Check out all of the results for SOL girls’ basketball teams in action on Tuesday. To view photos of the CB West/CB South game, please visit the Photo Gallery.
American Conference
PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH 51, NORRISTOWN 40
The Colonials found themselves staring at a 24-15 deficit in the second quarter and still trailed 29-26 at halftime, but in an impressive second-half performance, they outscored the Eagles 25-11 to win going away.
“We finished the first half with a big run,” coach Dan Dougherty said. They were full court man pressure against us, and we kept driving the ball to the basket, driving the ball to the basket, and we were able to get them in foul trouble.
“It was an absolute war of a game between two very evenly matched teams. It definitely showed us a lot about our kids tonight. It was a great atmosphere between two rival teams.”
Asia Baker dominated the game offensively, contributing 20 points, which included a 7-of-11 effort at the charity stripe. Alynna Williams added 14 points while Rachel Konowal (nine points) and Cara Sweeney (eight points) also came up big.
“Norristown was switching between their matchup zone and man-to-man, and every time they went to zone, we just stretched them out and just attacked them,” Dougherty said. “When they jumped over and helped, we would hit the open person for layups.
“That’s how Cara Sweeney got most of her points. Between Rachel Konowel, Asia Baker and Alynna Williams, we just stretched out their zone. I feel like over the past few games we have seen so many different kinds of defense trying to stop those three kids. To their credit, whatever defense it is - they will stretch it out and look to attack. In the fourth quarter, you could tell we were starting to wear Norristown down. Once we got the lead, it just slowly grew, and the next thing you knew we were up by 10.”
Sweeney and Konowal, according to Dougherty, dominated the game defensively.
“We kind of gave the kids a challenge,” he said. “We said, ‘Cara Sweeney, you’re going to guard Keifona Ferguson. It’s one-on-one. You’ve got to stop her.’ We told Rachel Konowal, ‘You’re going to guard Briana Hedgepeth. It’s one-on-one. You’ve got to stop her.’
“It was such a physical game out there tonight. If Ferguson isn’t the best post player in our league, she’s the second best. She is so strong and so physical, and she’s so dominating on the boards. I’m guessing she had 20 rebounds, and she may have had more than that.”
With the win, the Colonials upped their record to 5-0 in league play (9-0 overall).
“Our message to the girls leading up to the game was – it’s just another game,” Dougherty said. “We, as coaches, were thinking this was a really important game, but we didn’t want to get that message to the kids. We wanted them to play loose, and against Norristown, we’re going to be excited to play anyway.
“I can’t say enough how much fun it is to coach these kids. They compete for each other, they battle for each other. Yesterday we had one of our most fun practices of the year. I wanted to take the pressure off of tonight’s game, so we did fun conditioning drills instead of our usual intense conditioning drills and just let them have fun because this team really does enjoy playing together.”
Ferguson led the Eagles with 15 points while Hedgepeth had eight.
The loss was the first of the season in league play for the Eagles, who are 3-1. While Norristown will travel to Wissahickon on Friday night, the Colonials will make the trip to Upper Dublin for a battle of the conference’s only unbeaten teams.
UPPER MERION 62, WISSAHICKON 39
Regie Robinson had another big night for the Vikings, turning in a double-double with 21 points and 11 rebounds. Tatiana Pleasant added six points and a game-high 15 rebounds. Katherine Bailey added 10 points and seven assists.
“When a player averaged 15 points a game last year, you expect her to play well,” coach Tom Schurtz said of Robinson. “But I think the people around her are starting to play better.
“Tatiana Pleasant, Katherine Bailey and Eryn Brady – they’re all starting to play better. We’re a very young team, and you’re looking to take steps forward. I think we’re starting to do that. Wissahickon has played a lot of close games. They’re a good team. They’re young as well.”
The Vikings established the early tone for the game, jumping out to a 13-6 lead at the end of one quarter and increasing that lead to 29-12 by halftime on their way to the big win.
“We made some changes defensively after the first four games,” Schurtz said. “We got back to what we do best. We did some zone earlier in the year, and I think that was a mistake. We’ve returned to what we do best, and we’re starting to play better.”
While the Trojans fell to 1-3 in the league (2-6 overall), the Vikings are 1-3 in league play (4-5 overall).
“We had a slow start, but we’re trying to turn the corner now,” Schurtz said. “This is the fourth game in a row we’ve played pretty well.
“I think part of what we’ve been struggling with is trying to find an identity and getting the pieces to work. I think that’s starting to happen, but that’s going to be a process with us all year. We’re just looking to get a little bit better every time out. “
The Vikings’ coach pointed to his team’s 53-42 win over West Windsor-Plainsboro South as a turning point.
“They’re a good team and have won a number of games since we beat them at their place,” Schurtz said. “Against PW the other day, we came up a little short, but we had a big win over Motivation last night.
“That’s two games in a row we’ve played pretty well. We’re at the halfway point right now, and we’re 6-5, and I think we’re a much better team than we were two weeks ago. I hope to be a better team two weeks from now.”
Wissahickon 6 6 11 16-39
Upper Merion13 16 17 16-62
CHELTENHAM 57, UPPER MORELAND 30
Ashley Jones continued her torrid offensive production, scoring a game-high 22 points to lead the Lady Panthers to the win. Junior Amarri Trueheart added 14 points, and Gabrielle Wright contributed 11.
The Lady Panthers jumped out to a 20-8 lead at the end of one quarter and took a 31-20 lead into halftime. They outscored the Golden Bears 26-10 in the second half.
The Golden Bears were led by the 17-point effort of senior Karli Lynch. Teammate Lindsay Walder added eight points.
The Lady Panthers are 2-2 in league play (5-3 overall), and the Golden Bears are 1-3 in the league (3-6 overall).
Cheltenham will host Upper Merion on Thursday at 4:30, and Upper Moreland returns to action on Friday when the Golden Bears will travel to Springfield.
Cheltenham 20 11 12 14-57
Upper Moreland 8 12 4 6-30
UPPER DUBLIN 55, SPRINGFIELD (MONTCO) 23
The Spartans hung tough for one half against the defending American Conference champs, trailing by just a 20-13 score at halftime, but the Flying Cardinals blew the game open with a 20-4 third quarter burst and went on to outscore the Spartans 35-10 in the half.
Julie Cross led a balanced Upper Dublin attack with 15 points and nine rebounds. Kayla McAneney added 14 points and five rebounds, and Regan Gallagher filled a stat sheet, collecting a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds to go along with seven steals, four blocked shots and three assists.
Maura Ryan led the Spartans with 10 points while Meghan Wheatley had six.
The Flying Cardinals upped their record to 5-0 in the league (9-0 overall) while the Spartans fell to 0-4 in the league (2-8 overall).
Upper Dublin hosts Plymouth Whitemarsh in a battle of undefeated squads on Friday night while Springfield will host Upper Moreland.
Springfield 9 4 4 6-23
Upper Dublin 12 8 20 15-55
Continental Conference
CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 53, CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 46
Beth Mattern didn’t have to look far to find heroes in her team’s big win on Tuesday night. Everyone who set foot on the court contributed.
“The bench was so into it too,” the Titans’ coach said. “We can’t count them out.
“We got a little sloppy in the fourth quarter, but we stayed with it. They all contributed. It was just a fun, fun game.”
The win was South’s first over its sister school since January of 2011.
“I told the coaches after the game before we talked to the team – I can’t remember how many games in a row we lost to West,” Mattern said. “You can only lose to a team so many times, especially your district rival, before you step up and want to end it.
“I thought today we did that. West played hard, and they played hard to the end. It was a great game, and they have great players who can score. We stuck to our game plan the best we could and tried to finish the game.”
Senior Alysha Lofton was relentless for four quarters, scoring 13 points and pulling down eight rebounds. When starters Lauren Mosher, Jordan Vitelli and Chloe Entenberg all took seats on the bench after picking up their second foul in the first quarter, the Titans received a huge lift from their bench.
Junior Kaley Smith threw up a shot at the buzzer that fell through the net and gave the Titans a 9-6 lead at the end of one quarter. Junior Emma Gardy came off the bench to score nine big points in the first half, including her team’s only three-pointer to give the Titans a 14-8 lead. Her shot from just inside the arc with 14 seconds remaining in the second quarter sent the Titans into halftime with a 23-18 lead.
“Even though we lost one of our big rebounders (Mosher), other teams don’t pay attention to our other contributors,” said Lofton, who had nine points in the pivotal second quarter. “We have great shooters, but they didn’t know about them. Now they do.
“We also have great ball handlers who can go through the press, and we have great passers, but they don’t see that.”
Both Mosher, who sat out 14 minutes in the first half, and Vitelli, who was out close to eight minutes, made up for lost time with standout performances in the second half. Mosher scored nine of her 10 points in the second half, including six in a third quarter that saw the Titans outscore the Bucks 13-9 to up their lead from 23-18 at halftime to 36-27.
Vitelli, a sophomore in name only, was fearless. With the game on the line in the fourth quarter and West’s student section directly under her team’s basket, she calmly connected on 5-of-5 from the foul line and scored nine points in the quarter.
It was Vitelli converting a three-point play after an offensive rebound to give the Titans (41-27) their largest lead at the 7:24 mark of the fourth quarter.
The Bucks gamely battled back, making it a 45-39 game when – after a Titan turnover against the press – Nicole Munger buried a pair from the foul line. Vitelli answered with a pair of foul shots at the other end.
A baseline jumper by Maggie Rakowsky made it a 47-41 game with 2:25 remaining, but Vitelli calmly sank both ends of a one-and-one to up the Titans’ lead to eight. A West turnover set the stage for Taylor Dunn connecting on the front end of a one-and-one to put South on top 50-41, but Mackenzie Carroll hit nothing but net on a three-pointer, and it was a 50-44 game with 1:11 remaining.
A Munger steal and a hustle offensive rebound on a ball heading out of bounds resulted in a basket by Corrinne Godshall, and the Bucks trailed by just four (50-46). South misfired on the front end of a one-and-one with 37 seconds on the scoreboard clock, but Lofton snuck in for the putback, and any thoughts of a West comeback were all but put to rest.
“When I saw that, in my mind I was thinking ‘How apropos,’” West coach Terry Rakowsky said. “It wasn’t the first time. They beat us so many times on hustle plays, balls on the floor we didn’t get, second shots we gave up.
“It’s all about everybody doing their job. On defense, if you have four girls playing hard and one girl that isn’t, it looks like nobody is playing defense. On offense, you can’t go one against five. I don’t care who you’re playing.”
It was a somber West team that emerged from a lengthy postgame meeting.
“We’re struggling for leadership offensively, defensively and team-wise,” Rakowsky said. “We have too much talent to have one kid go one against five. That’s our challenge to get together as a team.
“There were only a couple of times where we came down and threw more than one or two passes. It was one pass, shot. I don’t think we had an offensive rebound in the first half, and to me, that’s a product of – are you moving the defense with your offense, making them chase you around a little bit so when a shot goes up, you’ve got a lane to go get a rebound. We’re definitely not playing team basketball.”
Munger led the Bucks with 18 points while Godshall and Peyton Traina each added seven.
The Titans – who will travel to Souderton for a big game on Friday night – upped their league record to 3-1 (8-2 overall). The Bucks (2-2, 6-3) will travel to North Penn on Thursday night for a showdown against the undefeated Maidens.
“Every game in this league is very competitive,” Munger said. “It’s a huge game.
“You can learn something from every game, but we have to put this in the back of our heads, think of something we did wrong, learn from it, and do the opposite at North Penn because they’re very good.”
Central Bucks South 9 14 13 17-53
Central Bucks West 6 12 9 19-46
NORTH PENN 64, HATBORO-HORSHAM 33
Senior Vicky Tumasz scored 18 points while freshman Jen Carangi added 12 points to lead a balanced Maiden attack. Bri Cullen added nine points, and Mikaela Giuliani had eight. Irisa Ye and Erin Maher both had six points. Maher had a monster night under the backboards, pulling down 14 rebounds to go along with four steals.
For the Hatters, Cassidy Quattro led the way with nine points, and Emily Fox added six.
The Maidens improve to 4-0 in the league (8-0 overall) while the Hatters are 0-3 (0-7 overall).
North Penn will host Central Bucks West on Thursday, and on Friday, Hatboro-Horsham hosts Quakertown.
North Penn 20 12 22 10-64
Hatboro-Horsham 5 9 8 11-33
SOUDERTON 68, PENNRIDGE 37
The Indians exploded for 30 first-quarter points to go on top 30-11. They stretched that lead to 48-18 by halftime.
Allison Gallagher connected on four three-pointers on a night that saw the Indians bury eight baskets from beyond the arc. Gallagher led all scorers with 21 points. Bianca Picard finished the night with a double-double, scoring 13 points and pulling down 11 rebounds. She also had four assists. Sara Derstein also had a double double, finishing with 10 points and a team-high 14 rebounds. She also had four assists. Hannah Bergey and Devon Boehm each added five points.
For the Lady Rams, Devan Rimmer scored 12 points while Ashley George had seven points and Kaeli White, six points. Rimmer also had four steals. George and White both finished with a team-high nine rebounds. Lydia Konstanzer added six boards
The Indians are 2-2 in league play (7-3 overall) while the Lady Rams are 2-1 in the league (4-4 overall).
Souderton will host Central Bucks South in a key SOL battle Friday while the Lady Rams will travel to Central Bucks East.
Souderton 30 18 13 8-68
Pennridge 11 7 8 11-37
CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 53, QUAKERTOWN 21
Senior center Courtney Webster led the Patriots with 16 points, and senior Emily Sebeskky added 10 points. Freshman Bridget Birkhead had eight points, and Katelyn Miller dished out six assists.
The Patriots led 12-4 at the end of one quarter and extended that lead to 29-11 by halftime on their way to their fourth win in as many games.
Quakertown was led by the eight-point performance of Meghan Klee and the seven-point effort of Ashlee Ruzicka.
The Patriots improved to 3-2 in the league (5-3 overall) while the Panthers fell to 0-5 in the league (1-8 overall).
East will travel to Norristown on Wednesday for a non-league game while the Panthers will travel to Hatboro-Horsham on Friday.
Central Bucks East 12 17 17 12-53
Quakertown 4 7 6 4-21
National Conference
NESHAMINY 44, COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 38
Junior Maddie Murray turned in a huge performance for the Redskins under the backboards, scoring a game-high 20 points to go along with 16 rebounds.
“We know she’s capable of big things,” coach Joe Lally said. “She really took us on her back tonight.
“We did not have our best night, but she put us on her shoulders. She did a great job on the boards. Maddy really hit the boards hard, especially in the second half, and she made the difference, in my opinion, in the game.
“She works really hard in practice, and she’s a great kid. It’s always nice to see a kid like that do well.”
Murray’s performance loomed large on a night that saw senior center Sarah Oliveira get into early foul trouble.
“We had to go to our bench earlier than we wanted to, and they did a pretty nice job on the boards,” Lally said. “It really kept them in the game, and (Taylor) Dillon had a good game. She’s a nice player.”
Dillon led the Golden Hawks with 16 points, but 10 of those points came early in the game before Lally gave the task of defending the senior guard to Megan Schafer.
“Megan really did a great job shutting her down from the second quarter forward,” Lally said. “Between Maddie getting on the boards and Megan covering Dillon, that was the difference.”
Schafer also had nine assists, six steals and four rebounds.
“She’s playing with a sore knee,” Lally said. “She’s just unbelievable. Her engine is just incredible.”
The Golden Hawks took a 20-19 lead into halftime and still had a lead late in the fourth quarter when the Redskins rallied for the come-from-behind win.
“We executed, but we didn’t finish tonight,” Lally said. “It wasn’t our best game, but we’ll take the win.”
The Redskins are 3-0 in league play (4-2 overall) while the Golden Hawks are 1-2 in the league (2-5 overall).
Neshaminy will host Council Rock North Friday in a key National Conference game while Rock South will host William Tennent.
Council Rock South 13 7 11 7-38
Neshaminy 11 8 12 13-44
ABINGTON 41, WILLIAM TENNENT 31
Sammy Lochner scored 13 points, and Deja Rawls added 11 to lead the Ghosts. Abington led 11-2 at the end of one quarter only to watch Tennent rally to pull to within 17-15 by halftime. The Ghosts won it with a 15-6 third quarter surge.
“They’re always well-coached, and they always hang in there,” Abington coach Dan Marsh said. “They’re always real tough to put away, especially at their place.
“It wasn’t a perfect win, by any means, but any win in our conference is good.”
Nikki Alden and Sarah Richie led the Panthers with eight points each.
Abington upped its record in league play to 4-1 (6-4 overall) while the Panthers fell to 1-3 in the league (6-4 overall).
Abington will host Pennsbury on Friday while the Panthers will travel to Council Rock South.
Abington 11 6 15 9-41
William Tennent 2 13 6 10-31
COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 62, BENSALEM 37
The Indians sprinted out of the gate to a 24-10 lead at the end of one quarter and never looked back. Junior Tara Garfield led the Indians with a career high 17 points, which included four three-pointers. She did all of that damage in just two quarters of action.
Jessica Gerber added 11 points while Madison Attanasio added nine. Emily Mackin and Michaela Finneyfrock both had six points for the Indians, who put 12 players in the scoring column.
Bensalem was led by the 25-point effort of Lyric Lewis. Bridget Watson added 10 points for the Owls, who had just three players contribute scoring.
The Indians are 2-1 in the league (4-2 overall) while the Owls are 0-3 in league play (0-7 overall).
Rock North will travel to Neshaminy on Friday while the Owls will travel to Harry S Truman.
Bensalem 10 3 8 16-37
Council Rock North 24 8 18 12-62
PENNSBURY 58, HARRY S TRUMAN 44
For one half, the Tigers played the Falcons even, battling Pennsbury to a 26-26 tie at the intermission. Pennsbury took a 37-34 lead into the final quarter and then put the game out of reach with a 21-8 fourth quarter surge.
Sajanna Bethea led the Falcons with 27 points while Kaitlin Kelly added 16 points and five assists. Sarah McDonald had seven points, and Sarah Aturuse had four points and a team-high eight rebounds.
The Tigers were led by the 18-point effort of Khristaijah Jackson. Taylor Gasperi added eight points.
The Falcons are 3-0 in league play (4-4 overall) while the Tigers fell to 0-4 in the league (3-6 overall).
Pennsbury will travel to Abington Friday, and Truman will host Bensalem on Friday.
Harry S Truman 12 14 8 10-44
Pennsbury 14 12 11 21-58
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