CB East defeated Methacton in Saturday’s seventh place game. (Photo provided courtesy of CB East basketball)
Class 6A Seventh Place
#11 CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 54, #5 METHACTON 51
If the Patriots were looking to head into the state tournament on a high note, Saturday’s road win at fifth-seeded Methacton should go a long way toward doing just that.
“We talk to the girls a lot about going into states on a positive note,” East coach Liz Potash said. “We were really disappointed with our play Wednesday (in a 58-41 playback loss to North Penn).
“It was not indicative of the way we’ve played the entire season, so we really wanted a good, strong showing win or lose.”
There was also the not-so-little matter that Methacton had sent the Patriots home for the season in districts last year, defeating East 61-55.
“There was that little edge and we want to go into states on a good note, and we want to take it back to Methacton because that’s who ended our season,” Potash said. “We were very pleased with the effort. Winning was obviously always the goal, but for us to be able to have a really good showing heading into Friday we thought was really important.”
The Patriots set the early tone for the game, opening up a 14-7 lead after one quarter and took a 23-17 lead into halftime. Mia Salvati’s nine points led East.
“Our practices on Thursday and Friday were much more defensive focused,” Potash said. “We held them to 17 in the first half, which was big.”
The Patriots still led 35-31 heading into the final quarter, and they sealed the Warriors’ fate at the foul line, burying 15-of-18 shots at the charity stripe while the Warriors connected on just 6-of-18 at the line in the final quarter.
“I thought the story was our composure at the end,” Potash said. “We made a bunch of foul shots, and they really struggled at the line. We were able to do just enough to pull out of there with a win.”
Emily Chmiel (18 points) and Salvati (16 points) led the Patriots. Chmiel had six points in the fourth quarter, including a 2-for-2 effort at the line. Salvati was 5-for-6 at the line in the fourth quarter while Emily Barry and Aubrey DeAngelis were both 4-for-4 at the charity stripe in the quarter. DeAngelis also was in double figures with 10. Barry added six points – all at the foul line.
“Gabby (Wilga) only had four points, but I thought she played with a ton of energy, and she did some really good things for us,” Potash said. “Methacton is very physical and scrappy.
“Being able to tie them up with loose balls, Mia (Salvati) took a charge in the first half that was big, we got a lot of defensive rebounds – we just executed a lot of things that we were really disappointed with in our play on Wednesday.”
Sophomore Nicole Timko’s 24 points, which included five 3s, led all scorers.
Central Bucks East (18-9, 8-4 SOL) will face District 12 runner-up Central in an opening round game of the PIAA 6A Tournament on Friday. Methacton – which has lost its last three games – will face District 3 runner-up Central York on Friday.
“We weren’t shy in telling the girls that winning this game – you stayed a lot closer for the first round of states, and we have Central instead of going out to District 3,” Postash said.
Central Bucks East 14-9-12-19 54
Methacton 7-10-14-20 51
Central Bucks East (54) – Gabby Wilga 1 2-4 4; Mia Salvati 4 7-8 16; Elise Duffy 0 0-1 0; Emily Chmiel 6 6-6 18; Emily Barry 0 6-8 6; Aubrey DeAngelis 2 4-4 10; Totals 13 25-31 54.
Methacton (51) – Cassidy Kropp 2 0-2 5; Sydney Tornetta 4 1-8 9; Caroline Pellicano 2 0-2 4; Sydney Hargrove 1 0-0 2; Nicole Timko 7 5-6 24; Tori Bockroth 1 0-0 2; Mairi Smith 2 0-0 4; Torres 0 1-2 1; Totals 19 7-21 51.
3-point goals: CBE – Mia Salvati, Methacton – Nicole Timko 5, Cassidy Kropp.
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