Upper Dublin, CB East & Cheltenham earned state berths and advanced to Saturday’s District 1 6A quarterfinals. Upper Dublin/Pennsbury photos courtesy of Darryl Rule of J&D Photography. Cheltenham/Abington photos courtesy of Michael Rice Photography, CR South/Conestoga photos courtesy of John Gleeson. PW/PV photo courtesy of Larry Small. Check back for galleries. CLICK HERE to go directly to Suburban One Sports’ GIRLS’ BASKETBALL GALLERIES.
District 1 6A
#3 UPPER DUBLIN 54, #11 PENNSBURY 28
Tamia Clark served notice as a freshman that she was a force to be reckoned with. A year later, she’s even more dominant.
“My physical strength has always been there, but I’ve just been working on my game, improving my defense and just being able to step up after losing three seniors,” Clark said.
Clark was a force in both ends of the court in Wednesday’s win over the visiting Falcons. Her eight first-quarter points propelled UD to a 14-10 lead on its way to a 27-13 halftime lead. The Cardinals went on to earn a win that was especially impressive in the absence of junior sharpshooter Emilia Coleman, who is ineligible for the postseason.
“I knew that we still had plenty of talent,” UD coach Morgan Funsten said. “I knew we were going to be very different than we had been the first 25 games of the season, but that doesn’t mean we still can’t be very good, and I thought tonight was a great step in the right direction.”
Key players: Tamia Clark’s stat line for a brilliant performance included 25 points, eight rebounds, 10 deflections, six steals and zero turnovers. Freshman Lexi Ngo found herself in a starting role and made the most of it, contributing 12 points on four 3-pointers – nine in the first half. Junior point guard Megan Ngo added nine points, six assists and two steals.
For the Falcons, Ava Jordan had 11 points and Emily Panaro finished with 10.
Upper Dublin coach Morgan Funsten on the game: “The story of the game – we finished the second quarter on a 10-0 run, and we finished the third quarter on an 11-0 run, so we finished out quarters very strong.”
–Lexi delivers: “This was Lexi Ngo’s first start of the season. When you come off the bench, you’re always looking over your shoulder – ‘How long am I going to be out there? When am I going to be subbed out?’ That’s why it’s so difficult to come off the bench and play.
“Lexi’s played great for us this year, but it is difficult coming off the bench, so she knew she had a little more rope tonight having the start. She actually airballed her first two 3s pretty bad. Then Tamia got fouled about a minute later, and I called Lexi over just to make sure she was okay. She had a smile on her face, and at that point, I just got calm – if this is what our freshman is feeling after two airballs on her first start in a playoff game, we’re great, and she made four 3s after that. I thought that was one of the coolest moments – how calm Lexi was.
“Coming from that family – the Ngo family is just so tough. I thought that was such a cool moment. I’m worried about her mentally, and she’s jogging over to me with a smile on her face. I asked her – ‘When you get the next one, are you going to shoot it?’ She gave me a smile and said, ‘Yeah,’ and she was making them. I thought she was great.”
–Cards’ get defensive: “Lexi had to play (Sammie) Haws who has been really hot for them lately and held her to zero. I thought Meg (Ngo) did a great job on (Alyssa) Thomas. The first time Thomas beat us in some ways we weren’t happy about. I thought Meg did a great job on their point guard.
“I thought Tamia’s presence – she dominated the game on both ends of the floor with 10 deflections and six steals. Her ball pressure was amazing.”
–Clark dominates: “We’ve known since Tamia was in seventh grade the type of skill level she has and the type of ceiling she has. She’s not a very experienced basketball player, and she’ll be the first one to tell you, but she does work, and her ceiling is unbelievable. She’s starting to get it – it’s starting to click a little bit. It’s good for us and scary for other teams. I thought we took the lead from her tonight early in the game. We know how much Pennsbury wants to control the tempo of the game, and I thought Tamia broke out and got some baskets in transition – tough finishes in transition. She had eight points in the first quarter and then she exploded for 11 points in the third quarter. She made a 3, she was 4-for-4 from the foul line. She had a really great night.”
–Back to states: “I feel like I have been so lucky to have such great kids and also good basketball players in my 13 years here. My favorite part is that I get to spend another three weeks with them. That’s what I always tell them – that’s the best part about this. We just guaranteed ourselves another three weeks together. Year in and year out, kids from the best player on the team to the last kid on the bench – they’re such awesome kids, and it’s fun to be part of the success with them. It never gets old.”
UD sophomore Tamia Clark on the win: “It was really big for us, especially being down a starter since losing Emilia (Coleman). We definitely miss her, but just being able to practice with Lex (Ngo) in the rotation – when the game came, we were basically used to it doing it. We just had to keep fighting and stay strong.
“It was a really physical game, but we knew we could get it done. We just matched their physicality. We had strong boxouts, and we’re trying to be the bully. We’re not intimidated, so that helps.”
Pennsbury coach Frank Sciolla: “Upper Dublin played really well tonight. They shot the ball fantastically. They had a stretch where it seemed like they made every single jumpshot they took, and that’s what’s going to happen when you’re a good team.
“You think you have the game in a pretty good place toward the end of the second quarter, but they made a run, and their physicality really created issues for us. They are really skilled, and it’s my hope that their family base jumps on board and supports them with a packed house because in this era of Ngo sisters, which is going to stretch into a decade, they are watching fantastically intelligent guard play. Each one of them has entered the high school ready to play and understanding how to play and I’m sure a big chunk of credit for that goes to their mom, who I bet they would’ve loved to have seen play.”
Next up: Upper Dublin (22-4, 8-0 SOL) will host #6 Cheltenham in a quarterfinal game Saturday (2:30 pm). Pennsbury (15-10, 7-3 SOL) will host Abington in a playback game Saturday.
Pennsbury 10-3-4-11 28
Upper Dublin 14-13-14-13 54
Pennsbury (28) – Emily Panaro 5 0-0 10; Maggie Burns 2 1-2 5; Sammie Haws 0 0-2 0; Ava Jordan 3 4-6 11; Keira Socha 1 0-0 2; TOTALS 11 5-10 28.
Upper Dublin (54) – Bridget DiMartile 0 2-2 2; Tamia Clark 10 4-4 25; Megan Ngo 1 6-6 9; Lexi Ngo 4 0-0 12; Ella Morris 2 0-0 6; TOTALS 17 12-12 54.
3-point goals: P – Ava Jordan; UD – Lexi Ngo 4, Ella Morris 2, Tamia Clark, Megan Ngo.
#4 CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 68, #13 SPRING-FORD 55
Natalie Berndt had an idea this might be a good night when she connected on her first 3-pointer in the first quarter. Turned out she was right. By halftime, Berndt had four 3-pointers and finished with six while scoring a game-high 19 points.
“When the shot falls, that gives me the confidence, and then I’m like – ‘Oh, the rest are going in,’” Berndt said. “When our shots are falling, it gives us so much motivation, and that makes us work harder on the
defensive end as well.”
The Patriots, who led 14-11 after one quarter, outscored the visiting Rams 22-9 in the second quarter to go into halftime with a 36-20 lead on their way to a win that guaranteed the team a spot in the state tournament.
“At the beginning of the season, that was one of our top goals,” Berndt said. “Especially this year since we had a home game as our first playoff game. We were like ‘This is it for states.’”
Key stretch: The 22-point second quarter was highlighted by three 3 pointers by Berndt while Jess Lockhart had a pair of 3s in the frame.
Key players: Natalie Berndt’s 19 points included six 3s and led four East players in double figures. Jess Lockwood added 15 points – nine in the first half on three 3s. Sydney Ralph and Haley Moran both added 12 points.
Central Bucks East coach Liz Potash on the game: “The story was we made a lot of shots. I think a week of rest did us good. All the way through last Monday (the SOL Tournament title game), we had 11 games in the last three weeks of the season. You’re playing half your schedule, and we don’t play a ton of kids, so we were really looking forward to getting our legs back under us. We gave the girls a little bit of time off in there. We just came out tonight, and we shot the ball really well and held them to 20 at the half. We gave up too much in the third quarter, way too much in the paint but just continued to keep going on offense.
“When our scoring is as balanced as it was tonight – you’re not going to get six 3s out of Nat every game, but you know she has the ability to do it. She’s been doing it for three years for us. Our four got us 12, 12, 19 and 15 – that’s really hard to defend. When we’re at our best, that’s what we’re doing. There were some great extra passes.
“We need to clean up some things on the defensive end, but when we’re making shots like that on offense and sharing the ball, we’re really good. It was fun, a fun game to watch.”
–Props: “We were without Emma (Penecale) from her injury against Upper Dublin, and I thought Savannah Hayes did a really nice job stepping in and playing more minutes. Cece Hayes and Delaney Long came off the bench for us and gave us really good minutes. Everyone was kind of chipping in to do what we could without having Emma, who we’re used to playing with.”
–Back in states: “It’s always the goal to get into states. I said to them after the game, ‘It’s great. I’m glad we achieved our goal to get into states, but that shouldn’t be enough right now. Don’t settle for just getting into states. Now let’s get to the final four.’”
–Credit to Spring-Ford: “They’re coming in with seven losses on the season, but three of them are to Perk Valley. They traditionally have such a strong program. They return one starter from last year, and they play a lot of seniors but not kids that had a ton of playing experience for them in the past, so you know these are kids that are used to being in that program. They went to the state semifinal last year. They have some size, and they really started to hurt us on the offensive glass, mostly in the fourth quarter.
“At one point, we had a 20-plus point lead in the second half. Credit to them, they just kept chipping away. They got real aggressive on the offensive glass and cut it to eight at one point and then we were able to get some easy scores. They’re a nice team.
(Coach Mickey McDaniel) does a great job. When you have that much success in a program, even when you graduate kids, it’s the expectation, so everyone plays to that level. When we saw them play on Friday – I knew it would be a battle, I knew it would be a tough game.”
CB East junior Natalie Berndt on the break between games: “It was nice – we were able to get our legs under us and regroup before this game. We were also able to get a lot of shots up, which helps. Against Upper Dublin (in the SOL Tournament title game), we weren’t really making a lot of shots, but we bounced back. We knew what we had to do and worked together to get back to our goals.”
Up next: Central Bucks East (21-5, 9-1 SOL) will host #7 Downingtown East in a quarterfinal game Saturday. The two teams met on Jan. 4 at Downingtown East, and the Cougars defeated the Patriots 55-44.
“The first time we played them – we got off to a really slow start and let them control the first half,” Berndt said. “This game we definitely have to come out with a strong start and take control.”
“We’re really looking forward to that rematch with Downingtown East,” Potash said. “We didn’t feel like we gave them our best game the first time we played them in early January, so we’re looking forward to playing them on Saturday. Again, we’re playing them at home now. All those good things happen when you can put together the regular season these girls did. We’re super proud of them.”
Spring-Ford 11-9-14-21 55
Central Bucks East 14-22-18-14 68
Spring-Ford (55)- Lilly Brescia 5 0-0 12; Kareena Preuss 6 4-4 17; Emma Kaercher 1 5-5 7; Miley Maloney 1 3-4 5; Christina Tiffan 1 2-2 4; Haley Prophet 4 2-3 10; TOTALS 18 16-18 55.
Central Bucks East (68) – Sydney Ralph 3 3-4 12; Haley Moran 4 3-4 12; Natalie Berndt 6 1-2 14; Savannah Hayes 1 1-1 3; Delaney Long 3 0-0 7; Jess Lockwood 5 2-2 15; TOTALS 23 10-13 68.
3-point goals: SF – Lilly Brescia 2, Kareen Preuss; CBE – Natalie Berndt 6, Jess Lockwood 3, Sydney Ralph, Haley Moran, Delaney Long.
#6 CHELTENHAM 58, #22 ABINGTON 49
WE ARE HERE!
That was Cheltenham coach Monique Boykins comment after her team punched its ticket to the state tournament, and that pretty much summed it up.
The Lady Panthers – absent from the state tournament for more than a decade – have served notice. They are back.
“The first time in what – 13 years,” junior Maya Simmons said. “This is a great feeling for us. This is something I never felt in my three years of high school, so this is crazy. To keep our season going this long is like something I always wanted to happen for us. The Lady Panther pride is back.”
It’s a remarkable turnaround for a program four years removed from a one-win season.
“When I was at the middle school, I saw what we were walking into, and I was like, ‘How are we going to ever do this?’” Simmons said. “Everyone would say we had what it takes, but I didn’t see it at first.
“At the beginning of the season, we told (Coach Mo) our goals, and she told us she was going to help us accomplish those goals – if we put our all in, she told us she would put her all in, and that’s what we’re doing. We’re taking it game by game. Coach Mo really helped us see the vision and let us know that we could accomplish whatever we wanted as long as we gave effort, energy and played together.”
Wednesday’s game was tightly contested. The Lady Panthers – behind seven points from Jiah Price and six from Cassie Bugg – opened up an 18-11 lead after one quarter, but the Ghosts trimmed that lead to two (26-24) by halftime.
Key stretch: Cheltenham began to seize control with a 17-10 third quarter that was highlighted by seven points from Price and six from Simmons.
Key players: Jiah Price led the Lady Panthers with 22 points. She also had three assists and three steals. Maya Simmons added 21 points, four assists and two steals. Cassie Bugg had nine points and a team-high 11 rebounds. Zoe Thompson had five rebounds and three blocks.
For the Ghosts, Mikiaya Durham had 15 points, and Aniyah Williams added 12 points and 11 rebounds. Maya Johnson had 10 points, seven rebounds and four assists. Shya Crafton finished with seven points and nine rebounds.
Cheltenham junior Maya Simmons: “The game was very intense from the jump. They’re our rivals, and from the jump, everyone was on go – the crowd. Everyone was so engaged. It was just energy all around.
“Our coach helped us control the pace, letting us know – calm down and when to be on go, having more control on offense. Playing great defense was a big part, stopping them before they got on a run.
“We had to put a lot of pressure on their guard, #2 Maya (Johnson). She’s a
great facilitator, so coming into the game, we had the plan – we wanted to shut her down. They have a great shooter, #5 (Mikiaya Durham), and if we shut those two down, everything else will come to us. Paige (Powell) and Zoe (Thompson) were doing a good job guarding them.”
Abington coach Allison Lawson on the game: “We cut the lead to 2 at halftime, but we couldn’t make our foul shots in the second half. We missed 11 foul shots. You cannot expect to win a district game missing 11 foul shots.”
“It’s not the outcome we wanted but we are still playing for a bid to states.”
Next up: Cheltenham (21-3, 10-0 SOL) will travel to #3 Upper Dublin for a quarterfinal matchup Saturday (2:30 pm).
“This is a big moment for us,” Simmons said. “We’re 21-3 and they are two of our losses. We’re not looking forward to a third loss. We’re looking to make this a W. Preparation is key, execution is key and staying together as a team.”
Abington (14-9, 6-4) will be on the road for a playback game at #11 Pennsbury on Saturday.
Abington 11-13-10-15 49
Cheltenham 18-8-17-15 58
Abington (49) – Maya Johnson 4 1-4 10; Mikiaya Durham 5 2-4 15; Shya Crafton 4 1-4 9; Vanessa Griffin 0 1-2 1; Hailey Hernadez 2 0-0 4; Aniyah Williams 4 3-4 12; TOTALS 19 8-18 49.
Cheltenham (58) – Jiah Price 7 6-8 22; Paige Powell 2 0-2 4; Maya Simmons 6 7-10 21; Cassie Bugg 4 1-2 9; Zoe Thompson 1 0-0 2; TOTALS 20 14-22 58.
3-point goals: A – Mikiaya Durham 3, Maya Johnson, Anniyah Williams; C – Jiah Price 2, Maya Simmons 2.
#9 CONESTOGA 40, #8 COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 37
The Golden Hawks had things going their way for the better part of Wednesday’s contest.
They led 14-8 after one quarter and took a 21-13 lead into halftime. They still led 32-28 heading into the final quarter when they were outscored 12-5.
Kathryn O’Kane’s nine-point game led the Golden Hawks.
Council Rock assistant coach Blair Klumpp on the game: “Overall, we’re really proud of the girls’ defensive execution tonight. Conestoga has size and length we didn’t see a lot of throughout the year, and it is tough to simulate in practice. We were really good with our defensive prep and execution, and that’s something you can carry with you. Bella/Fi on Preston, and Fi/Kat/Maria on Jennings played very well. Bella really battled all night defensively, she had to work nonstop. Fi was chasing Jennings all over. We held her to eight, and one was a buzzer beater behind half court at the end of the first quarter with girls on her. It wasn’t a clean look. To hold those two to 22 points is really good. And all the girls in support – whether it was on screens or post – help was really good.
“We did a good job vs their 1-3-1 three-quarter court and got out to a good lead at half. Conestoga came out in the second half, and to their credit, Brown and Neary hit some timely 3s. Neary had a putback late, and Jennings made two free throws with nine seconds left. We had two really good looks (Lil and Kat). Both got up quality threes that didn’t fall. Fi had a really big offensive rebound and awareness to get us the look Kat got.
“We got out of a rhythm a bit offensively in the second half, and they took advantage of that so you give them the credit and you look to learn from it. The good thing is – by getting ourselves a bye, we have the opportunity to continue our season. We will look to have a good prep/practice day ahead of the PW game on Friday. We have a lot to build off of positively from tonight as well learn from it, and the girls have been great with that all year.”
Up next: Council Rock South (20-5, 9-1 SOL) will host #16 Plymouth Whitemarsh in a playback game Friday (4 pm).
Conestoga 8-5-15-12 40
Council Rock South 14-7-11-5 37
Conestoga (40) – Brown 2 0-0 6; Lanovette 1 1-2 3; Ryann Jennings 2 2-2 8; Neary 4 0-0 9; Janie Preston 5 4-6 14; TOTALS 14-7-10 40.
Council Rock South (37) – Sarah Freeman 2 0-0 6; Lil Metrick 2 0-2 6; Maria Freeman 1 0-0 2; Kathryn O’Kane 3 3-4 9; Bella Hettler 2 1-4 5; Fiona Reckner 3 0-0 6; Emerson Gunther 1 0-0 3; TOTALS 14 4-10 37.
3-point goals: C – Brown 2, Jennings 2, Neary; CRS – Sarah Freeman 2, Lil Metric 2, Emerson Gunther.
#1 PERKIOMEN VALLEY 52, #16 PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH 6
The Colonials trailed the top-seeded Vikings 6-2 after one quarter. They were outscored 41-4 over the next two by the Vikings. Quinn Boettinger’s 25 points led PV.
“We kept it a game for one quarter,” PW coach Dan Dougherty said. “It was 6-2, we had chance for last shot of first quarter, but turned the ball over. PV missed, so we still went into second quarter feeling pretty good.
“Early in second quarter Eliza Meersman picked up her third foul, and then Quinn Boettinger went off. Nothing we could do to stop her. Thankful to get a shot to extend our season with playbacks.”
Up next: Plymouth Whitemarsh (18-7, 7-3 SOL) will travel to #8 Council Rock South for a playback game Friday (4 pm).
Plymouth Whitemarsh 2-2-2-0 6
Perkiomen Valley 6-19-22-5 52
Plymouth Whitemarsh (6) – Taylor Williams 2, Live Patete 2, AJ Avery 2.
Perkiomen Valley (52) – Gabby Russo 3, Bella Bacani 3, Julia Smith 8, Kate Nemic 2, Lena Stein 3, Quinn Boettinger 25, Grace Galbavy 8, Smith 8,
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