Souderton defeated PW to earn a spot in Monday’s PIAA 6A semifinals. North Penn and PW saw their seasons come to an end. Photos courtesy of Donna Longacre. To view photos of both games, please visit the Photo Gallery.
#1-11 SOUDERTON 43, #1-2 PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH 32
ROYERSFORD – They call it a ‘hero shot’ – a shot from just across midcourt to close out every practice.
“Everybody gets one chance,” coach Lynn Carroll explained. “If nobody makes it, the whole team runs. Only one person has to make it, and practice is over.”
No one, according to Carroll, does it better than junior Kate Connolly.
“She makes it all the time – it’s ridiculous,” the Indians’ coach said. “Everybody else is running and heaving the ball, but she takes a jump shot. It’s crazy.”
Connolly, according to teammate Alana Cardona, has saved the team from running more often than she can count.
“I don’t even remember the last time we had to run because Kate makes it so many times,” Cardona said. “She’s the very last one to take it.
“She dribbles up really slow, takes the shot and swishes it. Everyone else hopes their shot goes in. Kate’s (shot) just goes in. It’s incredible.”
Connolly unveiled something resembling a ‘hero shot’ in the closing seconds of the third quarter on Saturday. It came after she swatted away a shot by junior Taylor O’Brien and – after receiving a pass from teammate Megan Bealer – lofted a shot just over midcourt that fell through the net at the buzzer, capping an 11-0 run that turned a three-point deficit into an eight-point Souderton lead.
“When we saw her get that block, dribble it down, I feel like we all knew it was going to go in,” Cardona said. “We all saw her take that shot, and we’re all like, ‘It’s going to go in.’
“It practically swishes, we all run onto the court, and it’s energy throughout. Then it’s like, ‘Oh wait, we still have to play another quarter. Let’s get ourselves together.’ I think that just pushed us to be able to finish and just come off and win the game.”
The fourth quarter featured stifling defense by the Indians and more Connolly blocks as the Colonials scored just three points in the frame.
“We held them to 12 second-half points,” Carroll said. “It starts with Tori (Dowd) and Megan (Walbrandt) and their on-ball defense and continues with everybody else who’s in good position to help.
“I think we were pretty disruptive defensively, and I think it helps when you have Kate Connolly and she has eight blocked shots – that’s a bit of a game changer.”
Connolly led the Indians with 14 points – 12 in the second half – and 11 rebounds to go along with her eight blocks.
“It gets everyone so excited,” Walbrandt said of Connolly’s blocks. “And then for her to play like that offensively – it’s a lift to us, and it comes so easy to her. It’s not like she’s uncomfortable doing it. It’s crazy.”
It was Connolly’s ‘hero shot’ that cut the heart out of the Colonials.
“I didn’t think it was going in,” she said. “I think everyone got real excited, and we were all just ready to go into the fourth quarter with a lot of excitement, a lot of energy.”
Saturday’s win at Spring-Ford High School vaulted the Indians into Monday’s state semifinals where they will face District 7 champion North Allegheny, but no one was looking that far down the road.
“I don’t think it’s sunk in to anybody yet,” Cardona said. “Just the magnitude of what this means for our program and for our school.
“It’s incredible just to realize – wow, we’re in the final four. We have gone so far. I don’t even know how to explain it. It’s beyond words.”
Saturday’s game had its peaks and valleys for both teams.
Sparked by six points from Lauren Coscia, the Colonials opened up a 10-7 lead after one quarter. On the Indians’ opening possession of the second quarter, Cardona penetrated and dished to sophomore Megan Bealer, who buried a three. Sami Falencki’s baseline 3-pointer put the Indians on top 13-10, but Laurel Suchsland answered with a three for the Colonials. Bealer’s second three of the frame gave the Indians an 18-16 lead. The sophomore finished with eight points, seven rebounds, two assists and one block.
“In the beginning (of the playoffs), I was nervous, but for the past couple of games, we’ve been loose, and I think that’s what is helping us,” Bealer said. “Also having a student section, having our classmates there – it’s a lot of support, and it’s fun.”
Taylor O’Brien knotted the score with a pair of foul shots, but Falencki answered with her second three. A basket by O’Brien pulled the Colonials to within one at the intermission (21-20). O’Brien had nine points in the half, which included a 7-for-9 effort at the foul line.
“Their defense is tremendous, and their shooters were the difference,” PW coach Dan Dougherty said. “That first half – we knew they could shoot the ball, but I thought they were making contested threes with hands in their face. You’re not going to beat a team that can shoot the ball that well when you contest shots.”
The Colonials went on top 27-26 after an Ali Diamond 3-pointer, and when O’Brien scored on a drive, they led by three. Connolly erased that advantage when she connected on a 3-pointer, and her putback gave the Indians a 31-29 lead.
“I think we just looked at each other and were like, ‘We don’t want this to be our last game,” Connolly said. “We wanted to focus, try to get ahead, work together and see what we could do.”
Walbrandt sank one-of-two at the foul line, and then Cardona scored on a tough drive to stretch the Indians lead to five, setting the stage for Connolly’s last-second heroics.
“I thought they played tremendous man defense,” Dougherty said. “They have a lot of length. We like to do a lot of pick-and-rolls, a lot of drives and kicks. They did a good job of just squaring up to whoever had the ball. They were able to stop our dribble penetration without having to help off the shooters.”
The PW coach pointed to Connolly’s three at the end of the third quarter as a game changer.
“It felt like our three against Council Rock North in the last round,” said Dougherty of an O’Brien three that sent the Colonials into the fourth quarter with a 12-point lead. “It felt like that was a nail in the coffin because we were struggling so much to score in the half court.”
A key to the win was the Indians’ ability to contain O’Brien, who is averaging over 21 points a game and was coming off a 31-point effort in her team’s second round win over Rock North. The Indians limited the junior standout to 13 points with seven of those coming at the foul line.
“Tori (Dowd) and Megan (Wabrandt) on Taylor O’Brien helped tremendously,” Cardona said. “She’s a phenomenal shooter, she can take it to the basket, and she will score for her team.
“Going into the third and fourth quarter, we knew she would try to take over the game and try to win for her team. Every single person on our team is an incredible defender, and you always know somebody’s got your back, and if she does go to the basket, somebody is going to be there to defend her.”
Dowd spent the game shadowing O’Brien.
“Taylor’s a great player, and we knew that coming in today,” the Indians’ junior point guard said. “She’s a good friend of mine, and I’ve known her for a while.
“We just knew we couldn’t let her beat us. We had to come together, and if we played good defense on her, we wanted to make other people prove they could beat us.”
“She’s a great player,” Walbrandt added “We were just trying to limit her touches, and Tori did an awesome job on her.
“It’s so nice to have Kate (Connolly) and Alana (Cardona) there for us to help on the drives when she does get past us. It was just great team defense.”
Saturday’s playoff showdown might not be the last for these two teams. The Indians return their entire lineup next year while the Colonials will lose just two players to graduation.
“Plymouth Whitemarsh has played great all year,” Carroll said. “I know they have two seniors that are graduating, but they’re going to be just fine next year.
“They’re going to have another special season next year. They should be really proud of the season that they’ve had.”
Dougherty bids farewell to Suchsland and Coscia.
“When I think about how much they’ve meant to our program and how far our program has come, not just for the accomplishments on the court but off the court,” the Colonials’ coach said. “Our program faces a lot of issues, like the dingy little gym we practice in.
“These are the kids that pushed to not play in that gym anymore. They get to play in a real gym, and now the school board is going to build a nice gym at our school. These two seniors have been a big part of that. Both of them came in as completely unheralded kids, and they both made themselves into all-league players.
“Lauren Coscia has made herself into a college basketball player – she’s going to Cabrini, and Laurel Suchsland has made herself into a tremendous 3-point shooter and one of the best defenders in our league.”
Plymouth Whitemarsh closed out its season with a 27-3 record (14-0 SOL).
EXTRA SHOTS: Dougherty was assessed a technical at the 5:44 mark of the third quarter and was forced to remain on the bench the remainder of the game. “It would have been nice to get to coach the second half,” the PW coach said. “I said the word disgrace, and I didn’t direct it at anybody. To completely disrupt a state (quarterfinal) game for a coach using the word disgrace and not even direct it at anybody – it just completely robs the flow of the game. Our girls are not used to having me not standing up. We’re a young team, but it doesn’t matter. Souderton would have beaten us seven out of seven games all seven days of the week. A lot of credit to them. I hope they go all the way.”
Plymouth Whitemarsh 10-10-9-3 32
Souderton 7-14-16-6 43
Plymouth Whitemarsh (32) – Victoria Betterly 0 0-0 0; Lauren Coscia 3 0-0 6; Ali Diamond 1 1-2 4; Lauren Fortescue 3 0-0 6; Taylor O’Brien 3 7-8 13; Laurel Suchsland 1 0-0 3; Haley Zygmunt 0 0-0 0; Totals 11 8-10 32.
Souderton (43) – Megan Bealer 3 0-1 8; Alana Cardona 4 0-2 8; Kate Connolly 5 2-4 14; Tori Dowd 0 1-6 1; Sami Falencki 2 0-0 6; Erica Stephens 0 0-0 0; Megan Walbrandt 2 1-2 6; Totals 16 4-15 43.
3-point field goals: Kate Connolly 2, Sami Falencki 2, Megan Bealer 2, Megan Walbrant, Ali Diamond, Laurel Suchsland.
#12-1 CARDINAL O’HARA 51, #1-5 NORTH PENN 45
ROYERSORD – Endings.
Some can’t come soon enough, others arrive much too soon.
This one came too soon, but it would have always been too soon even if they had lived out their dream of playing for a state championship.
Sam Carangi, Jess Huber and Irisa Ye have been the face of North Penn basketball. Mainstays on the varsity squad since they were freshmen. And now it was over.
“It’s not about our names, it’s about the friendships and everyone else together,” Huber said. “Just not being able to play with Sam or Irisa or any of the juniors, sophomores or freshmen, it’s hitting hard.”
”(All) that’s in my head right now is that I’ll never put on another North Penn jersey,” said Carangi.
Red eyes telling the story of tears that had fallen, the three senior captains accepted hugs from the throng of family and friends waiting for them as they emerged from their final postgame locker room meeting.
“It’s the memories, the journey we had through the whole year and how we came together in the end,” Ye said. “I appreciate everyone.”
A special journey had come to an end.
They played 123 games together, winning 101 of those while combining for more than 3,000 points. They were three-time SOL Continental Conference champions, and they were part of the program’s first and only District One 4A championship as freshmen.
“It’s hard,” coach Maggie deMarteleire said. “These three seniors have had a great career.
“Obviously, we wanted to get to the state championship, and this could have been the state championship. I’m not taking away anything from any other team. I just know we’re right there with them 
and, unfortunately, shot so poorly today that we just couldn’t.”
In the first quarter, the Knights managed just two field goals and seven points while the Lions put up 16 points, which included a trio of 3-pointers with one each from Hannah Nihill, Molly Paolino and Maura Hendrixson.
And Hendrixson was just getting started.
The Drexel commit sandwiched a pair of threes around a pair of Ye foul shots, and the Lions led 22-9 with 6:15 remaining in the second quarter.
“In the beginning of the game, they shot very close to 100 percent from the 3-point line, and I remember Hannah (Nihill) drove and found a girl on the opposite wing,” Carangi said. “We would take everyone on that side, and she would find a random open person. That kind of killed us.”
The Knights battled back, closing out the half with an 11-6 run that began with a Jenny Hulmes putback and included five points by Ye and four from Huber to make it a 28-20 game at the intermission.
“I think we got some good looks,” Huber said. “They just weren’t falling.
“They played pretty good defense, and at that point in the game, we just have to finish shots.”
The Knights’ shooting woes continued in the third quarter, and they managed just a three by Hulmes until Carangi scored in transition with 2:30 remaining in the frame. The Lions weren’t doing any better and 
led by just a 32-25 score after Carangi’s deuce.
A three-point play by Mackenzie Gardler just over a minute into the third period put the Lions on top 39-27, but Huber answered with a 3-pointer at the other end. A Carangi steal set up a short jumper by Hulmes.
Ye went to work attacking the basket, and after a Huber steal, she buried a pair at the foul line. She was a perfect 6-for-6 at the foul line in the quarter, 9-for-9 in the game.
“We knew we out-sized them a little, and we knew a key thing was to take advantage of those mismatches,” Ye said. “Gardler is one of their key players, and just attacking the basket – she was either going to foul me or I was going to finish.”
When Ye scored on a drive after an O’Hara turnover, the Knights trailed by just five (43-38), and it was a 45-41 game after Huber connected on another three. Paolino sank both ends of a one-and-one for the Lions, but Huber scored after another Carangi steal to pull the Knights to within four with 45 seconds remaining.
“Sam really came to play,” deMarteleire said of her senior point guard. “I know she didn’t score a lot of points, but she made things happen – blocked three shots in the third quarter that were huge, distributed the ball, handled the ball, took care of the ball. Then Jess and Irisa really picked it up in the second half.”
Sheehan sank the front end of a one-and-one, and Hendrixson came up with the rebound of the miss. She connected on one-of-two at the line to give the Lions a six-point lead. Freshman Carley Adams sank both ends of a one-and-one with 24 seconds remaining to make it a four-point game, but the Knights would get no closer.
“They shot really, really well,” deMarteleire said of the 
Lions. “They shot 50 percent in the first half (11-of-22), and we shot about 30 (7-of-22).
“I said to the girls – I felt like defensively we had way too much respect for them in the first two-and-a-half quarters. Then I felt like when we finally started getting after them, we created some turnovers and we rushed some of their shots, and that was just much more effective.
“Unfortunately, our shooting wasn’t great. Some of that had to do with their defense, but we did get some wide open looks, particularly in the first half, and we just weren’t making our shots.”
Ye led the Knights with 15 points. She also had five rebounds and two assists. Huber added 12 points and four rebounds. Hulmes scored seven points and provided a spark off the bench.
“I’m very proud of the girls,” deMarteleire said. “We were down by (13) in the first half and cut it to six. In the second half, we were down by 11 or 12 again and cut it to four.
“I told the kids at halftime when we were down eight – ‘We were up eight in the third quarter last year. Just get one stop at a time, and we’ll be fine.’ We just couldn’t knock down shots.”
The Knights won four straight after falling to Abington in the district quarterfinals.
“We had a great run in the playoffs,” deMarteleire said. “It’s just unfortunate that we had to face O’Hara right now.”
North Penn closed out its season with a 25-5 record (12-2 SOL).
North Penn 7-13-5-20 45
Cardinal O’Hara 16-12-8-15 51
North Penn (45) – Carley Adams 0 2-2 2; Sam Carangi 2 0-0 4 Bri Hewlett 1 2-2 5; Jess Huber 5 0-0 12; Jenny Hulmes 3 0-0 7; Jess McKenzie 0 0-0 0; Irisa Ye 3 9-9 15; Totals 14 13-13 45.
Cardinal O’Hara (51) – Mackenzie Gardler 4 4-5 12; Maura Hendrixson 4 1-2 12; Lauren Leicht 0 0-0 0; Hannah Nihill 3 3-4 10; Molly Paolino 2 2-2 7; Mary Sheehan 4 1-2 10; Totals 17 11-15 51.
3-point field goals: Jess Huber 2, Bri Hewlett, Jenny Hulmes, Maura Hendrixson 3, Hannah Nihill, Molly Paolino, Mary Sheehan.
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