Check out the recaps for SOL girls’ basketball teams in action Wednesday. (CB West photo courtesy of Tracy Valko. https://solsports.zenfolio.com/p23823082)
Lancaster Catholic Holiday Tournament
CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 55, LANCASTER CATHOLIC 44
They didn’t get a trophy or medals, t-shirts were not distributed to the winners, but listening to West coach Zach Sibel tell it, the Bucks – who defeated the host Crusaders to capture the tournament title – got something a whole lot better than a trophy or t-shirt.
“The experience is priceless,” the Bucks’ coach said. “This is a huge win, and it’s a really good one for the girls too with how we won it as well. I think we did a really nice job taking some punches tonight.
“There are very few teams that play like Lancaster Catholic. They roll out athletes that are incredibly skilled. We were able to ride the wave – that was really the motto for the night. We knew they were going to make shots, and we knew they were going to come out firing with a ton of energy because that’s just how they play.
“They threw the first punch, but then we started punching back. I thought we did a really nice job handling the moments tonight and really responding and making adjustments.”
The first punch delivered by the Crusaders was an 18-point first quarter that gave the home team a five-point lead heading into the second quarter.
“We were down 6-0 or 9-0 to start, and then Nia Perry hit a huge three after Tai Henkels hit a huge three, so they got us rolling,” Sibel said. “Then it was other girls stepping up. Sophomore Gabi Senior had a huge and-one finish. We were finishing at the rim tonight, which was awesome, and for her to take that next step was really awesome to see.”
The Bucks – behind seven points from Senior – edged the Crusaders 14-13 in the second quarter. Lancaster Catholic took a 31-27 lead into halftime, but the second half belonged to the Bucks, who delivered some punches of their own, outscoring the Crusaders 15-7 in the third quarter and taking a 42-38 lead into the final quarter. In the fourth quarter, the Bucks buried 9-of-11 at the foul line with Henkels connecting on 4-of-4 to lead the way. Emily Spratt scored nine of her team high 16 points in the second half.
“Alexis Castro had a huge play in the (fourth quarter),” Sibel said. “They started to inch their way back in the game with some free throws and turned the pressure back up, and Castro jumped in the passing lane, finished a layup, got fouled and finished it at the line as well.
“Those two plays by our sophomores (Senior and Castro) were really huge, and (Emily) Spratt stepped up big time in the second half. It was really everybody. (Point guard) Katie Finnan had her best game handling pressure and got us some really good looks. Tai (Henkels) made shots. Ava Longo had a huge bucket to start the second half that put us up one.
“The biggest thing for us is we want to defend the whole game even when shots aren’t falling. They got shots going in early, but we were able to hold things down and just keep battling. I thought we made their halfcourt stuff tough for them, but they had great shooters and great players. It was really an awesome win.”
In addition to Spratt’s 16-point effort, Henkels added 13 points, which included three 3-pointers. Senior, who was 4-for-5 from the foul line, contributed 10 points.
“The one Lancaster reporter, Jeff (Reinhart), came up to me and said, ‘Very few teams come in here and win,’” Sibel said. “It’s such a fun environment because it’s a hostile one, not because anyone’s mean, but it’s a cool gym to play in, and when you’re the team from two hours away, it’s cool to see the girls come in and handle that against a really good team and a really well-coached team.
“They play with so much energy and effort, and they don’t go away. It’s like the fly that’s following your food – you keep trying to brush them back, but they stay up on you, so it was good to handle that moment. It was cool to see the players make adjustments. As coaches, we try and do what we can do, but it was cool to see the players make adjustments and really learn for it and get better. This is definitely a game we got better during.”
Central Bucks West (7-1, 3-1 SOL) will travel to Souderton on Tuesday.
Central Bucks West 13-14-15-13 55
Lancaster Catholic 18-10-7-9 44
Central Bucks West (55) – Tai Henkels 3 4-4 13; Katie Finnan 1 1-2 5; Emily Spratt 6 4-6 16; Alexis Castro 2 1-1 5; Ava Longo 1 1-2 3; Gabi Senior 3 4-5 10; TOTALS 18 15-18 55.
Lancaster Catholic (44) – Kraft 3 4-4 10; Lehman 1 2-2 5; Johnson 2 0-0 5; DeJesus 1 0-0 2; Bolesky 7 2-2 19; Anderson 0 3-4 3; TOTALS 14 11-12 44.
3-point goals: CBW – Tai Henkels 3, Nia Perry; Lancaster Catholic – Mary Bolesky 3, Jeriyah Johnson, Lily Lehman.
Diamond State Classic
PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH 64, CARAVEL ACADEMY 44
The Colonials rolled to their third win in as many days, this time defeating Delaware powerhouse Caravel Academy. Although there was no tournament champion, the Colonials were the lone team to go 3-0 in the round robin tournament.
“Caravel is top five for the state of Delaware, and their point guard – India Johnston – is the returning Delaware Player of the Year,” PW coach Dan Dougherty said of the Towson University commit. “Tonight was a very good win. Caravel had just played Haverford two days ago and given them a good game as well.
“They’re two very different styles of play. I would compare our game against Haverford similar to playing Upper Dublin, teams that play very good defense, teams that are very well coached, very methodical, slow the game down where Caravel loves to play up-tempo. Caravel plays a very similar style to Abington. We were excited to get three games in.”
Wednesday’s game came on the heels of a pair of convincing wins. PW defeated Haverford on Tuesday (50-35) with Lainey Allen named the player of the game. On Monday against The Tatnall School (a 60-30 win), Erin Daley was the player of the game.
“Our first game against The Tatnall School – they were one of the rare teams that had more size than we did,” Dougherty said. “They have a pair of sisters that are as big as (6-1) Lainey Allen. All three games were quality opponents.
“The first two games we were able to really push the tempo and fullcourt press. Tonight we just didn’t have it. It was the third game, and we’re only playing with a six-player rotation this week because Abby Sharpe has been out (illness). We always feel very comfortable having a seven-player rotation. To only have six and to play three games in three nights – and this is just a tough team to try and press. There are some teams you can press and some teams you can’t. Caravel is just four lightning-fast guards around a post player (Taylor Wilkens), who is also very talented. Their post is similar to Jaida Helm of Abington.”
The Colonials put 21 points on the board in the opening quarter and led 21-14. They outscored Caravel 13-4 in the second quarter to go into halftime with a commanding 34-18 lead. They went on to outscore Caravel 30-24 in the second half.
Point guard Kaitlyn Flanagan – Wednesday’s player of the game – led the charge with 20 points.
“At certain points in the second half, it was almost like Kaitlyn Flanagan versus India Johnston from Caravel,” Dougherty said of the dueling point guards. “They were just going back and forth at each other. It was exciting.
“It was a very physical game tonight. The officials really let a lot of hand checking and reaching go. It was a different atmosphere, and it took us a while to adjust to that. Once we did, it was Flanagan to Lainey (Allen) and then Flanagan to (Jordyn) Thomas. She had nine assists to go with her 20 points. She was really, really special.”
Lainey Allen added a double-double, finishing with 11 points and 13 rebounds. Erin Daley had 16 points, and Jordyn Thomas, 13 points, as four players finished in double figures for PW.
“Erin Daley and Jordyn Thomas – we use them almost as point forwards against teams that press us,” Dougherty said. “Caravel pressed us tonight. I think it was more just the idea that they wanted to push the tempo. They knew it was our third game in three days, and they didn’t play yesterday. While they were surrendering points on the press, I think they were trying to take our legs away, knowing they struggled to match up with us in the halfcourt.
“We lost the third quarter (13-11). We were getting some good shots, but our legs were tired and our minds were tired. We were taking shots five seconds into a possession when we were up by double figures. I just had to quiet their minds down a little bit. In the fourth quarter, the girls executed very well. We held their point guard to two points in the first half, and she had 17 points in the second half. Special players are going to find a way to score, but the positive was – while we have Kaitlyn Flanagan, we have three other players capable of scoring in double figures as well. We were able to use Jordyn Thomas and Erin Daley to take a little pressure off when they went to that press because both of them do such a great job of being able to pass over top. They’re so strong, they’re able to make skip passes and really just handle the pressure well.
“To get three wins is really good, especially being down a starter. The girls are going to get a well-deserved three days off over the next few days to get their legs back, and we’ll get Abby back. We’ll have three games next week as long as everyone is healthy.”
For Dougherty, who resides in Delaware, the tournament was a whole lot closer than his home games at PW.
“It was a great week,” the Colonials’ coach said. “It was one of those things we were supposed to stay in a hotel, and it was supposed to be a week-long fun thing.
“I really appreciate the girls and their families being flexible. It was role reversal – The Tatnall School here in Delaware is five minutes from my house, but it’s an hour drive for the girls.”
Plymouth Whitemarsh (4-0, 2-0 SOL) will host Wissahickon on Tuesday.
Plymouth Whitemarsh 21-13-11-19 64
Caravel Academy 14-4-13-11 44
Plymouth Whitemarsh (64) – Angelina Balcer 1 0-0 2; Kaitlyn Flanagan 8 3-3 20; Fiona Gooneratne 1 0-0 2; Erin Daley 7 1-1 16; Lainey Allen 3 5-8 11; Jordyn Thomas 5 2-2 13; TOTALS 25 11-14 64
Caravel Academy (44) – Taylor Wilkens 4 0-1 8; Amaya Johnson 2 2-2 8; Anaya Price 2 0-0 5; Jasiyah Crawford 2 0-0 4; Indian Johnston 8 1-1 19; TOTALS 18 3-4 44.
3-point goals: PW – Kaitlyn Flanagan, Erin Daley, Jordyn Thomas; Caravel – Amaya Johnson 2, Indian Johnston 2, Anaya Price.
Boyertown Holiday Tournament
PENNRIDGE 66, BOYERTOWN 47
To say that it was raining 3s in Wednesday’s consolation game at Boyertown would be an understatement.
The Bears and Rams combined for 21 3-pointers with the Rams connecting on 11 and the host Bears, 10, as the two teams put on a clinic from beyond the arc. No one was shooting them better than Katie Yoder, who had six 3-pointers in a career best 29-point effort to lead the Rams. Anna Croyle added four 3s and 14 points while Boyertown’s Carlie Schweizer had five.
“That basket was as big as an ocean – it was unbelievable,” Pennridge coach Mike Elton said. “We’d hit them with a three, and they’d come back and hit a three.
“Defensively, they took us out of our rhythm in the first half, but we decided we needed to dictate the tempo. Even though we had 15-20 points on them, they kept it at that. They made a valiant effort. You have to give them credit for that.”
There was nothing to suggest in the opening quarter that the game would become a long-range shooting contest as the two teams battled to an 8-8 tie. Then came a second quarter that saw the Rams outscore the Bears 19-9 to go into halftime with a 27-17 lead.
Yoder and Croyle both had a pair of 3s in the quarter with Yoder scoring eight points and Croyle seven. Ava Unzicker added six points.
The third quarter was more of the same as the Rams outscored the Bears 21-12 to go into the final quarter with a 49-29 advantage.
“The first quarter was tight, and we made a little run towards the end of the second quarter.
“We took a timeout, and our conversation was that we had to take a little bit of control of the game. At that point, we ended up with a 10-point spurt, and in the third quarter, we just opened it up. Yoder started to catch on fire, Anna (Croyle) hit a couple, and we were making our free throws.”
Yoder’s 18 second-half points – which included three 3-pointers – led the Rams. Croyle had a pair of 3s in each half, and Emma Pyne had one 3-pointer.
Wednesday’s win came on the heels of 52-43 loss to a Delone Catholic squad that went on to win the tournament title.
“That was disappointing,” Elton said of Tuesday’s loss. “This was a good win.”
Pennridge (4-3, 2-2 SOL) will host Central Bucks South on Tuesday.
Pennridge 8-19-21-18 66
Boyertown 8-9-12-18 47
Pennridge (66) – Anna Croyle 4 2-4 14; Katie Yoder 10 3-3 29; Ava Fantaskey 0 2-2 2; Ava Unzicker 3 0-0 6; Olivia Poole 1 2-2 4; Emma Pyne 1 2-2 5; Katie Loughran 1 0-0 2; Ryan Hodder 2 0-0 4; TOTALS 22 11-13 66.
Boyertown (47) – Kiera Wolfe 0 0-2 0; Harper Glennon 3 1-4 7; Madison Konnick 1 0-0 3; Carlie Schweizer 6 1-2 18; Emma Smith 2 0-0 6; Hannah Adamski 4 3-3 13; TOTALS 16 5-11 47.
3-point goals: Pennridge – Katie Yoder 6, Anna Croyle 4, Emma Pyne; Boyertown – Carlie Schweizer 5, Emma Smith 2, Madison Konnick, Hannah Adamski 2.
Non-league
MOUNT ST. JOSEPH ACADEMY 46, UPPER DUBLIN 31
It was easy for UD coach Morgan Funsten to pinpoint exactly when and why Wednesday’s non-league game was lost.
“There were a lot of components to today’s game – it felt like there was three or four different games all in one, but one of the most incredible stats I’ve ever seen in a game – Mount shot 8-for-9 from 3-point range in the first half,” the Cardinals’ coach said. “You shoot 89 percent from 3-point range – you’re going to win some games.
“We gave up a lot of offensive rebounds in the first half. We may have had a good defensive possession, they would get an offensive rebound, we’re down trying to help get the rebound, and they kick it out for a three. That happened at least three or four times in the first half.”
The Magic led 13-6 after one quarter and took a 32-19 lead into halftime.
“We felt like it started with rebounding, and also, they made some nice contested shots,” Funsten said. “We made a couple of mistakes defensively, and they got some open looks, and they took advantage of every single one of them except one in the first half.
“We gave up 32 points in the first half, which is pretty rare for us. I thought we were shooting the ball okay in the first half, but we had some turnovers as well.”
The Cardinals tightened up their defense considerably in the second half, allowing the Magic to score just four points in the third quarter and 14 in the second half.
“It’s going to sound crazy, but we played a pretty good third quarter,” Funsten said. “We gave up zero offensive rebounds in the third quarter, we had zero turnovers offensively in the third quarter, but we didn’t make a field goal. We were 0-for-12. We lost the quarter 4-2 and hit two foul shots.
“We cleaned up a lot of the mistakes we made in the first half and just had nothing to show for it. It was a good bounce back to fix the mistakes we were making early in the game, so that was nice to see.”
Amy Ngo’s 12-point effort led the Flying Cardinals. She also had four steals. Aditi Foster added six points, five rebounds, four deflections and two steals.
While the Magic couldn’t miss, the Flying Cardinals struggled offensively, connecting on just 12-of-41 shots (29 percent) and 1-of-9 from behind the arc.
“It’s a frustrating day when every 3-pointer goes in for the other team,” Funsten said. “We felt like we were a pretty even team with them, and that was definitely the ‘X’ factor in the first half, and we struggled to put the ball in the basket, especially in the second half.
“Just not making the same mistakes over and over is definitely a positive we’ll take out of today. The girls battled. We need to just continue to try and get better each game. I know we have a big challenge ahead of us next week.”
Upper Dublin (3-2, 1-1 SOL) will travel to Hatboro-Horsham on Tuesday, beginning a four-game week that includes contests against Plymouth Whitemarsh, Springfield Township and a powerful Westtown squad in the Blue Star Tournament.
Mount St. Joseph Academy 13-19-4-10 46
Upper Dublin 6-13-2-10 31
Mount St. Joseph Academy (46) – Kiersten Pumilia 2 0-0 6; Lauren Hoffman 7 2-2 20; Chloe McGrorty 2 3-5 7; Erica Martin 2 1-2 6; Georgia Pickett 3 0-2 7; TOTALS 16 6-11 46.
Upper Dublin (31) – Alaina Sanders 0 1-2 1; Bliss Brenner 2 1-2 5; Aditi Foster 3 0-0 6; Geena Sarnoski 1 1-3 3; Colleen Klammer 1 2-2 4; Amy Ngo 5 1-2 12; TOTALS 12 6-11 31.
3-point goals: Mount – Lauren Hoffman 4, Kiersten Pumilia 2, Erica Martin, Georgia Pickett; UD – Amy Ngo.
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