Check out the recaps for SOL girls’ basketball teams in action Thursday.
SOL Patriot/Colonial crossover
BENSALEM 50, PENNRIDGE 40
The Owls followed Tuesday’s come-from-behind win over North Penn with another impressive comeback, outscoring the visiting Rams 20-4 in the fourth quarter to turn a six-point deficit heading into the frame into a 10-point win.
“Man, that was a tough game,” Bensalem coach Steve Johnson said. “Pennridge is a very talented team. (Katie) Yoder is a stud, and her supporting cast all know the game and move without the ball really well. I’m really pleased and extremely proud of the way our girls played tonight.
“Starting the fourth (quarter), we were down, and we never second guessed ourselves. Each girl believed in one another, and each girl played their role to their best ability. I think we just really honed in on the defensive side of things.”
On the heels of a glittering 17-point performance against North Penn, sophomore Amber Howard had an even better night on Thursday, finishing with 20 points and keeping the Owls afloat in the first half. She accounted for all seven of her team’s second quarter points and had 11 in the first half, keeping the Owls close to the Rams, who led 22-19 at halftime.
“I couldn’t be any happier with the way Amber has played these last couple games,” Johnson said. “She’s making such intelligent plays. If she’s guarded one-on-one, she uses her size and athleticism to attack, and if she’s doubled, she kicks it to the open teammate.
“She’s playing really patient on offense and extremely unselfish. Amber ended with a game high 20 points, seven rebounds, and a career high in assists with nine. That just shows – she wants to score, and she’ll score for you, but she also doesn’t care if she has to pass the ball.”
According to the Owls’ coach, Howard’s development goes beyond the basketball court.
“She’s introverted and keeps to herself, but these last couple of weeks – not only when we were winning, she’s really opening up to the upperclassmen,” Johnson said. “They’re joking around at practice. She’s joking with the seniors, and the seniors are joking with her.
“They’re really coming together. When you’re playing with your friends, you work a little harder, and you can tell – they really have a love for each other. Every coach says it, and it gets redundant at times, but that really matters when it comes down to the fourth quarter and you’re down by six. These girls are really playing together.”
In the second half, the Owls spread the ball around. Delaney Bell – who had five first-half points – had four points in the second half and was 2-for-3 from the line in the fourth quarter. Maddie MacDougall had all seven of her points in the second half – five in the fourth quarter, which included a 2-for-2 effort at the line. Averi McCoy – who buried a first-quarter 3 – had eight of her 11 points in the fourth quarter when she was 4-for-4 from the foul line. Peyton Miller was 1-for-2 from the stripe in the fourth quarter.
The Owls connected on 11-of-14 from the foul line in the pivotal fourth quarter.
“I’ll live with 11-for-14 every day of the week,” Johnson said. “Averi McCoy had four big ones in a row and a timely jump shot at the top of the key.”
In addition to Howard, McCoy had 11 points, Bell had nine and MacDougall chipped in seven.
“Delaney had the hard task of guarding Yoder tonight and did a wonderful job,” Johnson said of Bell. “The heart and grit that girl plays with is something special. I really hope our underclassmen can take a page or two out of her book. She’s our leading scorer on the season, but not once did she complain or was she upset when she didn’t touch the ball on offense. She’ll do anything for a team win and she showed that tonight.
“Averi McCoy played a typical Averi McCoy game and pestered the heck out of whoever she was guarding. She knocked down huge foul shots for us in the fourth and had a crucial jumper from the top of the key.
“Erin Devlin and Peyton Miller had scrappy 50/50 ball plays and big-time rebounds when needed. Freshman Talia DiMichele played with poise and had a very timely steal and finish when we were down in the second half. Our girls are really buying into their roles, and I couldn’t be any happier.”
Thursday’s win was the second in a row for the Owls after dropping five straight.
“We started out 5-1 and then those girls went down,” Johnson said of injuries to two of his top six players. “Not using that as an excuse, but it took us a learning curve to figure out where we were – who was going to step up and who was going to play those minutes, so let’s hope these two games were a step in the right direction because North Penn and Pennridge are no slouches. They have really good programs, they have great coaches and great players.
“They move the ball around really well, and they’re a really good team, so I’m proud that we beat a program like Pennridge and North Penn.
For the Rams, Ryan Hodder’s 11 points led the way. Yoder was limited to six points and only two field goals.
Bensalem (7-6, 4-6 SOL) will host Wissahickon in a non-league game on Saturday. Pennridge (8-8, 3-6) will be on the road at Harry S Truman on Monday.
Pennridge 10-12-14-4 40
Bensalem 12-7-11-20 50
Pennridge (40) – Ella Brown 2 0-0 5; 1 2-2 4; Katie Yoder 2 2-2 6; Ava Fantaskey 1 0-0 3; Ava Unzicker 2 0-1 4; Olivia Poole 1 0-0 2; Emma Pyne 2 0-2 5; Ryan Hodder 5 1-2 11; TOTALS 16 5-9 40.
Bensalem (50) – Delaney Bell 3 2-3 9; Maddie MacDougall 2 2-2 7; Averi McCoy 3 4-4 11; Amber Howard 8 4-8 20; Peyton Miller 0 1-2 1; Talia DiMichele 1 0-0 2; TOTALS 17 13-19 50.
3-point goals: Pennridge – Ella Brown, Ava Fantaskey, Emma Pyne; Bensalem – Delaney Bell, Maddie MacDougall, Averi McCoy.
SOL Liberty/Freedom crossover
LOWER MORELAND 45, CHELTENHAM 20
Jess Dugo and Briana McFerran both scored 14 points to lead the Lions, who jumped out to an early lead and never looked back.
“Cheltenham was without one of their top players, Amelia Yevoli, and their point guard, (Mikahila) Leighton got into early foul trouble,” LM coach Rich Becker said. “We were able to take advantage and jumped out to a 16-1 lead within the first three minutes of the game. To Cheltenham’s credit, they kept battling, and for the rest of the half we only outscored them by three points.”
The Lions took a 29-11 lead into halftime and then outscored the Lady Panthers 14-0 in the third quarter on their way to the decisive win.
“At halftime, our goal was to come out and get back to doing the little things right and the girls responded, and we were able to put the game out of reach.” Becker said.”
Dugo’s 14 points included three 3-pointers in a 16-point first quarter. McFerran scored 12 of her 14 points in the middle two quarters. Liz Neeld added seven points, and Tori Finnegan had six.
“Jess Dugo set the tone again both on offense and defense,” Becker said. “Jess had three 3’s in the first quarter. Once Jess cooled off, Briana was able to pick up the scoring.”
“After the game I told Ben, their coach, that I know that when we see them again in two weeks it will be a much more competitive game. Before the injuries, he had them playing very well, and even tonight with them being down, they were able to give us some trouble on defense.”
For the Lady Panthers, Mikahila Leighton’s nine points led the way.
“Every game we’ve come out flat and tonight was no different,” Cheltenham coach Ben Bowman said. “Even down a key player, I thought we would find a way to compete and we didn’t. We have to learn from each game and get better.”
Lower Moreland (5-5, 3-5 SOL) will host Quakertown on Friday, and Cheltenham (2-9, 0-7) will be on the road at New Hope-Solebury on Friday.
Lower Moreland 16-13-14-2 45
Cheltenham 3-8-0-9 20
Lower Moreland (45) – Tori Finnegan 3 0-2 6; Jess Shein 1 0-2 2; Liz Neeld 3 0-0 7; Jess Dugo 4 3-4 14; Zoe Alden 1 0-0 2; Briana McFerran 7 0-0 14; TOTALS 19 3-8 45.
Cheltenham (20) – Mikahila Leighton 3 3-4 9; Janiya Townes-Wakefield 1 0-0 3; Tyrina Ragsdale 1 2-3 4; Cassie Bugg 2 0-0 4; TOTALS 7 5-7 20.
3-point goals: LM – Jess Dugo 3, Liz Neeld; Cheltenham – Janiya Townes-Wakefield.
UPPER DUBLIN 48, WISSAHICKSON 16
Amy Ngo scored a career high 24 points – which included four 3-pointers – to lead the Flying Cardinals to their fifth straight win.
“We played a very consistent game on both ends of the floor for four quarters,” UD coach Morgan Funsten said.
The Cardinals – behind six points from Ngo – led 10-5 after one quarter, and they took a 27-10 lead into halftime. Bliss Brenner’s six points highlighted the second quarter. The senior point guard returned to the lineup after missing a game due to a knee injury.
“We got a big boost by having Bliss Brenner back in the lineup,” Funsten said. “She had a typical stat line of hers with six points on two field goal attempts, seven rebounds and seven assists.
“Amy Ngo was hot all night.”
The Cardinals outscored their visitors 21-6 in the second half on their way to the decisive win.
Geena Sarnoski added 10 points.
“We continue to get consistent scoring from Geena Sarnoski and got a great boost off the bench from Lilli Kleiman,” Funsten said.
The Trojans received scoring from just two players – Kylie Friedman and Kaitlyn McGeary each had eight points. Friedman had a pair of 3s while McGeary had one.
Upper Dublin (9-6, 7-3 SOL) will host New Hope-Solebury on Tuesday, and Wissahickon (6-7, 3-7) will travel to Bensalem on Saturday for a non-league game.
Wissahickon 5-5-3-3 16
Upper Dublin 10-17-13-8 48
Wissahickon (16) – Kylie Friedman 3 0-0 8; Kaitlyn McGeary 3 1-2 8; TOTALS 6 1-2 16.
Upper Dublin (48) – Brighid Brady 1 0-0 3; Bliss Brenner 2 1-1 6; Geena Sarnoski 4 0-0 10; Colleen Klammer 2 1-2 5; Amy Ngo 10 0-0 24; TOTALS 19 2-3 48.
3-point goals: Wissahickon – Kylie Friedman 2, Kaitlyn McGeary; UD – Amy Ngo 4, Geena Sarnoski 2, Bliss Brenner, Brighid Brady.
Non-league
UNIONVILLE 60, HATBORO-HORSHAM 50
Emily Thomas scored a game-high 23 points in a stellar offensive outing, but it wasn’t enough to carry the Hatters to a victory over a Unionville squad that put three players in double figures.
The Indians led 15-10 after one quarter, but the Hatters – behind 11 points from Thomas – outscored their visitors 15-8 to go into halftime holding a tenuous 25-23 lead. In the second quarter, Thomas was 5-for-6 from the foul line. She finished the first half with 14 points
Unionville took a 41-40 lead into the final quarter when they outscored the Hatters 19-10. Milana Amoss was a perfect 6-for-6 at the foul line in the quarter, and Riley Angstadt scored 10 of her 17 points in the final quarter.
While Unionville was 16-for-20 from the foul line in the second half, the Hatters took just one trip to the charity stripe after halftime.
Thomas – who had four 3-pointers in the game – scored nine points on three 3s in the second half. Also for the Hatters, Alice Hall added 10 points and Leah Harrington had seven.
Hatboro-Horsham (5-5, 4-4 SOL) will host Springfield Township on Friday.
Unionville 15-8-18-19 60
Hatboro-Horsham 10-15-15-10 50
Unionville (60) – Maddie Baughan 1 0-0 2; Milana Amoss 5 8-10 19; Savannah Lang 2 4-4 8; Gabrielle Johnson 5 1-2 11; Arden West 1 1-2 3; Riley Angstadt 7 3-4 17; TOTALS 21 17-22 60.
Hatboro-Horsham (50) – Carolin Shegogue 1 0-0 3; Alice Hall 5 0-0 10; Kitty Randa 2 0-0 4; Leah Harrington 2 1-1 7; Emily Thomas 7 5-6 23; Sam Hollish 1 0-0 3; TOTALS 18 6-7 50
3-point goals: Unionville – Milana Amoss; HH – Emily Thomas 4, Leah Harrington 2, Caroline Shegogue, Sam Hollish.
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