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They had no fear.
And it was a confident Souderton squad that sprinted to an early 20-8 lead on its way to a 49-43 win over North Penn in a key SOL Continental Conference contest on Tuesday night.
“We look forward to playing North Penn every year because it’s always a good game,” senior Brittany Sandone said. “We were so excited and pumped. We had so much confidence.
“Last year we did have doubts because of Shakia (Robinson). She was a great player, so we were kind of scared – I’ll admit – last year. This year we were more than ready to play North Penn.”
Robinson and her 16.35 points a game are both gone – she is playing basketball at the University of Massachusetts, and without the league’s top scorer and Continental Conference MVP, the Maidens struggled early while Sandone had herself a banner night.
The Indians’ senior guard scored a game-high 18 points. She also had five rebounds, three steals and three assists. It was Sandone who led an impressive procession to the foul line for the Indians in the second half to seal the win, connecting on a perfect six-of-six.
All told, the Indians buried 12-of-12 from the charity stripe in the second half, 14-of-16 in the game.
“We practice foul shots a lot,” the Indians’ senior guard said. “We do it a lot after we scrimmage each other, so we do it a lot when we’re out of breath like in a game situation.“She (coach Lynn Carroll) always tells us to focus, and that’s the biggest thing – have confidence and focus.”
Sandone buried both ends of a one-and-one with 1:19 remaining to put the Indians on top 45-41. Steph Knauer, who led the Maidens with 13 points, answered by hitting nothing but net on a shot from just inside the arc to trim the Indians’ lead to two.
The two teams exchanged steals, and then it was Averie Brittin’s turn to come up big at the line. The senior point guard calmly connected on both ends of a one-on-one with 33 seconds remaining.
“I was a little nervous, but you have to make those under pressure,” Brittin said. “You have to have confidence.
“We have been working on it, and I think I was ready. I was ready to take those.”
This time the Maidens had no answer, and it was Liz Mower sinking a pair in the closing seconds for the 49-43 final.
Lost in the shuffle of the Indians’ dazzling display from the foul line was a remarkable comeback by the Maidens, who rallied from 12 down to go on top 41-39 after Lauren Crisler buried a baseline three-pointer with 4:20 remaining in regulation.
That lead held up for all of one minute as Mower sank both ends of a one-and-one for the Indians to knot the score. A Sandone bucket on an inbounds pass (Brittin assist) gave the Indians a lead they would not lose, 43-41.“We got off to a slow start, and it cost us the game,” Maiden coach Maggie deMarteleire said. “We came back and went ahead, but once again when it ends up being a foul shooting contest, we end up on the short end of the stick.
“They played very well.”
deMarteleire went on to laud the performance of Sandone, who on several occasions in the second half ripped the ball out of a player’s hands after the Maidens had pulled down an offensive rebound.
“The fact that she just rips the ball out of people’s hands says two things,” deMarteleire said. “One thing is her strength, and the other thing is – why are we putting the ball down so low for her to get her hands on it?
“Something has to change, and I’m assuming it has to be something at the beginning of the game.”
The Indians’ win over the Maidens was their first in four years.
“We came out pumped, we were ready,” Brittin said. “We wanted to beat them so bad.”
While the Maidens fell to 1-2 in league play (2-5 overall), the streaking Indians won their sixth straight, improving to 3-0 in league play (6-1 overall).
“We didn’t lose our composure,” Carroll said. “We were up the whole game and they go ahead – the gym gets really loud, but we held our composure and re-gathered ourselves.“It was a great way to start off the New Year.”
The Indians will face another nemesis - Central Bucks South – on Friday while the Maidens will face Central Bucks West on Thursday night.
Colonials are winners – Plymouth Whitemarsh had been playing teams tougher this season, but that wasn’t good enough for coach Becky Duffy. The first-year coach wanted a win, and she got just that on Tuesday night when the Colonials downed Upper Moreland 31-21 to earn their first win of the season.
“This is huge for the confidence of the girls, for the direction the team is heading,” Duffy said. “It’s our first game in the New Year, and our slogan is ‘It’s a new year, it’s a new season.’ We’re hoping this can kind of carry us into some more wins and give us some confidence.”
The Colonials used an 11-1 third quarter effort to earn the win.
“What we decided to do - we pulled off our press because we realized they were getting cheap baskets off our pressure,” Duffy said. “We packed it in, and we executed.
“Offensively, we were running a stall offense to get some wide-open shots.”
Alexa Borkowski led PW with 11 points while freshman Simone Jacques scored eight points.
“Alexa really took the ball hard to the basket with a lot of confidence,” Duffy said. “Simone Jacques did a great job on the rebounds.
“Typically, our shots aren’t falling, and sometimes our best offense is rebounding and putting the ball back. Those two really stepped up and were effective.”
Alyssa Butcher made her return to the lineup after being sidelined with an injury since the second week of the season and scored six points.
Caitlin Mundy, according to Duffy, had a strong game at point guard.
“She had a great game leading the team, making good decisions, taking care of the ball - especially down the stretch” the PW coach said. “She calmed everybody down.”
The Colonials, who are 1-2 in league play (1-5 overall), will travel to Upper Dublin on Friday.
Trojans win big over Cardinals – Colleen Hinde scored 20 points and Jessica Keller connected on four three-pointers to lead Wissahickon to a 50-33 win over Upper Dublin the first half of a girls/boys double header on Tuesday night.
“We played well,” coach Jerry Hartman said. “We shot the ball well from the outside, which opened things up for Colleen inside.
“We played well as a team, passed the ball around and got some nice shots.”
The Trojans were coming off a 30-18 loss to Souderton in the title game of their own holiday tournament when they connected on just 4-of-35 shots over the final three quarters.
“When we struggle, we struggle because we don’t shoot the ball well,” Hartman said. “Tonight we came out and made two threes in the first quarter, and that kind of opened up the inside game for Colleen.
“When you can shoot from the outside, it opens up everything for the other players. In the last game against Souderton, we weren’t able to do that.
“The kids worked hard at practice all week, and they came out and played extremely well from the beginning of the game to the end of the game.”
The Trojans led 28-17 at the intermission but then put the game away with a 14-2 third quarter surge.
Hartman acknowledged the strong effort of point guard Casey Bill in the win.
“She didn’t have any points, but she controlled the offense for us,” he said. “She did a nice job defensively on their point guard (Cutrena Goff). She had 11 points, but Casey was able to keep her in front of her and make her work for her points, which was key as well.”
The Trojans, who improved to 3-0 in league play (5-3 overall), will host Norristown on Friday night, but for one night, they were enjoying their big win.
“For a long time, they have been one of the premiere teams in our division,” Hartman said of the Flying Cardinals. “They always play hard. They’re well coached.
“Our girls came out, met the challenge and played well. When we play as a team, we can play pretty much with everybody. It’s a matter of executing and playing well together.”
Wissahickon will host Norristown on Friday night.
Titans get back on winning track – It wasn’t an especially happy holiday season for a Central Bucks South squad that lost three tough, close games in a row, but the Titans took out their frustrations on Hatboro-Horsham on Tuesday night, leaving no prisoners in a 55-25 win.
“It was really important to get a win simply because we were 0-3 in our last three games, and anything to get us moving in a positive direction was really important,” coach Beth Mattern said.
Brittany Kaewell led a balanced attack with 12 points while Katelyn Schneider added 10 points. Kaycee Schaefer and Gab Vass each had eight points.
“I thought we played defense well,” Mattern said. “When we decided to press, we executed well, and we had some intensity.
“We also finished more than we had, which is something we’ve been focusing on. We really played well.”
During her team’s three-game losing streak, Mattern ensured that her team would keep its perspective.
“Obviously, a loss is a loss, but you try and look at the positives,” the Titans’ coach said. “A team like Red Lion that went to states last year, a team like Abington that finishes high in the district – you just have to remind yourself how close we are and how we have to get back to work and work even harder.”
Panthers stay perfect – Upper Merion lost to Cheltenham 57-44 on Tuesday night, but Viking coach Tom Schurtz wasn’t complaining. After all, the Vikings outscored the Lady Panthers 36-22 in the second half.
“They’re a real good team,” he said. “We played a pretty straight up first quarter – they made a couple more shots than we did, and then we got a little shaky in the second quarter. They turned up the pressure a little bit, and we made a couple of poor decisions with the ball and gave them a couple of easy layups.
“But we won the second half. We got as close as 11 or 9 with three minutes to go. They’re a really good basketball team.”
The Lady Panthers led 9-6 at the end of one quarter and then seized control of the game with a 21-8 second quarter scoring burst.
Cheltenham was led by the 14-point effort of Shayla Felder. Kira Ogden added 13 points while Liz Taliaferro added 11.
“Felder is tough,” Shurtz said. “She’s the fastest girl we play. That girl can fly.”
Freshman Kristina O’Sullivan led the Vikings with 13 points while Alex Galdi had 12 and Cassidy Koenig, 10.
Shurtz was pleased to see his team respond better to Cheltenham’s pressure in the second half.
“We got it close, and they turned up the defensive pressure again, but we were able to handle it the second time around,” he said. “You have to make shots against them if you’re going to beat them.
“They’re going to put you in bad situations, and when they give you the opportunity, you can’t miss open shots.
“In the first quarter, when I thought we created a lot of good opportunities, we didn’t make any of those shots. It was 2-0 for the first four and a half minutes of the game. They were missing outside shots, and we were missing shots. When you’re in a situation where they’re missing shots and you’re getting shots, you have to make them.”
While the Panthers improved to 3-0 in league play (9-0 overall), the Vikings fell to 2-1 in league play (6-3 overall).
“I’m happy with my girls,” Shurtz said. “They played hard until the last second on the clock. Hopefully, we learned something from this.
“You never want to be happy with a loss, but you have to be happy with the effort.”
Upper Merion will travel to Upper Moreland on Friday night.
Eagles rally to defeat Spartans – It wasn’t easy, and it wasn’t always pretty, but Norristown dug its way out of an early hole to defeat a much-improved Springfield squad 43-37 on Tuesday night.
“My problem is us getting on the right page – that’s my big thing because we have yet to play to our potential,” Norristown coach Ashlee Harrison said. “I totally give credit to Springfield. They played hard, and they don’t give up no matter what.
“They definitely gave us a hard game.”
The Eagles, who fell behind 13-8 at the end of one quarter, rallied to go on top 24-21 at halftime, thanks to a 16-8 scoring explosion. Norristown outscored the Spartans 19-16 in the second half.
“It was mainly just our defense and containing (Elise) DiFilippo,” Harrison said of the Spartans’ fiery point guard. “That was our focus, shutting her down.”
DiFiliippo had nine points in the first half but none in the second.
Morgan Smith led the Spartans with 14 points – eight in the second half – while Norristown’s Natasha Matthews led all scorers with 17 points.
The Eagles won despite connecting on just 8-of-18 from the foul line.
“Unbelievable,” Harrison said. “Half of our practice they’re running for foul shots. I don’t understand.”
While the Spartans, who connected on just 3-of-9 from the foul line, fell to 0-3 in league play (6-3 overall), the Eagles are 2-1 in the league (2-4 overall).
“I hope that we’re picking up momentum and really we are a good team, and we need to play to our potential – come out, hustle, play great defense and play to our strengths on offense,” Harrison said.
The Eagles will travel to Norristown for a key American Conference showdown on Friday while the Spartans will face Cheltenham.
Panthers win third straight – Quakertown jumped out to a 22-9 lead at the end of one quarter and never looked back on its way to a convincing 65-39 win over Central Bucks West on Tuesday night.
The Bucks connected for just eight field goals in the game – only three in the second half – as they did most of their damage from the foul line, scoring 23 points from the charity stripe.
“The main thing tonight was defense,” said Quakertown assistant James Maiorino. “We played straight man-to-man and played help defense. They just played well.”
Daniella Ciccarone and Lauren Starzecky each scored 18 points to lead the Panthers. Ciccarone also had eight assists while Starzecky dominated the backboards, pulling down 11 rebounds. Kristine Jackiewciz added 13 points, which included three treys.
The Panthers are 1-2 in league play (4-3 overall) while the Bucks dropped their third league game in as many outings.
Quakertown will host Pennridge on Friday while the Bucks will play at North Penn on Thursday.
Around the league: Liz Martin scored a game-high 23 points to lead Central Bucks East to a 53-30 win over Pennridge. The Bucks held a slim 14-12 lead at the end of one quarter but blew the game wide open with a 17-4 second-quarter burst. Courtney McManus buried a pair of treys while Sarah Martin added five points in the frame. Sam Simononis led the Rams with 17 points, which included two treys.
In other action, Council Rock North defeated William Tennent 65-44, Abington downed Pennsbury 60-43, and Neshaminy cruised to a 63-27 win over Harry S. Truman.
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