Upper Dublin notched a big in over West Catholic in Sunday’s Blue Star Invitational at Jefferson University.
Non-league
Blue Star Invitational at Jefferson University
UPPER DUBLIN 47, WEST CATHOLIC 28
The Flying Cardinals took an early lead and never looked back on their way to a decisive win over a West Catholic squad that brought a 7-1 record into Sunday’s non-league game.
Freshman Colleen Besachio had another double-double in a strong outing, leading the Cardinals with 19 points and 14 rebounds to go along with three assists and three blocked shots. She was 9-for-11 at the foul line. Freshman Megan Ngo added 13 points – including two 3s – seven assists and four steals, and junior Nora Brady also finished the game in double figures with 10 points.
“Colleen Besachio had another big game, and Megan (Ngo) did a great job handling their pressure – the entire team did but obviously most of it is on Megan,” UD coach Morgan Funsten said. “Nora Brady is a really good shooter who struggled finding her stroke this year – she made two first-half 3s, and to get that extra scoring output outside of Megan and Colleen is icing on the cake.
“We got off to a good start, we defended like we normally do, and we actually made some shots.”
Unfazed by the 9 a.m. start time, the Flying Cardinals raced out of the gate to 13-4 lead after one quarter. Bescachio and Brady each had five points in the quarter.
“We had the first game of the day, and it ended up being great for us,” Funsten said. “We’ve played in this showcase several years, and if you have a game in the middle of the day, you get like eight minutes to warm up.
“This morning, we were at Jefferson University by 8 a.m., so we had more than enough time to warm up, which was nice because you have to get used to the court. It’s a college court, so there’s three different 3-point lines. It’s good that we had that extra time.
“We really tried to focus on winning the first quarter because with an early start like that – you don’t know where everybody on your team and the other team’s minds are that early in the morning. Our big goal was to win the first quarter, and we came and played great.”
Behind eight points from Ngo, the Cardinals outscored West Catholic 14-10 in the second quarter to go into halftime with a 27-14 lead.
The Cardinals outscored West Catholic in each of the four quarters. Besachio was a perfect 6-for-6 at the foul line and also had a basket for eight points in the third quarter. UD outscored West Catholic 10-7 in both the third and fourth quarters on their way to the lopsided win.
“I’ve been riding the girls at practice this week – there have been times throughout the season we’ve played really well and then we have letdowns,” Funsten said. “We’ve played well for stretches, a good amount of stretches against really good teams.
“I was kind of tired of it, and at practice this week, I was like – why is that enough? Why can’t we be more consistent? By far, this was our most complete game. We played four full quarters. We weren’t perfect, we still made some mistakes.”
The Flying Cardinals – despite facing constant pressure – committed just eight turnovers.
“We wanted to stay under 10, so we took care of the ball,” Funsten said. “We tried to limit the strengths they have offensively. They have three good freshmen that start. They’re super talented, and they’re going to be really good.
“I would compare West Catholic to maybe a little less physical type of Abington game. They want to press you the whole game. I think the girls learned a lot of lessons from playing Abington the first time, making a lot of the mistakes that we did. It’s always great to see growth because their toughness was challenged today, and they really responded. It was just a really well-balanced team win.”
Upper Dublin (7-3, 5-2 SOL) will host Upper Moreland on Tuesday.
West Catholic 4-10-7-7 28
Upper Dublin 13-14-10-10 47
West Catholic (28) – Henry 0 1-4 1; Butler 1 0-0 2; Moore 2 2-2 6; Reid 4 4-5 13; Thomas 0 1-2 1; Farmer 2 0-2 5; Thompson 0 0-2 0; TOTALS 9 8-17 28.
Upper Dublin (47) – Brighid Brady 1 1-3 3; Megan Ngo 5 1-1 13; Lilli Kleiman 1 0-0 2; Colleen Besachio 5 9-11 19; Nora Brady 3 2-2 10; TOTALS 15 13-17 47.
3-point goals: WC – Reid, Farmer; Upper Dublin – Megan Ngo 2, Nora Brady 2.
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