Souderton and Central Bucks South were winners and will compete in Wednesday’s District One 6A semifinals at Bensalem High School. Upper Dublin and CB East also won in playback games to keep their seasons alive. Souderton/CR North photos provided courtesy of Donna Longacre Photography. Check back for a gallery.
#1-1 SOUDERTON 49, #1-8 COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 39
When Lynn Carroll got her first look at the District One 6A bracket, Souderton’s veteran coach pointed to Saturday’s quarterfinal game against either Council Rock North or Upper Dublin and knew her team would face a tough challenge.
It was Rock North lining up against Souderton on Saturday after the Indians edged Upper Dublin by three points on Wednesday. The game was every bit the war Carroll anticipated.
“That’s a tough team – they’re tough physically, they’re tough mentally, and that was really a good, good battle for us,” Carroll said. “They have some great quality players on their team, and I think our kids again defended well enough.
“I would have liked to have made some more foul shots throughout the game and down the stretch to put it away a little bit more. We shot 58 percent, and we need to do better than that, but we got it done on both ends of the court and made things as tough as we could for them.”
North also made things tough for the host Indians, who led by just a 14-12 score after one quarter. It was junior Megan Walbrandt jumpstarting the home team with seven points. Her 3- pointer with 2:22 remaining broke a 10-10 tie and gave Souderton a lead it would not lose.
Walbrandt shared team and game scoring honors with 11 points on the heels of going scoreless in Souderton’s rout of Haverford three days earlier.
“It honestly doesn’t matter who scores for us,” Walbrandt said. “We have five girls on the floor who are capable of having big nights, and if someone is struggling, it’s not like, ‘Oh my god, we’re going to lose’ because there are four other people willing to step up and work hard to make up for that. There’s not just one person that needs to score 20 points for us to win.”
A baseline three by Megan O’Donnell broke a three-minute scoreless drought for both teams to open the second quarter, and when Megan Bealer turned a steal into a layup, the host Indians led 19-12. They took that seven-point lead into the intermission (26-19) after a half that saw the two teams whistled for a combined 19 fouls.
Rock North – which was led by the nine-point effort of Mackenzie Tinner in the half – had numerous players in foul trouble, most notably floor general Becca Margolis and forward Dana Bandurick.
“I thought down seven with the way we played in the first half and how much foul trouble we had – I was okay with it,” said North coach Lou Palkovics, whose squad had four players with four fouls at game’s end.
Souderton senior Alana Cardona took a seat on the bench after picking up her second foul with 2:38 remaining in the first period.
“It was hard for either team to ever get into too much of a flow because there were so many stoppages,” Carroll said. “It was just one of those kind of games.
“I’m glad nobody fouled out on either team, but you really just have to grit your way through it. You have to understand what’s being called, and you have to adjust.”
Kate Connolly found a cutting Cardona for a bucket to open the second half, and after a North miss, Walbrandt scored on a drive to give Souderton a 30-19 advantage. A bucket by Kaelin Mealey made it a nine-point game, but Bealer scored five straight for the Big Red, including a three that put Souderton on top 35-21.
North closed out the quarter with six straight points. Margolis scored on a drive, and then it was Sydney Blum burying a pair at the foul line. Olivia Boyle connected on a drive, and it was a 35-27 game heading into the final quarter.
A Cardona to Connolly pass for a bucket to open the fourth quarter gave Souderton a 10-point advantage. North trimmed five points off that lead after Bandurick scored on a drive and Margolis hit nothing but net on a three from the top of the circle.
Seconds later, Cardona scored on a strong drive, and after a North turnover, Cardona buried a foul line jumper. A basket by a cutting Tori Dowd with a Cardona assist made it a 43-32 game, and the visiting Indians would get no closer that eight the rest of the way.
Walbrandt and Bealer led a balanced Souderton attack with 11 points each. Cardona had 10 – all in the second half.
Dowd – in addition to providing leadership at point – had eight points and a team-high six rebounds.
“I give Tori credit,” Palkovics said. “We obviously scouted kids, and I didn’t think Tori was as offensive minded.
“I knew she could play, but I didn’t think she was as offensive minded. She’s a big reason they won today.”
A cutting Dowd scored the game’s first basket with a Walbrandt feed, sending a message that she could no be ignored.
“If they’re playing off, make them regret it,” Dowd said. “If other players on my team are being overplayed, I have to be there to relieve them. The more I attack, the more help will come onto me, and they can hit their shots.”
“Tori had a great game,” Cardona said. “She kind of took the team on her back when we weren’t scoring much. She made some hard baskets, and she really attacked the basket.”
Tinner and Margolis both had 11 points to lead North. Tinner also had eight rebounds and two blocked shots. Bandurick added nine points, nine rebounds, one steal and one blocked shot.
Souderton (24-2, 11-1 SOL) will take on fourth-seeded Garnet Valley in Wednesday’s District One 6A semifinals at Bensalem at 7:30 p.m. Council Rock North (18-7, 10-2) will travel to Abington for a playback game on Wednesday. The two teams split the regular season meetings.
Council Rock North 12-7-8-12 39
Souderton 14-12-9-14 49
Council Rock North (39) – Becca Margolis 4 0-0 11 Dana Bandurick 2 5-6 9; Sydney Blum 0 2-2 2; Olivia Boyle 2 0-0 4; Kaelin Mealey 1 0-0 2; Mackenzie Tinner 2 7-8 11; TOTALS 11 14-16 39.
Souderton (49) – Tori Dowd 3 2-5 8; Megan Bealer 3 4-4 11; Alana Cardona 3 4-4 10; Megan Walbrandt 4 2-2 11; Megan O’Donnell 1 1-2 4; Kate Connolly 2 1-7 5; TOTALS 16-14-24 49.
3-point goals: Souderton – Megan Bealer, Megan Walbrandt, Megan O’Donnell; CR North – Becca Margolis 3.
#1-2 CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 43, #1-10 NESHAMINY 39
It would be hard to blame Alexa Brodie if she thought that playing in a district semifinal game was nothing more than an annual event since – thanks to Saturday’s come-from-behind win over the Redskins – the Titans are returning to the District One 6A semifinal for the third time in as many years where they will face third-seeded Spring-Ford.
The Titans are hoping to take the next step this time around, advancing to the program’s first district title game.
“Alexa Brodie only knows basketball at CB South as playing in the district semifinal,” coach Beth Mattern said. “I think that’s an amazing accomplishment.
“We’re definitely proud of it, but we’re trying not to settle. We’ll have our hand full with Spring-Ford, but it’s the district semifinal and that’s what it’s about. It’s about competition, playing your best, leaving it all out on the court and we’re going to try and do that on Wednesday.”
The Titans had their hands full in Saturday’s quarterfinal against an inspired Redskin squad that had the lead for the better part of three quarters.
“I think it was nerves,” Brodie said. “As much as you want to say that it’s just a regular game, you know that there’s higher stakes to it than that.”
Adding to the nerves may have been the large partisan crowd in attendance.
“The only thing that comes close to it is our Coaches versus Cancer game,” Brodie said. “When you’re this far in the district tournament, it’s always nice to have a good environment, especially on our home court to have so many people come out and support us.”
The Titans took an early 6-4 lead when Brodie scored off the dribble after coming up with a steal. Back-to-back threes by Allison Harvey and Olivia Scotti put the Redskins on top 13-9, and another Harvey basket gave the Redskins a 15-9 lead after one quarter.
Not a whole lot changed in a second quarter that saw the two teams combine for nine points. The Redskins led 20-13 at the intermission. A three-point play by Maddie McShane made it a 25-20 game with 3:20 remaining in the third period, but Scotti buried her second three of the game to up the Neshaminy lead to 28-20.
Caroline McSorley sank a pair at the foul line, and a fastbreak bucket by Mackenzie Ehresman pulled the Titans within four, 28-24. When McSorley scored on a putback at the buzzer, the Titans trailed by just one (30-29).
“It was intense,” senior Haley Meinel said. “This was a really big game for us. We want to keep going further.
“I think a really big thing was fouls shots (the Titans were 19-for-33) – we kept missing them, and we really need to hit those. Towards the end we did, and that’s what we needed.”
Neshaminy’s Emily Tantala converted two foul shots in the opening moments of the final quarter, but Meinel – after connecting on one-of-two at the foul line – buried an outside shot to knot the score 32-32.
Brooke Mullin found Kristin Curley for an easy bucket, but Brodie answered with a basket at the other end. It was still a 36-36 game midway through the quarter after Curley sank both shots of a two-shot technical for a flagrant foul.
On back-to-back possessions, Meinel found herself on the foul line, converting three-of-four to put the Titans on top 39-36. Later in the quarter, Mullin made it a two-point game after sinking a pair at the line, but Brodie knotted the score by doing the same at the other end, giving the Titans a 42-38 lead on their way to the big win.
“We struggled a lot in the first half, and when we came out with strong defense, I think we really pushed it for our transition,” Meinel said.
“I think in the first half, we had some trouble getting stops,” Brodie said. “I think when we settled in in the second half and started digging in on defense, that allowed us to get into a flow more on offense.”
Brodie led all scorers with 15 points, which included a 7-for-10 effort at the foul line. Meinel added 12 points, and Ehresman had six.
“Their players made plays,” Neshaminy coach Joe Lally said. “Haley (Meinel) and Alexa (Brodie) are tough, and you can’t disregard the other players on the team.
“They play a team game, and they’re really well coached. They just keep at it. They never get fazed, they really don’t. We just have to learn to finish games like that.
“Our kids play hard, and I can’t take that from them. I’m always proud of them. They give maximum effort, but when we needed a play, we couldn’t get it tonight. When they did, they got it. You’ve got to take your hat off to them.”
Mullin’s effort topped the list of gutsy performances in Saturday’s game. Earlier in the day Saturday, the Redskins’ senior got six stiches in her hand. She didn’t let that stand in the way of making major contributions, scoring 12 points and leading the ‘Skins under the backboards. Scotti had a team-high 13 points, and Curley added seven.
While Neshaminy (18-6, 10-2 SOL) will face Plymouth Whitemarsh in a playback game on Wednesday, Central Bucks South (23-3, 10-2) will take on Spring-Ford in a district semifinal game on Wednesday at Bensalem at 6 p.m.
“This is a big game for us, and we really want to push it and come out stronger because we’ve been coming out pretty weak lately,” Meinel said.
“Coach just said after the game – all I know all three years I’ve been here is making it to the district semifinals because that’s what we’ve done every single year,” Brodie said. “Obviously coming into Wednesday, we want to take that next step and get to Temple on Saturday.”
Neshaminy 15-5-10-9 39
Central Bucks South 9-4-16-14 43
Neshaminy (39) – Emily Tantala 0 2-2 2; Olivia Scotti 4 3-4 13; Brooke Mullin 4 3-6 12; Kristin Curley 2 3-3 7; Allison Harvey 2 0-0 5; TOTALS 12 11-13 39.
Central Bucks South (43) – Caroline McSorley 1 2-2 4; Lindsay Scott 0 0-2 0; Haley Meinel 4 4-6 12; Natalie DiSandro 0 1-2 1; Alexa Brodie 4 7-10 15; Maddie McShane 1 3-3 5; Mackenzie Ehresman 2 2-8 6; TOTALS 12 19-33 43.
3-point goals: Neshaminy – Olivia Scotti 2, Brooke Mullin.
District One 6A Playback
#1-9 UPPER DUBLIN 52 #1-16 HAVERFORD 19
Still stinging from their heartbreaking three-point loss to Council Rock North three days earlier, the Flying Cardinals, according to coach Morgan Funsten, took out their frustration on the unsuspecting Fords.
“Me and my captains – Nicole Kaiser and Maggie Weglos – had a long talk yesterday after practice, and it was a really good talk,” the Cardinals’ coach said. “It had to do with our survivability right now.
“I said – normally, we have one to two games a year that are absolutely heartbreaking losses. This year we’ve had four if you count the two PW games, the triple overtime loss to Lancaster Catholic and Wednesday’s loss to Council Rock North – end-of-the-world type losses. We had a long talk about – how can we get better as a team?
“What we came out of the conversation with was – our will to win needs to be better. We haven’t won any close games this year. All of our wins have been pretty lopsided. We don’t have any single-digit wins, and we have five single-digit losses and two overtime losses.”
Weglos and Kaiser asked Funsten for the opportunity to address the team in a players only meeting before Saturday’s game.
“I’ve never had captains ask to do this,” he said. “Whatever they said to the girls worked in terms of creating energy.
“The other players on the team would have run through a brick wall. What ended up happening – we had a couple of early turnovers, but once we settled down a little bit and played with the same energy, we really took it to Haverford.”
The Cardinals led 8-4 and then reeled off a 15-0 tear to seize complete control of the game early. They took a 23-10 lead into halftime and added to that in the second half, outscoring their visitors 29-9.
“We feel like we’ve had a successful season so far, we think and hope there are several more games to go in our season,” Funsten said. “The frustration of these close games – we need to toughen up and find ways to win games. We thought that maybe not everybody’s desire to win was matching the teams we were losing to. That’s what they talked to the team about.”
Kaiser led the Cardinals with 14 points, which included two threes. She also had five rebounds. Freshman Dayna Balasa added 13 points (two 3-pointers) and five rebounds.
“Dayna has gone through the season as our shooter,” Funsten said. “Her 3-pointers made are one of the tops in the whole area and probably state.
“Over the past couple of weeks since playoffs started, there’s been a change in her in practice with the other aspects of her game, and she is becoming more than just our shooter and becoming more one of our top players. She’s improving as a defender, she’s improving as a ball handler and passer. She is bringing us more than just being a shooter, and I think that is going to continue to make us better.”
Freshman Jess Polin added eight points, four steals and three assists. Sophomore Jackie Vargas contributed eight points, five rebounds and four blocks, and Weglos had six points, six rebounds and four assists.
Upper Dublin (21-5, 12-2 SOL) will host Central Bucks East in a playback game on Wednesday. The Cardinals defeated East 56-33 in an early-season meeting.
“I’m sure they’re excited to get another chance at us because they definitely did not play up to their level,” Funsten said. “They played a tough schedule, they have some great wins, they have some really close losses against good teams. I’m certain they’re excited to play us again, and we have to be ready to play.”
Haverford 4-6-3-4 19
Upper Dublin 10-13-18-11 52
Haverford (19) Erin Doherty 1 1-2 3; Hope Coacher 1 0-1 2; Annalena O’Reilly 0 2-2 2; Erin Kelly 1 2-4 4; Lindsay Lane 3 2-5 8; TOTALS 6 7-14 19.
Upper Dublin (52) – Anajae Smith 1 0-0 2; Nicole Kaiser 6 0-0 14; Jess Polin 3 0-0 8; Sarah Eskew 1 0-0 2; Maggie Weglos 3 0-0 6; Dayna Balasa 4 3-3 13; Jackie Vargas 2 3-4 7; TOTALS 20 6-7 52.
3-point field goals: UD – Nicole Kaiser 2, Jess Polin 2, Dayna Balasa 2.
#1-12 CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 56, #1-13 CONESTOGA 33
The Patriots kept their season alive with a no-doubt-about-it win over the Pioneers, opening up a 14-2 lead after one quarter and going into halftime on top 24-14. They outscored their hosts 32-19 in the second half.
“It was a really good team win – we had 18 assists as a team,” coach Liz Potash said.
Junior Caroline Pla led a balanced Patriot attack with 14 points, which included four 3-pointers.
“She’s doing a nice job for us,” Potash said. “She went through a little bit of a shooting slump. It’s not like she wasn’t getting the same shots, she just wasn’t making them for a little stretch in the middle. It’s been nice that she’s been back on.”
Bailey McManus had three 3-pointers and scored 11 points. Sophia Mancuso added nine points.
“We were hitting some outside shots,” Potash said. “A lot of good things happened today.”
The Patriots’ defense forced 17 turnovers and limited 6-5 center Katie Mayock, a Saint Joseph’s signee, to just 12 points.
“She’s tough to defend,” Potash said. “Elyse Shine and Audrey LaBouliere did a great job executing how we needed to do that.
“She ended up with 12, but a lot of them were from the foul line in the fourth quarter, so they really did a nice job. She was the biggest piece. Their guards were guards we knew we could play with and handle.”
Central Bucks East (16-9, 7-5 SOL) will travel to Upper Dublin on Wednesday for a playback game. The winner will earn a berth to the state tournament. The two teams met in the second game of the season, a 56-33 Upper Dublin win.
“We owe them a much better game than we gave the second game of the year,” Potash said. “The girls are looking forward to a opportunity to hopefully give them a much better game. The only game we lost bad all year was to Upper Dublin the second game of the year. We’ve come a long way since opening weekend, so we’ll head over there and give it a shot.”
Central Bucks East 14-10-15-17 56
Conestoga 2-12-8-11 33
Central Bucks East (56) – Sophia Mancuso 9, Skylar Krause 2, Caroline Pla 14, Madi Gregor 2, Audrey LaBouliere 4, Bailey McManus 11, Gabby Wilga 4, Elyse Shine 5.
Conestoga (33) – Esbenshade 5, Klinger 2, Weiss 5, Lortz 5, Scott 4, Mayock 12.
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