Check out the recaps of SOL girls’ basketball teams in action in District One 6A playback action on Friday.
CLASS 6A playbacks
Third Place Game
#4 PENNSBURY 41, #2 SOUDERTON 31
A pair of huge 3s – one each from Nicole Pompili and Neve Davis – as well as some clutch foul shooting down the stretch allowed the Falcons to outscore the Indians 18-8 in the final quarter, breaking a tie and propelling Pennsbury to a win in Friday’s third place game.
The Falcons – who travelled to Souderton for a regular season game, a SOL Tournament semifinal game and Friday’s third place game – have won the last two matchups after dropping the first.
“Normally life finds me in Harleysville once a year, and it’s Christmas Eve at my wife’s aunt and uncle’s house,” Pennsbury coach Frank Sciolla said. “So making the trip here for three road games in the span of five weeks is definitely different, but it’s a beautiful facility and they are great hosts.”
Both squads were coming off disappointing losses in the district semifinals – Pennsbury to Plymouth Whitemarsh and Souderton to Spring-Ford.
“I think it’s difficult emotionally to see where your team is going to be after losing on Wednesday night, and I’m sure that was the case for them as well,” Sciolla said. “We’ve started to get healthier, but it’s been hard to settle our rotation. Some of the girls that were starting or playing a bunch in December have been back for a few weeks now, but it’s been difficult swapping them back into the rotation.
“In December, we really felt like we were going to be a team that pressed the entire game and pushed the ball, and during the month of February, we morphed into more of a grind-it-out type of team out of necessity because of people in and out of the lineup.”
The Indians, behind six points from Mikayla McGillian, led 11-6 after one quarter and took a 19-14 lead into halftime. Ava Sciolla’s seven points led the Falcons while Casey Harter had six points in the half for the Indians.
In the third quarter, Sciolla scored seven points, and the Falcons ‘outscored’ the Indians 9-4 to even the score 23-23. The fourth quarter belonged to the Falcons. Sofia Vitucci was 6-for-8 from the foul line and led the Falcons with eight points in the frame. Sciolla had four points, including a 2-for-2 effort at the line, while Dash and Davis each connected on a 3-pointer.
“We used a ton of pressure against Upper Dublin and some against Abington, but obviously, we were not able to do much with it the other night (against PW) because we had a hard time scoring,” Sciolla said. “Today we wanted to be committed to pressuring in the full and half court the entire game, and that meant taking advantage of the fact that we have played so many people this year.
“In the first half, Souderton did a really good job of attacking the backboard, but I felt like we were able to pressure them, and we rotated 11 girls in. Then in the second half we rotated all 13, so we could just try to play the game as fast as we could in an effort to see if they would crack. Everyone who played today made a contribution, but it’s important to acknowledge that we have 10 different girls that have started multiple games this year. Our starting lineups and our rotations can almost be tracked by the month. From here on out, everyone knows to be ready.”
Sciolla’s 18 points led all scorers while Vitucci added 12.
“Neve Davis did a great job running our offense at times, and she made a game-sealing three,” Sciolla said. “Ava Jordan, a freshman, stepped in the fourth quarter and defended Casey Harter really well.
“Ava (Sciolla) was much more aggressive from jump street tonight. She picked up where she left off in the fourth quarter the other night, and we need her to be like that all the time. It’s not easy because of the face guard and the four girls set up in the lane behind the face guarder, but sometimes you just have to force it a little bit and trust your skill set and athleticism.”
Harter’s 12 points led the Indians while McGillian added eight.
Pennsbury (25-4, 14-2 SOL) will host District 3’s fourth place team, Dallastown, in a PIAA 6A opening round game on Tuesday.
“We have really run the gauntlet over the last few weeks,” Sciolla said. “Every single game we have played has been against a state playoff team. Neshaminy, Plymouth Whitemarsh on the road twice, Souderton on the road twice, Upper Dublin and Abington.
“We will climb on the bus and then get home and finish up the work we’ve already started on Dallastown and try to get ready as best we can for them. We are thankful to have another home game.”
Souderton (23-5, 15-1) will host District 11’s third place team, Easton, for an opening round PIAA 6A game on Tuesday. Easton was District’s 11 number one seed but was upset by #5 Parkland in the semifinals (44-40).
Pennsbury 6-8-9-18 41
Souderton 11-8-14-8 31
Pennsbury (41) – Ava Sciolla 7 4-5 18; Daniella MacDonald 0 2-2 2; Sofia Vitucci 3 6-8 12; Nicole Pompili 1 0-0 3; Nevaeh Dash 1 0-0 3; Neve Davis 1 0-0 3. TOTALS 13 12-14 41.
Souderton (31) – Brooke Fenchel 1 1-2 3; Erin Bohmueller 0 2-2 2; Mikayla McGillian 4 0-0 8; Casey Harter 5 1-3 12; Grace McDonough 1 0-0 2; Teya McConnaha 2 0-0 4. TOTALS 13 4-7 31.
3-point goals: Pennsbury – Nicole Pompili, Nevaeh Dash, Neve Davis; Souderton – Casey Harter.
Fifth Place Game
#5 ABINGTON 54, #7 PERKIOMEN VALLEY 45
Jaida Helm scored 17 points and Cire Worley added 16 to lead the Ghosts to the win in what coach Dan Marsh described as an “ugly game.”
The Ghosts trailed 11-10 after one quarter but outscored the Vikings 14-11 in the second quarter to go into halftime with a 24-22 lead. Helm and Worley did most of the damage for the Ghosts in the half with 11 and 10 points respectively.
The Ghosts used a 17-point third quarter to go on top 41-33. Piper McGinley was key in the quarter, burying a pair of 3-pointers. The Vikings never threatened the rest of the way.
In addition to Helm and Worley, Abril Bowser had 10 points and McGinley added nine on three 3-pointers.
“Piper McGinley hit three very timely 3s,” Marsh said. “And Jaida Helm played well.”
Abington (22-6, 13-3 SOL) will host District 12’s third place team, Northeast, in Tuesday’s opening round of the PIAA 6A Tournament.
Perkiomen Valley 11-11-11-12 45
Abington 10-14-17-13 54
Perkiomen Valley (45) – Bella Bacani 1 0-0 3; Jennifer Beattie 5 0-0 12; Lena Stein 2 0-0 4; Emma Miley 5 2-4 13; Grace Miley 3 0-0 6; Quinn Boettinger 2 3-3 7. TOTALS 18 5-7 45.
Abington (54) – Cire Worley 4 6-7 16; Abril Bowser 4 1-3 10; Jaida Helm 7 3-4 17; Maya Johnson 1 0-1 2; Piper McGinley 3 0-0 9. TOTALS 19 10-15 54.
3-point goals: PV – Jennifer Beattie 2, Bella Bacani, Emma Miley; Abington – Piper McGinley 3, Cire Worley 2, Abril Bowser.
11th Place Game
#10 NESHAMINY 36, #13 UPPER DUBLIN 30
Reese Zemitis buried four first-half 3-pointers and scored a game high 16 points to lead the Redskins to a win over the Cardinals in a playback game for 11th place.
In the absence of Lola Ibarrondo (non-COVID illness), Anna Soska earned the starting nod and contributed eight points, four rebounds and two blocks in a supporting role.
“Anna is one of our taller players, and she did a really good job – not only rebounding but obviously scoring,” Neshaminy coach John Gallagher said. “She had six points in the first half, and when you consider we only had 23 in the first half, that’s a pretty good part of it.
“It was good to have Mimi (Smith) hit a couple of baskets for us. When they help inside, Reese (Zemitis) looks for her. We isolated her in the post, and we told Mimi to be ready. Reese kicked it out to Mimi and she hit a three for us to open the second quarter and put us up 16-6.”
Taylor Gurysh , who had four rebounds, was the team’s floor general in Friday’s win. Smith added six points, three rebounds and two assists.
“We had nine assists on 12 field goals, so that’s a credit to Taylor who’s playing a position she hasn’t played much at all because Lola (Ibarrondo) plays a lot of minutes for us,” Gallagher said. “She had three assists and just got us in our offense every time. I was happy with her.”
Friday’s playback game was a rematch of a regular season game that saw the Cardinals earn a 23-22 win over Neshaminy.
“They played us man to man,” UD coach Morgan Funsten said. “The first game they played us in zone, and they also mixed in a triangle-and-two on Geena Sarnoski and Amy Ngo. Today’s game was a little more opened up.
“We got off to a slow start today. We were down 10 most of the first half and got down 11 early in the third quarter. We made a nice run to cut it to three late.”
Geena Sarnoski and Aditi Foster led the Cardinals with eight points each. Foster also had five rebounds and six deflections. Colleen Klammer added six points, five rebounds and three steals. Bliss Brenner handed out four assists.
“We’re making too many mistakes defensively right now which is a little upsetting this late in the season. We have to somehow find a way to regroup and give Central Dauphin our best shot on Tuesday. We’re trying to refocus in the next couple days of practice, get some good positive energy going and try to rebound from these last couple of losses. We’re doing our best.”
Friday’s game was played at Maple Point Middle School.
“The people of Maple Point couldn’t have been any nicer to us as far as ensuring the gym was set up, ensuring that Upper Dublin had a good locker room, announcers and things like that,” Gallagher said. “Then we had some Maple Point players there cheering us on, which was good to see.”
Neshaminy (19-9, 13-3 SOL) will travel to District 12 champion and PCL runner-up Archbishop Carroll for Tuesday’s opening round PIAA 6A contest. Upper Dublin (17-11, 12-4) will travel to District 3 champion Central Dauphin for Tuesday’s opening round. Central Dauphin (20-4) was the fourth seed entering the district tournament.
Upper Dublin 6-9-11-4 30
Neshaminy 13-10-8-5 36
Upper Dublin (30) – Alaina Sanders 1 2-2 4; Bliss Brenner 0 4-5 4; Aditi Foster 4 0-1 8; Geena Sarnoski 4 0-0 8; Colleen Klammer 1 3-8 6. TOTALS 10 9-16 30.
Neshaminy (36) – Taylor Gurysh 1 2-2 4; Anna Soska 4 0-0 8; Maya Lewis 1 0-0 2; Mimi Smith 2 0-2 6; Reese Zemitis 4 4-4 16. TOTALS 12 6-9 36.
3-point goals: UD – Colleen Klammer; Neshaminy – Reese Zemitis 4, Mimi Smith 2.
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