Abington, Upper Dublin & CR North were winners in District 1 6A playback games on Friday. CR North/Downingtown East photos provided courtesy of John Gleeson. Check back for a gallery of photos.
Class 6A Playback Games
Third Place
#1-3 ABINGTON 74, #1-4 SPRING-FORD 55
There are bounce-back wins and then there are wins like Friday’s that erase any doubts about exactly how dangerous this Ghost team could be in the state tournament.
Abington – showing no ill effects from Wednesday’s 44-28 district semifinal loss to Neshaminy – opened up an early lead and never looked back on its way to a no-doubt-about-it win over the fourth-seeded Rams.
“This was huge,” coach Dan Marsh said. “We had a great team meeting yesterday. The girls all admitted that they felt a tremendous amount of pressure to follow the boys to Temple, and we just didn’t play our game.
“Our focus was to get back to doing what we do well, and that’s playing fast, sharing the ball and doing what we do. They did a really good job of that tonight. We established our pace, our style from the get-go and were able to continue that through the whole game.”
The Ghosts seized control from the outset, opening up a 20-9 lead after one quarter. Tamia Wessels was on fire from long range, burying three three-pointers. Lexow had a three and five points, and Kassondra Brown had seven points, setting the tone for another big night from the senior center.
“We jumped on them early,” Marsh said. “They made a couple of runs at us. We were up 13-0 to start and kind of kept it at that the whole time. They made a couple of runs at us, but we ran back at them.”
The Ghosts – led by Brown’s 12 first-half points – took a commanding 37-23 lead into halftime. The Ghosts went on to outscore the Rams in all four quarters.
Brown was at her dominating best in the paint, finishing with a game-high 23 points, 17 rebounds and five blocked shots. Wessels added 15 points while Lexow had 14 and freshman point guard Khalis Whiting had 12. Miranda Liebtag chipped in seven points in a contest that saw six different Abington players connected from beyond the arc.
“Kassondra was huge, but it was everybody,” Marsh said. “Tamia had 15, Cam had 14, Khalis had 12. It was just an all-around (effort).
“In the Neshaminy game, I think we resorted to playing one-on-one basketball and not sharing the ball the way that we do. I reminded them of that – that’s not how we got here. We got here by sharing the ball. We’re a team that has four kids who average 11 points or more. We do that because we share the ball, and we had to get back to that.
“Also, the way we play defense – I thought we played tentative on Wednesday, afraid to foul because they didn’t want to mess up. They got back to being aggressive tonight. Khalis got in foul trouble, but it’s okay because we got back to the way we play.”
Marsh acknowledged the significance of coming back strong after his team’s semifinal loss to Neshaminy.
“It was really, really important for us to get back on track, and they knew it too,” the Ghosts’ coach said. “I heard them talking, Kassondra pulling them together – ‘Hey, this is where we start over. We re-start our engines,’ and they did.
“(The loss to Neshaminy) was a tough thing to swallow, but they showed their resiliency and their maturity. Spring-Ford is really good, and we beat them pretty handily, which was nice.”
Cassie Marte (19 points), Lucy Olsen (13 points) and Emily Tiffan (11 points) led the Rams, who scored 20 of their 55 points in the final quarter when the outcome had been decided.
Abington (24-4, 13-1 SOL) will face Parkland, the fourth place team out of District 11, in next Friday’s opening round of states.
“I told them – this could be a blessing in disguise,” Marsh said. “With the three seed, we get to go out West. We probably won’t run into a District 1 team unless we get all the way to Hershey, and unfamiliar, I think, will be good for us.
“We won a district championship sophomore year. They have bigger goals, so for a state championship, the three seed is a good seed. Obviously, everybody that’s left is really good, and we’re going to go out and play our best basketball. That’s what I want them to do. I don’t want to end the season with a game like Neshaminy where I felt like they didn’t play their game. If somebody beats us, I want them to beat us when we’re playing our game, so they can walk off the court with their heads high.”
Spring-Ford 9-14-12-20 55
Abington 20-15-13-24 74
Spring-Ford (55) – Lucy Olsen 5 1-2 13; Alyssa Yuan 1 2-4 4; Emily Tiffan 3 5-8 11; Olivia Olsen 3 0-0 6; Hailey Hudak 1 0-0 2; Cassie Marte 8 0-0 19; 21 8-14 55.
Abington (74) – Tamia Wessels 4 3-4 15; Cam Lexow 3 7-8 14; Kassondra Brown 9 4-5 23, Miranda Liebtag 2 2-5 7; Khalis Whiting 3 5-10 12; Amanda Jackson 1 0-0 3; TOTALS 22 21-29 74.
3-pointers: Spring-Ford – Cassie Marte 3, Lucy Olsen 2, Abington – Tamia Wessels 4, Cam Lexow, Kassondra Brown, Miranda Liebtag, Khalis Whiting, Amanda Jackson.
Fifth Place
#1-5 UPPER DUBLIN 29, #1-6 SOUDERTON 22
The halftime score of Friday’s playback game showing Upper Dublin with a 9-3 lead over Souderton might have looked like a misprint to some.
But not to anyone familiar with the rivalry between the two SOL powers. Two years ago, the Flying Cardinals defeated Souderton 34-30. There’s nothing especially unusual about that low-scoring game until you consider that Souderton led 24-14 at halftime and managed just six points in the second half.
Last year’s state semifinal pitting the two teams was more of the same with Upper Dublin defeating the District 1 6A champion Indians 26-25. Souderton led 11-8 after one quarter and then managed just six points in the next two quarters combined.
“I would say we’re similar teams – we pride ourselves on similar things,” UD coach Morgan Funsten said. “I think if you were playing either one of our teams, you would say – ‘They’re going to take away what you do well.’
“When you have two teams who both believe that – we try to take away what they do well, and they try to take away what we do well, every once in a while you’re going to get in a game that’s this low scoring.”
Funsten – whose team also struggled to find the basket – was understandably pleased to see his team hold the Indians to just three first-half points. All three of those came in the first quarter. Megan Walbrandt accounted for her team’s only bucket. The Cardinals, who led 5-3 after one quarter, were led by the four-point effort of Kara Grebe in the first half.
“I thought the first half defensively – we really couldn’t do any better than giving up three points,” Funsten said. “I was really proud of the girls’ effort. I don’t really care what people think about the score or whatever. We care about winning, and the girls have bought into that. They’re okay with the score. Maybe people in the gym weren’t okay, but we were okay.”
“We’ve been in low-scoring games before, but we’ve never been in a 9-3 (game) at halftime. I said, ‘Girls, you can’t look at the score. You have to look at it as we are up six. That’s the way you have to look at it.’ If you start pressing and worrying about the embarrassment of a low-scoring game, you’re going to end up losing because you’re not focused on the right thing.”
Sarah Eskew buried a three to open the second half. The Indians connected on their first basket since the first quarter when Curran O’Donnell scored on a drive with 5:13 remaining in the third quarter. A Megan Bealer three pulled the Indians within four, but Eskew connected on her second three of the frame to put the Cardinals on top 15-8.
“Even though I don’t think the girls were too worried about how low scoring it was, it was good for us to score on our first possession of the second half,” Funsten said of Eskew’s three. “In a game this low scoring, three points is a lot of points. Her second three was also big. Lately, she’s been hitting shots when we really need her to.”
Anajae Smith’s basket – the fourth shot of UD’s possession – gave the Cardinals a 17-8 lead. Bealer answered with a three from NBA range to pull the Indians to within six, but Eskew scored on a drive. A basket at the buzzer by Mikaela Reese made it a 19-13 game heading into the final quarter.
Jackie Vargas scored on a putback, and Bliss Brenner buried a pair at the foul line to put the Cards on top 23-13 while the Indians did not score in the opening five minutes of the final quarter.
A pair of Reese three-pointers pulled the Indians within five late (25-20), but they would be no closer.
“I thought Sarah Eskew did a great job on (Megan) Walbrandt – she held her to four,” Funsten said. “The toughest matchup was actually Jackie Vargas on Mikaela Reese because they have five girls who can all step out and shoot the three, and you obviously saw down the stretch – Reese is a great shooter. We made a couple of mistakes on her, but other than that, I thought we were just solid defensively all night. We usually talk about being patient on offense. I thought we were especially patient on defense tonight.
“We talked at practice this week that we need to get better at defense and we need to get tougher as a team. I thought especially the toughness piece really came through. I thought we beat them to loose balls, I thought we wanted the ball more than them, and that has not always been the case this year. In that respect, we think we’re improving.”
Reese’s nine points led the Indians while Bealer added six.
“Obviously, it’s easy to blame shooting percentage, but it was in large part to how they defended us – they really defended us well,” Souderton coach Lynn Carroll said. “Their on-the-ball defense was very good keeping our kids out of the lane. When we tried to drive, Jackie Vargas was there to block the shot. We have to find a way to play better than this. I was happy in the fourth quarter – I thought we had five kids on the court who were willing to take shots, and that’s a positive thing moving forward into the state tournament.”
Eskew led the Cardinals with nine points – eight in the third quarter. Vargas was held to just four points but was a force in the paint with 12 rebounds and four blocked shots. Jess Polin had five points, three rebounds, three assists and three steals, and Kara Grebe added four points and six rebounds.
While some suggest seeding games aren’t important, Funsten is not in that number.
“We treat it like it was a district championship game,” the Flying Cardinals’ coach said. “We treat every game the same. We prepare for it like it was an extremely important game.
“In the big picture, it’s not that important, but it’s important for us to continue to stay in the same mindset of competing all the time, preparing for teams and playing good defense.”
Upper Dublin (22-5, 13-1 SOL), the defending state champion, will face Central Dauphin, the third place team out of District 3, in next Friday’s opening round of the PIAA 6A Tournament.
“Maybe we caught some people by surprise last year, but we just played a full season with maybe teams having a little more respect for us than they’ve had in the past,” Funsten said. “We’re going to try and get in the same mindset as last year. When you’re the underdog, it’s easy to just take it one game at a time having had the experience we had last year. Maybe it’s going to be difficult to stay focused only on the game right in front of us, but we have a lot of girls back from last year. I think they’re going to be able to embrace it.”
Souderton (22-5, 11-1) will take on District 11 runner-up Bethlehem Freedom in an opening round state game on Friday.
Souderton 3-0-10-9 22
Upper Dublin 5-4-10-10 29
Souderton (22) – Megan Bealer 2 0-1 6; Olivia Schneider 0 0-2 0; Megan Walbrandt 2 0-0 4; Curran O’Donnell 1 1-2 3; Mikaela Reese 3 1-2 9; TOTALS 8 2-7 22.
Upper Dublin (29) – Bliss Brenner 0 2-4 2; Anajae Smith 1 0-0 2; Jess Polin 0 5-6 5; Kara Grebe 1 2-4 4; Sarah Eskew 3 1-2 9; Dayna Balasa 1 0-1 3; Jackie Vargas 1 2-2 4; TOTALS 7 12-19 29.
3-pointers: Souderton – Megan Bealer 2, Mikaela Reese 2, Upper Dublin – Sarah Eskew 2, Dayna Balasa.
Seventh Place
#1-7 COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 84, #1-8 DOWNINGTOWN EAST 41
The Indians made their final home game a memorable one, opening up a 17-point halftime lead and then erupting for 32 points in the third quarter en route to the impressive win. The night belonged to the team’s four seniors – Sydney Blum, Dana Bandurick, Olivia Boyle and Camryn Poinsky – who combined for 51 points.
“I really engrained it in their heads – ‘This is it. You’ll never play another game on this court,’” coach Lou Palkovics said. “There was always the thing hanging around – maybe, maybe not, but this was it.
“I was more talking to the underclassmen. I said, ‘I know these four seniors are going to leave everything on the court. The question is – what are you guys going to do.’ My four seniors were unbelievable. They were unstoppable.”
Boyle was certainly unstoppable in the first quarter, erupting for 13 points and propelling the Indians to a 21-13 lead over their visitors.
“Honestly, at the end of the first quarter, it was a little bit frustrating,” Palkovics said. “We were up by seven but couldn’t stop Bella (Smuda). She had (nine) points.
“We just decided to really extend the defense, press a lot more and keep showing different looks in the press.”
The Indians took a comfortable 37-20 lead into halftime with Boyle scoring 15 points to lead the way. Bandurick – back in the lineup after being sidelined in the Indians loss to Souderton – added 10.
In the third quarter, the Indians took their game to an even higher level, scoring 32 points to go on top 69-32. Blum led the way with 11 points, which included three three-pointers, and Bandurick added 10.
“The third quarter was unbelievable – the best third quarter I’ve ever seen any one of my teams play in my 28 years of coaching,” Palkovics said. “We were up 17 at the half, but they cut it to 11 or 12, and all of a sudden, we just exploded.
“Sydney (Blum) hit three threes in a row on three possessions. We went from up 17 to up 39. It was just an offensive explosion. We couldn’t miss a shot for a while. When the girls came in before the fourth quarter, I said, ‘That’s the best third quarter I’ve ever seen you guys play.’”
Bandurick led the Indians with 24 points, nine rebounds, four steals and four blocked shots. Boyle added 19 points while Blum had 16 with four three-pointers. Blum also had three steals. Anna Cairone added nine points, and Polinsky had seven points, three steals and eight assists.
The Indians connected on 33-of-64 shots from the floor (52 percent), and they were 6-for-14 from beyond the arc.
Downingtown East – led by the 18-point effort of Smuda – was 15-for-38 (39 percent) and 2-of-10 from three-point range.
Palkovics likes where his team is at heading into the state tournament.
“With Dana not playing in the Souderton game, I’m looking at the Neshaminy game, which was kind of stolen from us, I’m looking at tonight and even the Pennridge game, and I’m like, ‘You played three amazing games,’” Palkovics said. “Who knows? We’ll see what happens.”
Council Rock North (19-6, 10-2 SOL) will face District 12 runner-up Central in next Friday’s opening round of the PIAA 6A Tournament.
Downingtown East 13-7-12-9 41
Council Rock North 21-16-32-15 84
Downingtown East (41) – Cassie Denning 1 0-2 2; Mary Kate Person 2 0-0 4; Mary McFillin 1 0-0 3; Lauren Kent 1 0-0 2; Carpline Brennan 1 0-0 2; Maddie Wilson 1 0-0 2; Bella Smuda 5 8-10 18; Ally Meakim 2 1-1 5; Sara Geary 1 0-0 3; TOTALS 15 9-13 41.
Council Rock North (84) – Camryn Polinsky 3 0-0 7; Anna Cairone 4 1-1 9; Sydney Blum 5 2-2 16; Olivia Boyle 9 0-0 19; Dana Bandurick 9 6-7 24; Emma Benson 1 2-2 4; Abby Jones 1 0-0 2; Sofia Shields 0 1-2 1; Mara Penner 1 0-0 2; TOTALS 33 12-14 84.
3-pointers: Downingtown East – Mary McFillin, CR North – Sydney Blum 4, Camryn Polinsky, Olivia Boyle.
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