SOL Girls’ Basketball Wrap (12-14-23)

Pennsbury senior Sofia Vitucci surpassed the 1,000-point milestone in the Falcons’ big league win over CR South. Upper Dublin, Upper Moreland & Lower Moreland also notched wins. (Photos provided courtesy of Pennsbury basketball) (Pennsbury action shot courtesy of Jacob Gladstone.)

SOL Patriot Division

PENNSBURY 53, COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 27

The play was vintage Sofia Vitucci.

The Falcons’ senior guard – unfazed by a pair of defenders trying to prevent her from going to the basket – finished off a fast break, igniting the spirited crowd in the Falcons Nest. The basket was a rerun of many she’d made before during a stellar four-year career, but this one vaulted the senior guard to the 1,000-point plateau and into the program’s record books.

“It’s the way I find the most success,” Vitucci said of her willingness to attack the basket. “I’m most dangerous in that area, and I’m going to do what I’m good at.

“It was really exciting. My whole family was there, a lot of upperclassmen came back to watch. It’s just the kind of environment you want to do it in front of – the home crowd.”

Vitucci entered Thursday’s game against Rock South needing 13 points. She had nine in a first quarter and scored the historic basket in the second. If she felt any pressure, she certainly didn’t let it show.

“I’m not really sure if I did – I was on the backboards more than usual, and nothing was stopping me,” Vitucci said. “I was like – this is happening.

“It’s nice to have it out of the way. Now we can just move on and play our next game.”

Vitucci is the seventh female to go through the program and reach the milestone, the ninth overall. She joins former teammate Ava Sciolla on the prestigious list.

“I always saw it and kind of had it as a goal for myself, but I didn’t think I’d ever actually accomplish it,” the Pennsbury senior said. “As I progressed, I realized this could actually become a reality for me. I was working towards it as I went through my career.”

The senior captain, according to her coach, is a relentless worker.

“This is a young woman who does so much work in the dark, so much work on her own,” coach Frank Sciolla said. “She’s in the gym at 3:30 for a seven o’clock start shooting around.”

The Falcons’ coach isn’t kidding.

“On Tuesday, she shows up at 3:30 to shoot because she wasn’t happy with how she shot the previous game,” Sciolla said. “I told the team on Wednesday, ‘Listen, you guys think Sof just rolls off a boat and scores, like she’s some 6-foot jumping jack.’

“I said, ‘This kid has carved out a piece of her life. She has given up on relationships, she hasn’t gone to movies, she has given up on trips because she has wanted to be really good at this. The other day she was here at 3:30,’ and you know what – today, pretty much the whole team is there at 3:30. Sof actually complained and was like, ‘Why did you guys say something? I had it to myself here,’ but that’s leadership.”

Vitucci led the Falcons with 24 points, which included a near-perfect 8-for-9 effort at the foul line. She also had eight rebounds and three assists in a superb outing.

“Her game defies analytics,” Sciolla said. “She has an old school game. How many kids do you see get to the mid-range and score like she does because we don’t even teach it anymore. She’s learned that teams really don’t defend in there, and she’s practiced so much – she’s got great feet, she gets to spots, she elevates. She plays with poise, she takes bumps. I really think she’s put herself in the group of best players that have come through here. It’s not because of the thousand points because we’ve had thousand-point scorers who didn’t win like she did. She’s winning. All of this is cool, but she’s doing it winning 20 games a year.”

Measuring in at 5-6, Vitucci is not an imposing figure – until she gets on the court.

“She’s so strong, she’s got that center of gravity – people bounce off her,” Sciolla said. “She’s tough, she takes hits. She’s just so unflappable, and she’s been like that. People will talk a lot of trash to her, and she’s not really the right kid to talk trash to – she doesn’t care.”

The Falcons’ coach pointed to the teammates Vitucci has played with over the years as significant.

“If you go back to coming in as a freshman – her senior class is Bella (Arcuri), her sophomore year is Ava (Sciolla) and Nicole Pompili and her junior year we had Neveah Dash, so she’s had people that allowed her to make mistakes and grow as a young woman,” Sciolla said. “I’m really, really proud of her, and the girls – the way they were tonight and the crowd, I thought it was really cool how they handled it.”

Vitucci, according to her coach, has upped her game every season.

“At the end of every year, you have meetings with your players – you give them a Google Doc, and you share it with their parents,” Sciolla said. “You tell them what you want them to get better at. You give them one thing – instead of giving them 10 things, do this, and it will help you fit into our team. You hope and you pray that half of them do it, but normally, not even half are going to do it.

“Every single year, Sof took the thing that we told her, and she did it. If she’s not in our gym, she’s at LA Fitness shooting around. She works on her body and keeps herself in fantastic shape. She’s always had a great basketball IQ, and this year, she’s turned the corner where she is so smart – when a team comes down the floor, she’s calling out what they’re running. She’s kind of come out of her shell because she can be very quiet, and it’s hard to read her. At other times, she’s bouncing off the walls.

“She has been the best player in our league the last two years. I’m not saying she’s got the highest up side, I’m not saying how it translates. I’m simply saying – for what she has had to do as we’re constructed, she has been incredible.”

Vitucci is the 11^th player who has reached the 1,000-point milestone under Sciolla.

“I know that’s unique,” he said. “I do not take it for granted. Every single time it’s happened, I have been so overjoyed, and then my next thought normally would be – who can the next one be, and we feel like the way we play is conducive to being able to do that.”

Falcons win key division battle

Vitucci’s milestone may have been the focal point of many in attendance at Thursday’s game, but for the senior guard, it was secondary to defeating the visiting Hawks.

“Our whole team – we wanted to win this game,” Vitucci said. “That was the first priority. We went in – we had great energy. We were really focused and determined to win obviously with last year’s outcomes.”

Vitucci and her teammates hadn’t forgotten that the Falcons lost both contests to the Golden Hawks last year, losses that cost them a championship. They took a 16-4 lead after one quarter and a 29-15 lead into halftime with Vitucci accounting for 17 of her team’s points.

“We were concerned – our feeling before the season was they might be the best team,” Pennsbury coach Frank Sciolla said. “We came out with a lot of energy, we defended – that kind of is our identity, and we normally defend pretty well. A big challenge for us as it has been the past several years is our size, but that’s not an issue with South because they’re also small.

“It’s the kind of a matchup where we’re not going to be doubled up on the back line by a shot blocker like you might be with a Reese Zemitis. Offensively, we were able to get the ball moving, Sof got off to a good start. We made it really difficult for them, and once they started to get into their offense better, their confidence wasn’t there because they had missed.”

The Hawks made a run in the third quarter, outscoring their hosts 10-5 but never really threatened. The Falcons took a 34-21 lead into the final quarter and closed it out with a 19-6 burst.

“I will give (Rock South) credit,” Sciolla said. “We went into the locker room, we were up a bunch, and I said, ‘They’re not getting on the bus here,’ and they did come out strong. They made a run at the beginning of the third that cut it to 11, but we came out – we got a couple of big buckets. We got a big 3-pointer from Daniella MacDonald, who has been so good in the early going this season.”

MacDonald also finished in double figures with 10 points – seven in the fourth quarter.

“We’re not the same team as last year where we had so much pressure on Sofia to score,” Sciolla said. “MacDonald is scoring, Joley Hohman is scoring, and the effort of (Layla) Matthias, which at this point is elite in what she’s doing.”

Matthias once again led the Falcons with nine rebounds, and Hohman – a freshman who joins Vitucci in the backcourt – added six points.

“Joley Hohman is an interesting kid,” Sciolla said. “Growing up, she has been at at least 50 games at Pennsbury. Her parents are Pennsbury grads. She’s a Levittown kid who has played as much basketball as anyone I have ever coached at this point in her life, and it means so much to her to be on that big floor.

“In 2023, you don’t see a lot of kids saying – ‘I bleed orange and black’ or ‘I want to play at that school.’ This is a kid who could play at many high schools, but there was never a doubt she was playing here.

“I went up to her at practice on Monday, and I said, ‘We need you to be more assertive. I understand you’re in ninth grade. We’re going to run some actions for you to put the ball in your hands, and we want you to be confident and not worry about making mistakes.’ She came out, and we put the ball in her hands more. She played really well Tuesday night, and she came out tonight, and she got better tonight.”

The season is young, but the Falcons have already played archrival Neshaminy and a Rock South squad that figures to compete for the division crown.

“I think it’s really weird that we start our league season in week one,” Sciolla said. “You go to your first game – it’s at Neshaminy. First of all, Pennsbury and Neshaminy are rivals. Football and other sports – they play at the end of the season, so you build toward that. Whoever has the pencil that makes the schedule, we’re opening with them.

“And tonight’s game – I said it to Jesse (Krasna) – unfortunately, the loser of tonight’s game has no margin for error the rest of the year, and I think they’re one of the better teams in the district, and it was just a case where they ran into the buzzsaw that sometimes happens in this atmosphere because they could easily flip it there. They’re talented, they’re shooters, they’re really hard to defend. You have to guard them with a lot of discipline.”

Lil Metrick and Fiona Reckner both had eight points to lead the Golden Hawks.

“It’s become a trend for people to praise the other coach and what not,” Sciolla said. “I think that’s a good thing, but in reality, (Jesse Krasna) is a really good coach, in reality, they’ve been really good out of the chute – they had an overtime loss to Neshaminy. They get to be home for us the second time.

“What they do that’s so different is they move the ball and you don’t see it like that. They have great ball movement. Kathryn O’Kane is a really special player. She’s a stud athlete, she gets all her teammates involved. The other piece is – junior Fiona Reckner can play inside and out. She plays with a sense of poise that makes her seem older than she is, and then Katie Papura comes in – she’s physical. Metrick is a shooter. This is their year – the nights they’re making 3s, you’re going to be in trouble. Tonight was not one of those nights.”

Pennsbury (5-1, 3-1 SOL) will face Germantown Academy at Jefferson University on Sunday at 10:45 a.m. Council Rock South (4-2, 2-2) will take on Upper Dublin at Jefferson University on Sunday at 6 p.m.

Council Rock South 4-7-10-6 27

Pennsbury 16-13-5-19 53

Council Rock South (27) – Sarah Freeman 1 1-2 4; Lil Metrick 2 3-3 8; Katie Papura 2 0-0 4; Cam Gregory 1 1-3 3; Fiona Reckner 2 4-4 8; TOTALS 8 9-12 27

Pennsbury (53) – Layla Matthias 1 1-4 3; Danielle Sherman 1 0-0 2; Maggie Burns 1 2-2 4; Sofia Vitucci 8 8-9 24; Oliveah Gilchrist 1 0-0 2; Daniella MacDonald 3 2-2 10; Joley Hohman 2 1-2 6; Ava Jordan 0 2-2 2; TOTALS 17 16-21 53.

3-point goals: CRS – Sarah Freeman, Lil Metrick; Pennsbury – Daniella MacDonald 2, Joley Hohman.

UPPER DUBLIN 53, PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH 15

The Flying Cardinals took care of business in a hurry, opening up a 12-6 lead after one quarter and extending that to 26-8 by halftime on their way to their fourth league win without a loss.

“We’ve been trying to establish an identity of being able to play at a faster pace than we’ve played in the past,” UD coach Morgan Funsten said. “Against Scranton Prep, we got in foul trouble. Against Abington, it just wasn’t effective, but we were effective in the halfcourt.

“We pretty much knew that we wanted to play a fullcourt game against PW. We watched them against Abington. They did a nice job controlling the pace against Abington, and we didn’t want them to do that tonight.”

The Cardinals – who connected on eight 3s in the contest – buried three from beyond the arc in the opening quarter, one each from Brighid Brady, Megan Ngo and Amy Ngo. By halftime, four players had scored from long range, and seven different players had their names in the scoring column.

“The first half we forced a lot of turnovers, but we didn’t really convert as many into points as we wanted,” Funsten said. “We really got into a groove in the third quarter.”

Amy Ngo’s 12 points led the Cardinals. She also was a catalyst on defense, finishing with seven deflections and six steals. Ngo also had four rebounds. Tamia Clark added nine points, seven rebounds and five deflections. Megan Ngo had eight points, five assists, five rebounds and two steals. Kaitlyn Zacharia also had eight points. Bridget DiMartile had six points and four rebounds, and Brighid Brady had six on a pair of 3-pointers.

“It was a really balanced team effort,” Funsten said. “We had six girls score at least six points. Kaitlyn Zacharia came off the bench in the second quarter and made back-to-back baskets when we were struggling to put the ball in the basket. She had five points in a nice little run in the second quarter.

“Amy (Ngo) was great defensively, wreaking havoc. She was all over the place. Meg did a great job running the point. It’s fun to watch how balanced this team is. Nobody seems to care who scores. Those are always the best type of teams. We’re off to a good start in the league.”

Alyssa Avery’s five points led the Colonials, who suffered a setback when the sophomore picked up her third foul in the first half – all three were offensive.

“Our young team got a tough lesson tonight,” PW coach Dan Dougherty said. “We were able to stay competitive early, but foul trouble destroyed any chance we had of remaining competitive.

“We are so far behind teams of that level when it comes to conditioning, defensive discipline and communication. We’re not going to quit coaching them up though. It’s up to the kids how they respond to what they experienced tonight.”

Upper Dublin (5-0, 4-0 SOL) will face Council Rock South in a non-league game at Sunday’s Play-by-Play Classic at Jefferson University at 6 p.m.

“We’re looking forward to Council Rock South on Sunday,” Funsten said. “It’s been a long week, starting with Scranton Prep on Saturday and then Abington and PW – big rivals in the league and then wrapping it up with CR South on Sunday. We’re 3-0 so far this week. We know we’re going to have our hands full with CR South, but we’re excited.”

Plymouth Whitemarsh (3-2, 2-2) will host Chichester in a non-league game Monday.

Plymouth Whitemarsh 6-2-3-4 15

Upper Dublin 12-14-19-8 53

Plymouth Whitemarsh (15) – Joslyn Perez 1 0-0 2; Taylor Williams 0 2-2 2; Alyssa Avery 2 0-0 5; McKenna Winland 2 0-0 4; Marissa Perez 2 0-0 4; Brooke Pedozzi 0 0-2 0; TOTALS 6 2-4 15.

Upper Dublin (53) –

UD – Brighid Brady 2 0-0 6; Bridget DiMartile 3 0-0 6; Megan Ngo 3 0-0 8; Tamia Clark 4 1-2 9; Amy Ngo 5 0-0 12; Julia Scullen 1 0-0 2; Kaitlyn Zacharia 3 0-0 8; Nora Brady 1 0-0 2; TOTALS 22 1-2 53.

3-point goals – PW – Alyssa Avery; UD – Brighid Brady 2, Megan Ngo 2, Amy Ngo 2, Kaitlyn Zacharia 2.

Non-league

UPPER MORELAND 51, ACADEMY PARK 26

The Golden Bears held just an 8-6 lead after one quarter but blew Thursday’s non-league game open with a 22-6 second-quarter burst to go into halftime with a commanding 30-12 lead on their way to the decisive win.

“The girls played a great overall game tonight,” UM coach Josh Adelman said. “They played four quarters of unselfish basketball and played as a team.

“The defensive intensity was great to see and the shot selection and execution of plays was very good night. We had balanced scoring.”

Lianna Adames led a balanced UM attack with 15 points, which included a pair of 3s. She scored seven points in the pivotal second quarter and 10 in the opening half. Lily Hanson also finished the game in double figures with 10, which included eight first-half points. Holly Gohl had nine points, and Mikel Lancit added eight.

“The team has taken on the challenge this week of having four games and will be playing against a tough Cheltenham squad tomorrow night,” Adelman said. “Tonight we won our third consecutive game.”

Upper Moreland (5-2, 2-1 SOL) will host Cheltenham on Friday.

Academy Park 6-6-8-6 26

Upper Moreland 8-22-15-6 51

Academy Park (26) – Emani Banks 4 1-4 9; Kiala Bright 2 0-2 4; Jayla Davis 2 0-0 6; Zeriah Hinson 1 2-2 5; Kyla Lover 0 2-2 2; TOTALS 9 5-10 26.

Upper Moreland (51) – Mikel Lancit 2 4-4 8; Lianna Adames 5 3-5 15; Marie Meyers 2 0-0 5; Lilly Hansen 5 0-0 10; Holly Gohl 4 1-2 9; Molly Meakim 0 0-2 0; Makaila Allen 2 0-0 4; TOTALS 20 8-13 51.

3-point goals: AP – Jayla Davis 2, Zeriah Hinson; UM – Lianna Adames 2, Marie Myers.