Check out the results for SOL girls’ basketball teams in action. To view photos of the Neshaminy/Abington and Upper Moreland/Hatboro-Horsham games, please visit the Photo Gallery.
UPPER MORELAND 39, HATBORO-HORSHAM 36
Ed Decker figures it’s been 10-12 years since the Golden Bears last won back-to-back games, but trumping even that accomplishment was winning on the floor that the Philadelphia 76ers call home – the Wells Fargo Center.
“It was definitely crazy,” senior Lindsay Walder said. “On the bus ride over, the nerves were definitely setting in.”
“It was incredible,” senior Karli Lynch said. “It was just great to do it with this team, and the way it ended was even better.”
Both players admitted that it took some getting used to playing in that large venue.
“It was definitely hard to get used to the court,” Lynch said. “We had the nerves, and everyone’s heart was racing. We had to calm everyone down and get our game going.
“We’re not used to playing in front of that big of a crowd. Having everyone there was a lot of fun. I’m glad we got to do it.”
“As a girls’ team, we don’t normally get a large student turnout,” Walder added. “To have everybody there, it was definitely a different atmosphere, but it was a lot of fun to play in.
“The games are always close when we play (Hatboro), so it was a great atmosphere.”
Making the trip to Wells Fargo especially sweet was the fact that the win was the second of the week for the squad.
“Our team has struggled winning, and winning here was incredible,” Lynch said. “It was back and forth the whole game.
“Towards the end, we had a lot of key foul shots from Lindsay (Walder), so it was interesting.”
Walder turned in a glittering 25-point effort to lead the Golden Bears.
“She had an unbelievable game,” coach Ed Decker said. “Hatboro came out keying on her most of the night. They knew that she was the girl that was going to carry us, and Lindsay stepped up like the player she is and handled it and did a lot of great things for us offensively.
“She really worked hard getting to the ball today. We did a lot of high screens for her, and today her jump shot was on for her. She really came up big with a couple of pull-up 15 to 18-footers today but more of just going to the basket a little more and getting to the foul line a little more gave her that opportunity.”
Walder admits stepping to the line with the game on the line was unnerving.
“I was very nervous,” she said. “I’m not used to shooting those foul shots with a crowd – our basket was right in front of the Hatboro-Horsham section, so it was pretty intimidating, but I just tried to calm down and focus on my shot.”
While the Hatters fell to 0-5, the Golden Bears are 2-4 on the season.
“Personally, I think this is huge for us,” Walder said. “Especially coming off one of our only league wins in a while on Tuesday when we played Upper Merion, it was unbelievable to come off that win, have practice and then win this going into the Christmas Tournament. We couldn’t have more momentum right now.”
The girls’ game was the first game of a boys/girls doubleheader. After dinner at McFadden’s, the four teams and their fans enjoyed the 76ers game.
“We told our kids – this is a lifetime memory here,” Decker said. “This is something you will remember for your life.
“Going down there and playing on that floor today in a great arena was really, really nice. We enjoyed the atmosphere. Both teams brought a lot of fans. It was really nice to be down here at this time.”
Continental Conference
SOUDERTON 62, CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 57
The Bucks are undoubtedly grateful they won’t have to play at Souderton again any time soon. Last year, the Indians defeated the Bucks 44-41 at Souderton, and they followed that with another impressive outing on Friday, knocking the Bucks from the ranks of the undefeated.
“It’s a great feeling,” senior Bianca Picard said. “There are no words to describe it. When your hard work pays off, that says enough.
“We work hard, we put our hours in, and we are a very good basketball team. Sometimes we get off track, but people have to watch out for us because we’re really going to work hard this year. Everyone on our team has the same common goal.”
No one on Souderton’s squad had a hotter hand on Friday night than senior Devon Boehm, who came out of nowhere to score 18 points.
“Devon – my goodness,” Souderton coach Lynn Carroll said. “I told her in the locker room, ‘The bad news is the word is out now. Everybody knows you can score.’
“She just stepped up, and she lets the game come to her. She didn’t force anything. She hit big shot after big shot. We have a lot of scorers on the team, and if people try and stop them from scoring – to have other kids step up and score is going to be huge for us, and it certainly was tonight. I’m really happy for Devon.”
Boehm was 6-for-8 from the field, which included a dazzling 4-of-5 effort from beyond the arc.
“My shot has been off recently,” Boehm said. “Our coach had us do form shooting and just going back to basics, so I felt a little more confident than I did before.”
Boehm was feeling it from the outset, burying her first of four three-pointers in the opening half on the Indians’ first possession of the night. That basket negated a three-point play by Mackenzie Carroll at the other end.
Allison Gallagher followed with a driving basket, and then – after a West miss – Picard kicked the ball out to teammate Katie O’Connor on a fast break, and the senior guard buried a three-pointer.
A West miss set the stage for another fast break, and this time it was Picard finding Gallagher for the easy bucket. Two more West misses were followed by Sarah Derstein drawing a foul after pulling down an offensive board, and she buried one-of-two. When Picard turned a steal into a basket, the Indians led 13-3, and they were off and running.
Souderton led 16-9 at the end of one quarter and took its largest lead of the night (25-10) after Boehm, who had 14 first-half points, buried another three-pointer just over three minutes into the second quarter.
Nicole Munger answered with a three-point play at the other end, marking the beginning of a 15-7 West run to close out the half. The run, which made it a 32-25 game at halftime, featured a whole lot of the gifted point guard, who scored 12 of her game-high 28 points in the quarter.
“She makes great plays,” Carroll said of Munger. “At the end of the first half, I wasn’t really happy letting her score off those picks, but we adjusted a little bit. She made big plays, but I thought our defense was really good.”
The Indians led 46-38 late in the third quarter after a Gallagher hook shot, but Munger closed out the quarter with back-to-back buckets to make it a 46-42 game heading into the final frame.
A three-point play by Derstein (Picard assist) to open the fourth quarter put the Indians on top 49-42. A Picard drive made it a 51-42 game, but the Bucks came roaring back. Back-to-back three-pointers by Munger and Carroll trimmed the Indians’ lead to 53-51 with 4:33 remaining, but Gallagher sank both ends of a one-and-one.
After West came up empty on back-to-back possessions, Boehm buried one-of-two from the foul line to give the Indians a 56-51 lead. The Bucks had a chance to cut into that lead, but Picard deflected a pass away and, after drawing the foul, buried a pair of foul shots. The Indians would not be denied.
Picard finished with 14 points, eight rebounds, six assists and three steals. Gallagher had 13 points, and Derstein added 10 points and eight rebounds.
“We knew they were going to come out and make it hard for every single one of us,” Picard said. “But winning against that team shows our team that anything is possible.
“We were very unselfish, we shared the ball, we believed in each other, and at the end of the day, that’s all that matters.”
“We really boxed out well,” Carroll added. “We have certainly had our issues when it comes to boxing out.
“Sarah did a great job limiting their second opportunities, but everybody did.”
For the Bucks, Traina finished in double figures with 10 points. She also had three steals in the fourth quarter. Freshman Maggie Rakowsky gave the Bucks a lift off the bench, finishing with nine points.
The Bucks lost Corrinne Godshall early in the fourth quarter to fouls, and Carroll also fouled out later in the quarter in a game that saw the Indians shoot 30 foul shots - connecting on 20 - while the Bucks took just seven. Fourteen of the Indians’ foul shots came in the fourth quarter when the Bucks were playing catch up.
West coach Terry Rakowsky pointed to the Indians’ hustle as the difference in the game.
“Give them credit,” he said. “They really outhustled us and did a good job. They’re a good team.”
And what did Rakowsky tell his team in the locker room after the game?
“We’re not going undefeated,” he said. “It’s like anything – when you’re starting at the bottom or you’re at the top, it’s a little bit at a time. It’s one game at a time.”
While the Bucks fell to 2-1 in the league (3-1 overall), the Indians improved to 2-1 in the league (4-2 overall).
Central Bucks West 9 16 17 15-57
Souderton 16 16 14 16-62
NORTH PENN 44, CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 35
The Maidens found themselves in sole possession of first place after Friday’s win over the Patriots. Vicky Tumasz led a balanced attack with 12 points while Mikaela Giuliani added 10 points – eight in the second half. Bri Cullen had six points, seven rebounds and four assists while Erin Maher had six points and a team-high 10 rebounds.
For the Patriots, senior center Courtney Webster led the way with 13 points while Emily Sebesky added seven points and Katelyn Miller, six points.
The Maidens are 3-0 in league play (5-0 overall) while the Patriots fell to 1-2 in the league (1-3 overall).
CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 55, QUAKERTOWN 16
The Titans jumped out to a 25-4 lead at the end of one quarter and never looked back. Jordan Vitelli led a balanced attack with 13 points. Lauren Mosher and Brianna Wade both added eight points. Alysha Lofton had six points for the Titans, who are 2-1 in league play (5-1 overall). The Panthers fell to 0-3 in the league (1-3 overall).
Quakertown 4 4 4 4-16
Central Bucks South 25-8-17-5-55
National Conference
NESHAMINY 56, ABINGTON 39
Sarah Oliveira spent most of her basketball career playing guard or small forward. All that changed when she was a sophomore.
“They threw me in and said, ‘You’re going to be a big,’” said the Neshaminy senior, who says she is 5-10 in basketball shoes. “I’m used to it now that it’s my senior year. It’s always nerveracking, but I look at it as a challenge.
“Even though we are a small team, we box, and we rebound. I do like going against bigger girls. It’s nice to bang down low sometimes, especially because we are a small team.”
What Oliveiri lacks in height, she makes up for in heart and hustle, and the senior post player – despite giving up four inches to her counterpart - led all scorers in Friday’s big win with 15 points – 12 in the second half.
“Sarah works so hard in practice,” Lally said. “She’s one of those kids that’s determined, and she doesn’t really let the size bother her. She’s really grown mentally to understand that she’s going to be smaller, and she has to use her whole repertoire of moves so that she can make things happen in the low post for us. She does a great job.”
The Redskins, who turned a 13-11 lead at the end of one quarter into a 29-19 halftime lead used their aggressive defense to generate easy baskets, keeping the Ghosts out of sync for the better part of four quarters.
“All of our guards put a fire under our butts to get out and push and run,” Oliveira said. “With defense – our press with the traps and everything, those are easy transition points for us because we like to run so much.
“When we’re all flowing together, we’re going to get those fast breaks and points that we need.”
The Redskins were flowing on Friday, and according Lally, the ‘Skins defense was the key.
“We defended for 32 minutes, and that was pretty much the difference in the game,” he said. “They have some pretty difficult matchups for anybody that plays them and some pretty good players, and we knew we’d have to defend to win.”
No one seems to enjoy playing defense more than senior point guard Megan Schafer, who contested every move the Ghosts’ made on Friday.
“We don’t have that much size, and we know that going in,” she said. “Our motto is just run, run, run. To do that, we have to play good defense to get our offense going.
“Defense is our main focus. When our defense is on, our offense usually comes along with it.”
Schafer finished with 12 points, seven in the fourth quarter.
“We knew going in they basically had the same exact team as last year,” she said. “They only had one senior that graduated, and it’s kind of the same situation with us.
“We kind of adjusted really well, got different bodies in there. We knew going in defense would be key, and our offense would just come.”
Morgan Goldenbaum also finished in double figures for the Redskins with 10 points.
For the Ghosts, Deja Rawls led the way with 13 points, but 11 of those came in the first half. Senior center Michael Harris had 12 points – all in the second half.
Coach Dan Marsh made no attempt to hide his disappointment after Friday’s loss, which came on the heels of Wednesday’s non-league loss to Souderton.
“Our team needs a reality check,” he said. “We were flat out outworked in every facet of the game for the third time this season. We are not very good right now.”
While the Ghosts fell to 2-1 in league play (3-3 overall), the Redskins are 3-0 in the league.
Neshaminy 13 16 14 13-56
Abington 11 8 10 10-39
WILLIAM TENNENT 59, BENSALEM 33
The Panthers exploded for 41 first-half points, opening up a 24-11 lead at the end of one quarter and upping that advantage to 41-17 by halftime.
Senior Nikki Alden had another monster game for the Panthers, finishing with 25 points and 10 rebounds for yet another double-double. Alden scored 21 of her points in the opening half.
The Panthers are 1-1 in league play (5-1 overall) while the Owls are 0-3 in the league (0-5 overall).
William Tennent 24 17 7 11-59
Bensalem 11 6 6 10-33
COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 70, HARRY S TRUMAN 47
Jessica Gerber tied her own single game school record set last season with seven three-pointers en route to a game-high 23 points. All told, the Indians connected on 11 three-pointers in their offensive onslaught.
Michael Finneyfrock added 12 points while Madison Attanasio added seven points, six steals and eight assists. Hailey Burns also had seven points to go along with 11 rebounds, six steals, one block and three assists.
The Indians sprinted to a 24-8 lead at the end of one quarter and extended that lead to 40-20 by halftime on their way to the big win.
Senior Khristaijah Jackson led the Tigers with 15 points while Jayda Campbell added 11.
The Indians improved to 2-1 in the league (2-2 overall) while the Tigers fell to 0-3 in the SOL (2-4 overall).
Council Rock North 24 16 22 8-70
Harry S Truman 8 12 10 17-47
PENNSBURY 51, COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 44 (Thursday, Dec. 19)
Seniors Sajanna Bethea and Kaitlin Kelly had big nights for the Falcons on Thursday. Bethea led all scorers with 22 points while Kelly added 15. Maggie Kane had seven points.
Taylor Dillon led the Golden Hawks with 19 points.
For three of four quarters, no more than one point separated the two teams, and the Falcons held a slim 26-25 lead at the intermission. They won the game with a 12-7 third quarter surge.
The Falcons are 2-0 in league play (3-1 overall) while the Golden Hawks fell to 1-2 in the league (1-4 overall).
Pennsbury 13 13 12 13-51
Council Rock South 13 12 7 12-44
American Conference
UPPER DUBLIN 66, CHELTENHAM 39
In a win that coach Morgan Funsten described as a ‘total team effort,’ the Flying Cardinals received double-digit scoring efforts from four players. Kayla McAneny topped the list with 18 points while senior Regan Gallagher added yet another double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Jackie Lillo connected on 7-of-8 shots from the field for 14 points. For the second time in as many games, Julie Cross was again just one rebound shy of a double-double, finishing with 12 points and nine rebounds. Taylor Linus had eight assists for the Flying Cardinals, who improved to 3-0 in league play (5-0 overall).
Freshman Ashley Jones led the Lady Panthers with 22 points. Cheltenham is 1-2 in league play (2-3 overall).
The Flying Cardinals, who led 14-7 at the end of one quarter, took a 31-18 lead into halftime and then outscored the Lady Panthers 35-21 in the second half.
Upper Dublin 14 17 15 20-66
Cheltenham 7 11 13 8-39
PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH 39, WISSAHICKON 18
The Colonials remained perfect in conference play, thanks to Friday’s convincing win that saw them limit the Trojans to single digits in each of the four quarters.
Asia Baker led the Colonials with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Rachel Konowal and Alynna Williams each added nine points. Senior forward Chrissie Mesunas chipped in with four points, and coach Daniel Dougherty credited her for playing great defense on Wissahickon scoring leader Bridget Sweeney, limiting her to just five points.
The Colonials upped their record to 3-0 in league play (4-0 overall) while the Trojans fell to 1-2 in the league (2-3 overall).
Plymouth Whitemarsh 14 5 13 7-39
Wissahickon6 2 8 2-18
UPPER MERION 45 SPRINGFIELD (MONTCO) 34
The Spartans trailed by just three late in the game, but the Vikings capitalized on trips to the foul line to pull away. Maura Ryan led the Spartans with eight points while Veronica Asman added six.
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