North Penn pulled off the big road win in Tuesday’s second round of the District One 6A Tournament. Upper Moreland saw its season end in Class 5A.
Class 6A
NORTH PENN 44, GARNET VALLEY 35
The Knights went into halftime on the short end of a 22-16 score. They outscored their hosts 28-13 in the second half, pulling off the road upset and earning a coveted berth in the state tournament – the program’s first in three years.
“The kids played really, really well in the second half,” NP coach Jen Carangi said. “For our seniors, because the last time they were there was when they were freshmen, they really wanted to qualify for states this year. I feel like qualifying is great, but I know them. They’re competitors. They want to try and get as far as we can. I’m thrilled for them that they were able to make it happen.”
The Knights outscored the Jaguars 12-4 in the third quarter to go on top 28-26 heading into the final quarter. Val McGriff – whose seven points led the Knights in the first half – led the way in the third quarter with six points.
“They play this crazy 2-3 zone, and it’s very effective,” Carangi said. “It’s very aggressive. I think it took our kids a little while to get used to it even though we practiced against it for the last week.
“We just played real, real well and shot fouls down the stretch, and that iced it for us. That was the difference.”
The Knights connected on 20-of-28 from the foul line for the game – 10-of-13 in the fourth quarter. McGriff buried 4-of-4 while Carley Adams and Alaina Mullaly both were 3-for-4 from the line in the fourth quarter.
“Alaina has been struggling shooting the ball,” Carangi said. “She’s been going to extra shooting lessons this week. I was happy for her.
“She knocked down a three in the first half and hit foul shots. She came up with a huge two (in the fourth quarter) that was really the turning point in the game. It was still close at this point – our freshman Abby Plaugher gets a steal and passes it to Alaina, and Alaina is at the top of the key. It’s a one-on-four or one-on-three situation, and she pulls up for a jumper. I felt like that was a turning point. It gave us a little bit of breathing room. After that, we just hit foul shots down the stretch to put it away.”
Carangi admits she was less than thrilled with her team’s first-half performance.
“Our defense was not great,” the Knights’ coach said. “We did not give up a ton of points, but we were giving them third, fourth, fifth opportunities. We weren’t boxing out. We were completely out of sorts.
“I’m walking into the locker room at halftime just livid, and my two assistants – thank God for them because they were like, ‘Jen, all things considered – think about how ineffective we were on offense, how bad we were on defense, how many opportunities we gave up, and we’re only down six.’ I’m like, ‘You’re right.’
“Honestly, we only gave up 22 points in the first half which is not bad. We try and aim for 40 for the game, but we just could not get into sync. We changed things up at halftime, made some adjustments on defense. They just executed perfectly what we wanted to do and really limited them to one shot.”
McGriff’s 17 points led the Knights. Included was one 3 and a perfect 6-for-6 effort at the foul line.
“She’s making great decisions, she is stepping out when she should step out, she’s making shots and getting to the rim – just really being under control,” Carangi said. “She’s playing real, real well.”
Mullaly added 11 points and Adams had seven. Alli Lindsay was limited to just three points but was a difference maker.
“She was tremendous for us tonight rebounding the ball – defensively, offensively,” Carangi said. “She didn’t score a ton for us tonight, but she was instrumental in us keeping possessions alive, just handling the ball, not turning it over, making great decisions. I feel like it’s typical of our team. If someone is not playing well, someone else will step up and help out. Tonight was another example of that.”
North Penn (17-6, 8-4 SOL) will play the winner of Wednesday’s #2 Central Bucks West/#15 Neshaminy contest in Saturday’s quarterfinals.
North Penn 12-4-12-16 44
Garnet Valley 14-8-4-9 35
North Penn (44) – Abby Plaugher 0 1-2 1; Alli Lindsay 1 0-2 3; Rachel Dunn 0 1-2 1; Alaina Mullaly 2 6-8 11; Kate Early 1 2-2 4; Carley Adams 1 4-6 7; Val McGriff 5 6-6 17; Totals 10 20-28 44
Garnet Valley (35) – Ava Passanti 3 0-0 7; Mary Rose Berry 0 0-1 0; Abbey Anderson 2 0-0 5; Liesl Dentinger 3 1-2 7; Jess Brewer 8 0-3 16; Totals 16 1-6 35.
3-point goals: NP – Alli Lindsay, Alaina Mullaly, Carley Adams, Val McGriff, GV – Ava Passanti, Abbey Anderson.
Class 5A
#8 POTTSGROVE 31, #9 UPPER MORELAND 26
The Golden Bears did what they wanted to do defensively, shutting down the Falcons’ top two scorers. The Falcons’ supporting cast did enough damage to bring the Golden Bears’ season to a disappointing end.
“We knew going in that it would be a low-scoring game,” UM coach Matt Carroll said. “They play a really good switch-everything defense and defense is usually our calling card.
“If you were to tell me before the game that (Summer) Walker and (Sydney) Mowery would only have two (points) and we hold them to 31, I would think there’s no way we lose. Unfortunately, it didn’t go that way for us tonight. We had some bad turnovers at bad times and they made some big plays at big times, especially Simon, and we just couldn’t overtake them.”
The Golden Bears trailed by three after one quarter but trimmed that deficit to one by halftime, 13-12. Bean Hughes – who scored 21 points in a glittering effort – accounted for 10 of UM’s 12 points. In the third quarter, the Falcons held a 10-7 edge to go on top 23-19. The Golden Bears never could get over the hump.
The season-ending loss was heartbreaking.
“Losing is awful,” said Carroll, who took over the program when this year’s seniors were freshmen. “No one likes losing. This loss is so much more than a typical loss to us. Our coaches and our seniors came in together and have been through a lot of good and bad times.
“For me personally, as soon as the clock hit 0, I tried very hard to keep my emotions in check but they got the better of me. These seniors mean the world to not just me but to our program. They’re really great kids and although we say ‘we’ll miss them,’ we know they will be around. Bean already jokingly asked to shoot on Sunday. Our last two playoff games we weren’t good enough to win. This year we were, but we just didn’t do enough. It’s tough. Hopefully our returning players and coaches use this as fuel to not have this same feeling in the future.”
Upper Moreland (8-6 SOL) closed out its season with a 12-11 record.
Upper Moreland 6-6-7-7 26
Pottsgrove 9-4-10-8 31
Upper Moreland (26) – EmmyFaith 1 0-0 2; AbbyEllen Wood 0 1-2 1; Bean Hughes 10 0-0 21; Hannah Finn 1 0-0 2; Totals 12 1-2 26.
Pottsgrove (31) – Rachel Ludwig 5 0-0 10; Summer Walker 0 0-2 0; Sierra Potts 2 1-2 7; Riley Simon 4 4-9 12; Sydney 1 0-0 2; Totals 12 5-13 31.
3-point goals: UM – Bean Hughes, Pottsgrove – Sierra Potts 2.
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