had seven points and five rebounds.
Freshman center Quinn Boettinger led the Vikings with 15 points, five rebounds and five blocked shots.
“She’s a force inside,” Gallagher said. “She plays clean. She’s just there. She’s strong. There were two in-bounds plays where she just muscled us out of the way. She’s got a bright future in front of her.”
Neshaminy (17-8, 13-3 SOL) will host Central Bucks South in a playback game on Saturday.
“That was a tough locker room right there – they’ve got their heads down,” Gallagher said. “We’ll go real light (Thursday) and we’ll get ready for our next opponent. There’s still a chance for a state playoff (berth). That was our goal at the beginning of the season, to try to make the state playoffs.”
Neshaminy 10-7-9-6 32
Perkiomen Valley 13-14-12-5 44
Neshaminy (32) – Lola Ibarrondo 4 3-4 13; Reese Zemitis 2 4-4 9; Taylor Guyrsh 3 0-2 7; Skyler Lall 1 1-1 2. Totals 10 8-11 32.
Perkiomen Valley (44) – Lena Stein 2 0-0 6; Quinn Boettinger 6 3-3 15; Grace Miley 5 0-0 11; Emma Miley 2 0-0 6; Jennifer Beattie 2 0-0 6. Totals 17 3-3 44.
3-point goals: Neshaminy – Lola Ibarrondo 2, Reese Zemitis, Taylor Guyrsh; PV-Lena Stein 2, Emma Miley 2, Jennifer Beattie 2, Grace Miley.
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