Hatboro-Horsham edged Upper Moreland in SOL girls’ basketball action Wednesday.
Non-league
HATBORO-HORSHAM 51, UPPER MORELAND 46
The Hatters found themselves on the short end of a 26-15 score at halftime but staged an impressive second half rally to earn the win.
“It was a strange game, a very strange game,” Steinly said. “Upper Moreland came out executed their stuff, they hit shots. They had five three’s in the first half and pretty balanced scoring in the first half, so it was hard for us to figure out what we needed to do defensively.
“We were just kind of sluggish, struggling on offense. They seemed to have a little more energy than we did.”
In the first half, UM was led by the nine-point effort of Emmy Faith Wood. Holly Gohl, a freshman sank a pair of three’s and scored eight points in the half. Kaiya Herb chipped in six points.
The second half was another story entirely. After scoring just 15 points in the opening half, the Hatters outscored the Golden Bears 19-10 in the third quarter and 36-20 after the intermission.
Alice Hall led the Hatters’ second half comeback with 13 of her team-high 17 points after the break. She was 5-7 from the foul line in the second half. Caroline Shegogue also had a huge second half, connecting on three 3-pointers and scoring nine of her 13 points in the final two quarters. Emily Thomas, who scored 10 points, had a pair of three’s in the second half. Ava McKinney also finished with 10 points and had two treys in the second half.
“We started to click offensively, and our defense picked up a little bit, we started to rebound a little bit better,” Steinly said. “We had four three’s in the third quarter and two more in the fourth.
“It was just a tale of two halves. Fortunately for us, our second half we were better than their first half.”
Steinly acknowledged the strong play of Shegogue.
“I don’t know what to say – I’m just thrilled with what she’s done to start the season,” the Hatters’ coach said. “Our first game she goes against Upper Dublin (Jess Polin), a three-year starter who’s going to East Stroudsburg. In the second game at Abington, she goes against a three-year starter that’s going to Temple (Khalis Whiting).
“That’s how she’s starting her career as a point guard for us, and that’s asking a lot. She was thrown into the fire right off the bat and hasn’t backed down. She just maintains her poise and plays through the difficulties and keeps battling.
“Tonight it was good to see her really experience some success, knocking down four three’s. She spread them out over three quarters. She was running the team, playing defense on their best player – EmmyFaith Wood. It’s a good sign. She’s got a career ahead of her, and I’m excited to see what she does.”
Hall also was a force for the Hatters.
“I can’t say enough good things about Alice,” Steinly said. “She works hard, she’s always there. She’s really levelheaded. I wish I had stats other than points because she does so much more for us than just score.”
The Hatters, according to Steinly, have had only 12 practices and played three games. They held their first practice on Jan. 4.
“Normally, you have 15 practices and two scrimmages before a tip-off tournament,” the Hatters’ coach said. “We’re just struggling out of the gate, hopefully learning on the job, and we’ll pick it up as the season progresses.”
Gohl’s 17 points – nine in the fourth quarter – led the Golden Bears, and her ability to play more than one position makes the freshman standout difficult to defend.
“She’s about six foot, so she can play inside but she knocked down two three’s against us,” Steinly said. “We kind of held her down in the third quarter, and they took her inside in the fourth quarter.
“I had Emily Thomas guarding her in the third quarter, and she did a nice job. In the fourth quarter, (Gohl) got a couple of rebounds, had putbacks, and she had some steals off of rebounds. She is really talented.”
In addition to Gohl, Kaiya Herb contributed 12 points, and Wood scored 12 points, including two three’s.
An interesting side note was the fact that – in the absence of coach Matt Carroll – Steinly found himself coaching against one of his former players, Pete Williams, who is now an assistant at UM.
“It was nice from that perspective to be coaching against a former player,” Steinly said. “Pete has always been a great person, he comes from a great family, so it was nice to see him in that role.”
Hatboro-Horsham (1-2, 0-2 SOL) will travel to Upper Dublin on Tuesday, and Upper Moreland (2-1, 1-0) will host William Tennent on Friday.
Upper Moreland 17-9-10-10 46
Hatboro-Horsham 7-8-19-17 51
Upper Moreland (46) – Kaiya Herb 5 1-2 12; Kaitie Opferman 1 0-0 3; Emmy Faith Wood 4 1-3 11; Kiera Coyle 1 0-0 3; Holly Gohl 6 3-4 17; TOTALS 17 5-9 46.
Hatboro-Horsham (51) – Caroline Shegogue 4 1-3 13; Ava McKinney 2 3-6 9; Alice Hall 6 5-7 17; Emily Thomas 4 0-0 10; Sam Hollish 1 0-0 2; TOTALS 17 9-16 51.
3-point goals: UM – Emmy Faith Wood 2, Holly Gohl 2, Kaiya Herb, Kaitie Opferman 1, Kiera Coyle.
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