Upper Dublin & CB East advanced to the District 1 6A semifinals, and Abington stayed alive in its quest for a state berth. Abington/Pennsbury photos courtesy of Darryl Rule of J&D Photography, and UD/Cheltenham photos courtesy of Gregory Lindsay. CLICK HERE to go directly to Suburban One Sports' GIRLS' BASKETBALL GALLERIES.
District 1 6A quarterfinals
#3 UPPER DUBLIN 48, #6 CHELTENHAM 42 (OT)
The scoreboard clock showed just 3:36 remaining in regulation when Cheltenham’s Zoe Thompson – a force in the paint the entire game – scored on a putback to give the Lady Panthers a 39-35 lead.
Cheltenham had not only taken the lead but erased a 13-point halftime deficit with a dazzling 24-7 tear. Momentum was firmly on their side.
Until, that is, freshman Ella Morris hit nothing but net on a 3-pointer to give the Cardinals a much-needed boost of confidence. She also connected on one of two at the foul line to knot the score 39-39 with 2:10
remaining.
“That’s a confident girl,” UD coach Morgan Funsten said. “She’s wise beyond her years. I’ve said that all year about her and Lexi (Ngo). The moment’s not too big for either one of them. Ella – we always joke around – she’s always shot ready in a good way.
“She’ll step up in any situation. I know against Pennsbury and CB East – our last two games – my comment afterward was ‘Ella plays like a senior out there.’ You surround her with some really high IQ players. It’s exciting.”
Exciting could safely describe Saturday’s quarterfinal game, which the Cardinals came back to tie and then win in overtime.
Zoe Thompson – who had four blocks in the third quarter - ensured the game would go into overtime with a block as time wound down in regulation.
A basket by Tamia Clark on UD’s opening possession of overtime made it a 42-40 game, and then a pair of foul shots by Clark upped the lead to four. A putback by Jiah Price made it a two-point game, but out of a timeout, Morris’ inbound pass found a streaking Megan Ngo for a layup and a 46-42 lead. After a Cheltenham miss, Lexi Ngo sealed the Lady Panthers’ fate by sinking a pair at the foul line.
“In the third quarter, they were outrebounding us, getting easy shots,” Megan Ngo said. “I just think we weren’t focused.
“It was kind of just – ‘Hey, stay in it mentally, refocus and get back to doing what we wanted to do from the beginning of the game.”
There was no mistaking coach Morgan Funsten’s relief and pride after this one.
“Obviously, the third quarter was not a good quarter for us, but to be able to keep fighting - that was the message at every timeout, ‘Hey, we just have to find a way to keep fighting,’ and we have a bunch of fighters,” Funsten said. “I was proud of being able to force overtime. I thought we played a great overtime period.”
Add Lexi Ngo to the list of fighters on UD’s roster. The freshman found herself doing most of the ball handling since Cheltenham’s Paige Powell was face guarding Megan Ngo the length of the court.
“Obviously, Megan is our main ballhandler, but when she needs help, I’m trying help her as much as I can and step up,” Lexi Ngo said.
Lexi finished with six points, including a nifty baseline drive earlier in the fourth quarter. She also had three assists and one steal with no turnovers and was more than capable of assuming the role of floor general when her sister was defended.
“It’s different, but my AAU program – Comets, it kind of prepares me for the high levels I’m playing here,” Lexi said. “I’m just trying to play like I’m not a freshman.”
With the win, the Cardinals – who are without junior sharpshooter Emilia Coleman (transfer ineligible) -are in the final four of the district, and they did it with a pair of freshmen – Morris and Lexi Ngo – playing prominent roles in the starting lineup.
“We trust them,” Megan Ngo said of the freshmen. “Lexi is new in the starting lineup, but she was great handling the ball for us because I was being face guarded.
“Her and Ella (Morris) have done a great job for us all season of just stepping up when we needed them to. Today was a great example - I thought they really stepped up.
“Emilia is an amazing player, and it’s really unfortunate, but I’m really proud of her because she’s really helping us at practice. It’s great to play against her in practice because she’s as good as any of the players that we play. It’s definitely a change, but our freshmen stepped up, and I think everyone takes a step up. It’s really exciting to be in the final four especially since the lineup changed.”
Saturday’s win assures the Cardinals of a home state playoff game.
“That means a lot – having all our fans especially here, it brings up the energy,” Lexi Ngo said.
Key players: Tamia Clark’s 15 points led the Cardinals with six of those coming in OT. She also had 12 rebounds. Ella Morris added 12 points, which included three 3’s.
For the Lady Panthers, Maya Simmons led the way with 15 points – six in Cheltenham’s third quarter comeback. Zoe Thompson added 13 points – seven in the third quarter while Simmons had six in the third.
Upper Dublin coach Morgan Funsten: “At halftime, things were feeling good, but they’re explosive. You saw that in the third quarter. A lot of things went wrong for us, but to be down four with a couple minutes to go. Ella Morris stepped up and hit that big 3.
“It just seemed the ball was slippery when we were trying to get defensive rebounds today. It’s something we’ve got to work on, but this is definitely a gritty win.”
“(Cheltenham’s Zoe Thompson) is an athlete, and she’s tough to attack. I thought Tamia did a good job continuing to attack despite not getting many calls when she was attacking.”
--Lexi steady at point: “I think Lexi would be the starting point guard on almost any team in the district. Lexi and Megan haven’t gotten to play a lot together. Unfortunately, Megan doesn’t get to practice a lot because she’s still rehabbing her knee. It’s something I think they’ll continue to get better at.”
Up next: Upper Dublin (23-4, 8-0 SOL) will travel to #2 Garnet Valley for a District 1 6A semifinal contest on Tuesday (7 pm). Cheltenham (21-4, 10-0 SOL) will host #10 Haverford in a playback game
Cheltenham 9-6-18-7-2 42
Upper Dublin 12-16-3-9-8 48
Cheltenham (42) – Jiah Price 3 0-2 7; Paige Powell 1 1-4 3; Maya Simmons 7 0-1 15; Cassie Bugg 2 0-0 4; Zoe Thompson 5 3-5 13; TOTALS 18 4-12 42.
Upper Dublin (48) – Bridget DiMartile 3 2-2 9; Tamia Clark 7 4-5 18; Megan Ngo 1 1-2 3; Lexi Ngo 2 2-2 6; Ella Morris 4 1-2 12; TOTALS 17 10-13 48.
3-point goals: C – Jiah Price, Maya Simmons; UD – Ella Morris 3, Bridget DiMartile.
#4 CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 46, #5 DOWNINGTOWN EAST 24
Defense – the suffocating, in-your-face defense that all but brings opponents to their knees - was unquestionably the story of East’s win. Saturday’s district quarterfinal was a far cry from the initial meeting between the two teams, a 55-44 Downingtown East win.
“We gave up 55 when we played them on Jan. 4,” East coach Liz Potash said. “I said to the girls after the game, ‘Ladies, you just held them to less points in the whole game than we gave up in the first quarter. We gave up 25 points in the first quarter when we played them the first time. It was 25-10 after one quarter, and we could never recover.
“That was one of those games – and I don’t do this often – where at the time you’re like, ‘I’m just throwing this film out. It’s not worth watching.’ We knew after the first quarter that we did things better, and we actually cut it to eight in the fourth quarter when we played them. I knew it was just a bad first quarter. It was really bad, and we didn’t go back and watch it. It kind of was a cringeworthy thing in our minds.”
Saturday’s rematch might well have been cringeworthy for the Cougars, whose frustration was impossible to miss.
“You can just hear them talking to each other, going back and forth once you get into their head, and it’s honestly just even more motivating when they get frustrated because you know you’re doing something right,” said East senior Savannah Hayes, who was a catalyst on defense.”
Behind six points from Haley Moran, the Patriots led 11-7 after one quarter. Jess Lockwood buried a pair of 3s in the second quarter, and the Patriots led 23-14 at halftime.
The Cougars, who managed just 10 points in the second half, never threatened.
Key players: Sophomore Haley Moran led the Patriots with 17 points – 11 in the second half. Jess Lockwood added 13 points.
Central Bucks East coach Liz Potash on the rematch; “I knew we were getting them, and I was excited – we’re always up for a great rematch. I just avoided watching the last game, and then this morning I was like, ‘No, I’ve got to watch the whole thing.’ I was so focused on some of their more recent games, thinking that game was so bad – what am I going to get out of it? I got up this morning and forced myself to sit there and watch every single second of it, and I’m glad I did. I knew that’s not who we normally are, and I knew it was only the first quarter. I picked up some things and I thought, ‘All right, we’re okay today.’
“I obviously expected a much closer game, but we did some different things defensively. It’s always cliché because we have games where we defend better than others, but when you play defense like that – we’re going to score more than 24 points in a game. Even games where we’ve struggled to score, we’re still scoring in the 30s. You’re not going to hold us under 24 when you have Jess, Haley, Nat and Syd. Of course, I wouldn’t have thought we could hold them to 24 for the game, but defensively, it’s all we worked on, it’s all we talked about the last two days. We gave up too much inside to Spring-Ford especially in the fourth quarter.”
--Props: “Yesterday in practice, (assistant coach) Lisa (Garner) said to them, ‘Any points they score have to be difficult, they have to earn them. No one scores easily,’ and they did it. There were no easy scores tonight. You take it for granted, but Natalie Berndt’s defense on ball one-on-one is so unbelievable. I can’t imagine what it’s like to having her defend. She held their leading scorer – Kendall Chiavelli – to four, and that girl can score. I think she’s averaging 16 a game, and she just frustrated her from the start.
“Haley Moran – the first time we played them – got herself in foul trouble, so we had to play a good chunk of the game without her, and today, she was frustrating their point guard.
“I thought the defense Savannah Hayes played on (Charlotte) Aldridge was outstanding. She’s probably their second or third leading scorer, but the way she plays – she can get her shot off quick, and just watching her the last couple of games – we just decided that’s the one we’re going after. We’re going to completely try and shut her down. We thought we’d have to give Savannah breaks – let Syd help at times. Savannah was so good. She held her to two points, and I think she averages about 10, but the way that she frustrated her and never let her get going anything in their offense. When you have those kinds of pieces in play, I guess it leads to holding them to 24 a game.”
Central Bucks East senior Savannah Hayes on the game: “I feel like the last time we had a much slower start. Today we came out really energized and really just ready to play. Especially on our home court, I think the energy was really there as opposed to the last game against them when it wasn’t. I think we were all just very focused on executing our game plan, so it worked out well.”
--Lockdown defense on Aldridge: “Just in general knowing my role and knowing exactly what I need to do is always really helpful. When I go into a game without a matchup or with not a lot of information on my matchup, it’s hard to do really well. I knew exactly what I needed to do, and I give all the credit for that to my coaches because their game plan was really good.
“The last time, we weren’t as focused on shutting her down or taking her out of the game. Their whole team is very good. We recognized then and now that they’re all kind of a threat, but even just taking out a piece of that completely made a big difference.”
Up next: Central Bucks East (22-5, 9-1 SOL) will travel to top-seeded Perkiomen Valley for a District 1 6A semifinal contest on Wednesday (6 pm).
“It’s super exciting – I’m really glad we’re in this position for my senior year,” Hayes said. “It’s probably my last season of basketball.
“I don’t even really mind that they’re very good. It’s just going to be a fun game for us. We just have to come out and try our best and bring all the energy that we can. I’m so grateful that we’re doing so well this year, especially for my senior season.”
Perk Valley is hardly a stranger to the Patriots.
“Two years ago, we saw them in the second round, last year was the third round, and now you’re not seeing them until the fourth round,” Potash said. “Today was so big – unbelievable, you’re guaranteed a top four spot in the district. It makes all the difference for states.
“What a great opportunity. You know you’re not going to see better competition than (Perk Valley). We’ve matched up with them three years in a row in districts. I’m looking forward to it. You’ve got nothing to lose. All the pressure is on them. It’s going to be tough. You know you have to hold them to one shot, you know you have to take care of the ball well, all those things, but honestly, if you still haven’t had a loss this late in districts, something is going well, so we’ll take it.”
Downingtown East 7-7-5-5 24
Central Bucks East 11-12-8-15 46
Downingtown East (24) – Charlotte Aldridge 1 0-0 2; Chloe Hunold 1 1-2 3; Jazlyn Boyd 1 0-0 2; Kendall Chiavelli 2 0-2 4; Grace Hodges 5 0-0 12; Izzy Haag 0 1-2 1; TOTALS 10 2-6 24.
Central Bucks East (46) – Sydney Ralph 2 0-0 4; Haley Moran 6 4-4 17; Natalie Berndt 2 2-2 8; Savannah Hayes 1 2-4 4; Jess Lockwood 4 2-2 13; TOTALS 15 10-12 46.
3-point goals: DE – Grace Hodges 2; CBE – Jess Lockwood 3, Natalie Berndt 2, Haley Moran.
District 1 6A playbacks
#22 ABINGTON 47, #11 PENNSBURY 36
It had been close to three months since Pennsbury – on the Ghosts’ home court – defeated Abington 43-33. On Saturday, the two teams met in a high stakes rematch, and this time, the Ghosts turned the tables on the Falcons.
“We knew if we would get up on offense that the defense that we play would work,” Abington coach Allison Lawson said. “Our defense won us this game. We knew we had to lock in, and everyone stepped up.
“When we played them the first time, we tried chasing them around, and that doesn’t work with us.”
The Ghosts opened up a 14-8 lead after one quarter and upped that to 28-17 by halftime. Providing the offense that set the tone were Aniyah Williams and Maya Johnson, who combined for 23 of their team’s first-half points.
Williams had 12 of her 17 points in the first half – nine in the second quarter.
“She was working the baseline a lot, getting behind the defenders, and Maya was getting into the paint, touching the lane, finding her and she was hitting the shots,” Lawson said. “She was popping out off the screen, and she knocked down two 3s in the first half. We were feeding the hot hand.”
The two teams exchanged baskets in the second half, and the Falcons never could cut into the Ghosts’ lead, and Abington – the 22nd seed in a tournament field of 24 teams – is one win away from earning a state berth.
“We had a tough schedule this year because last year we were really, really good,” Lawson said. “I knew it was going to take a while for us to become our team, not the Abington team from last year but the team this year. We don’t play the same way – last year we were all over the floor, trapping, pressing, pushing. Now, we’re playing team basketball. We all have to come together. We can’t just give the ball to just one person. I’m
proud, they’re proud.
“Even after our Cheltenham loss (58-49 in the second round), I’m like – ‘Listen, we played well, but the third quarter killed us, and that can’t happen here.’ They know how to play together, and they get along on and off the court, which is awesome, and when that translates onto the court, you can see how well they play together.”
Key players: Senior Maya Johnson was the undisputed catalyst for the Ghosts, finishing with 19 points, six assists and three steals. Aniyah Williams added 17 points, seven rebounds and three assists. Shya Crafton added six points, five rebounds and two blocks.
For the Falcons, sophomore Sammie Haws led the way with 16 points, which included five 3-pointers.
Abington coach Allison Lawson: “We played team basketball today. When we play like this and make the extra pass on offense and communicate on defense, we are a really hard team to beat. This was a great win for them – I knew they didn’t want to go home.”
“We took our time on offense, found the open person, made the extra pass, and it worked well. Defensive-wise, we weren’t trying to reach. We were keeping the girl in front of us communicating.”
--Johnson in charge: “Maya (Johnson) played an overall game, she was a leader on the court from start to finish. She’s a vet – she’s been playing for a while, and she made plays offensively and defensively. She controlled the tempo, she controlled the game. That’s why I told her, ‘If you don’t want to go home and want your season to end, I need you to become a leader today.’ She locked in, and that’s what she did.”
Pennsbury coach Frank Sciolla on the game: “Abington came out ready to play today and early on. They made us pay when we didn’t locate shooters. It’s a difficult
team to chase, and early on, Aniyah Wiliams got loose and built confidence, and then for most of the game, Maya Johnson controlled it with her floor generalship. In our first game, she was in foul trouble, and that really hurt them but this time she was able to play the whole game and she showed like a player who has 100 varsity games under her belt. We’ve played against her a few times, so we know how good she can be and how good she is. All credit goes to the Ghosts.”
--Seniors answer the call: “It’s hard to be anything but completely grateful for the experience we had this year. I know that we are used to playing closer to Saint Patty’s Day then Valentine’s Day, but I’m sure there was likely a belief that we might struggle, and I understand it, and to be honest, I realized that after the first week of December when we were looking for answers.
“And we found those answers in a senior class that capped off an incredible four-year experience. They improved every year, changed their roles and served as leaders for our large group of underclassmen.
“I suppose I can say it now because the season is over, but Maggie Burns played the entire year with one arm. I’m not sure if anyone noticed it during the year or recognized it, but playing with one arm is really difficult. She couldn’t participate in many of the shooting drills, and we had to be careful with her consistently at practice, but she never complained. She never pulled herself out of practice. She never shied away from a loose ball
or taking a charge or grabbing a rebound. When she would come out of games, she would have to slap your hand with her left hand because often she couldn’t get her right arm above her shoulder. Her combination of intelligence and raw toughness will be talked about for a long time.
“Everyone knows that Ava Jordan is a fantastic athlete and a multi-sport athlete, but she really stepped up her game this year, and she’s so competitive and she willed us to so many big wins. Caroline Stover made herself a part of this program and proved that she deserved to be here and set an example for so many kids who watch us play, and every time she got on the floor, she gave us everything she had. And Carley Sicilia, my manager and perhaps the best consigliere I’ve ever had in my 29 years, led from the sidelines and in the locker room.”
--The season: “I’ve never been a slave to external expectations. I’m long past feeling any pressure to perform. Yet I can still be surprised. And this team was a boost at a time when my staff and I needed it. I feel like I’ve said something like this a few times, but perhaps never as honestly as now when I say that this team squeezed every single piece of their ability out of what they have, and they were an absolute joy to coach. God, I have been so lucky with this game And they are just another example of it.”
Up next: Abington (14-9, 6-2 SOL) will travel to #7 Downingtown West for a playback game Wednesday (6 pm). The winner will earn a state berth. Pennsbury closed out its season with a 15-11 record overall. The Falcons were 7-3 in the SOL Patriot.
Abington 14-14-11-8 47
Pennsbury 8-9-9-10 36
Abington (47) – Maya Johnson 6 5-6 19; Mikiaya Durham 2 0-0 6; Shya Crafton 1 1-2 3; Hailey Hernandez 1 0-0 2; Aniyah Williams 7 1-4 17; TOTALS 17 7-12 47.
Pennsbury (36) – Bridget McGonigle 0 2-2 2; Maggie Burns 2 0-1 4; Sammie Haws 5 1-4 16; Alyssa Thomas 0 2-2 2; Ava Jordan 2 2-2 6; Keira Socha 2 0-0 6; TOTALS 11 7-11 36.
3-point goals: A – Maya Johnson 2, Mikiaya Durham 2, Aniyah Williams 2; P -Sammie Haws 5, Keira Socha 2.
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