Check out the recaps for SOL girls’ basketball teams in action. (CB East/UD photos courtesy of Diane Barry/CB East girls’ BB)
Non-league
CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 33, UPPER DUBLIN 24
The Cardinals and visiting Patriots entered the fourth quarter deadlocked at 23-23. That’s when the Patriots took charge, outscoring the Cardinals 10-1 to earn the non-league win.
Anna Barry’s 13 points – which included four 3s – led the Patriots.
“Anna had zero of the 10, and that was the most impressive part about it,” East coach Liz Potash said of her team’s fourth-quarter burst. “We were able to score all around her.”
The Cardinals took an 18-16 lead into halftime. Freshman Colleen Besachio and junior Nora Brady each had eight points to lead UD. Both connected on a pair of 3s. Barry accounted for 10 of East’s 16 points. She buried three 3-pointers in the first half. No other Patriot had a field goal as East’s remaining points in the half came at the foul line. Kendall Gregor buried 4 of 6, and Bella Haurin was 2-for-2 at the line.
“We got off to a good start tonight shooting the ball, but we made too many mistakes defensively in the first half and instead of being up something like 18-10, it was 18-16,” UD coach Morgan Funsten said.
The Patriots edged the Cardinals 7-5 in the third quarter to knot the score. A clutch buzzer-beating three by Barry evened the score.
“That was large momentum-wise because that tied it at 23,” Potash said.
With just under five minutes remaining in regulation, Shayne LeRay hit a three to give the Patriots a 28-23 lead.
“That was big,” Potash said. “We didn’t have a five-point lead the whole game. They got off to a pretty quick start – they hit three 3s in the first quarter, and they were up off the bat.
“Then with a little bit over three minutes left to play, Anna made an unbelievable pass to Chantal (Van Dongeren) to put us up six. With 2:20 to play, Natalie (Berndt), who’s a freshman, hit a three to put us up 33-24. She played some really good minutes for us.”
The Patriots’ coach went on to credit the defensive effort of her squad.
“We gave up 18 points in the first half, and then we gave up six in the second half,” Potash said. “Anna held freshman Megan Ngo – who’s very good – to two points. She got two foul shots, and I think she only got two shots up the whole game. Anna was able to lock her down. Her defense has come a long way.
“The whole game plan going in was to be able to stop Ngo and Besachio just seeing what they did to CB South the other day, so it was focusing
in on them and everyone else being able to give a lot of help. Chantal (Van Dongeren) was able to defend 35 (Besachio). It was good team defense all around. We really executed well for giving up 18 at half. To really tighten it up with help defense in the second half was huge.”
In addition to Barry, Gregor scored eight points for the Patriots. For UD, Besachio led the way with 11 points to go along with 11 rebounds and two blocked shots in an impressive outing. Brady had eight points, four rebounds, three deflections and one steal. Ngo dished out six assists. Alaina Sander and Brighid Brady both had four rebounds.
“The second half was a grind, and Barry made the play of the game,” Funsten said. “With the score 23-20 in our favor, she went the length of the floor and made a long buzzer beater at the end of the third quarter, and they went on to outscore us 10-1 in the fourth. We are disappointed in the outcome because I really thought this was a winnable game.
“The good news is we think a lot of the mistakes we are making are correctable. The sooner we can do that the sooner we will become a more consistent and successful team.”
Central Bucks East (1-0) will host Central Bucks West on Friday at 5:30 p.m. to open SOL play. Upper Dublin (1-1) will host Quakertown in Friday’s SOL opener.
Central Bucks East 7-9-7-10 33
Upper Dublin 11-7-5-1 24
Central Bucks East (33) – Natalie Berndt 1 0-0 3; Shayne LeRay 1 0-1 3; Anna Barry 4 1-1 13; Chantal Van Dongeren 1 0-0 2; Kendall Gregor 2 4-8 8; Bella Haurin 1 2-2 4; TOTALS 10 7-12 33.
Upper Dublin (24) — Brighid Brady 0 1-2 1; Fitzkee 1 0-0 2; Megan Ngo 0 2-2 2; Colleen Besachio 4 1-2 11; Nora Brady 2 2-2 8; TOTALS 7 6-8 24.
3-point goals: UD – Colleen Besachio 2, Nora Brady 2; CBE – Anna Barry 4, Natalie Berndt, Shayne LeRay.
CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 43, WILLIAM TENNENT 26
The Panthers led 15-11 after one quarter, but the Titans rallied to knot the score 22-22 at halftime. The second half belonged to the Titans, who outscored their hosts 21-4 and allowed just one field goal.
“Tough loss tonight,” Tennent coach Laura Whitney said. “It was a tale of two halves. Some of that can be attributed to a shortened preseason. We still don’t have everything in yet, as well as the fact that we have several freshmen getting quality minutes, and they lack that varsity experience.
“I thought we came out well the first quarter and had nice ball movement. We got some great looks and made our open shots. Even in the second quarter when we battled through some foul trouble and South made a run to take the lead, we found a way to weather the storm and tie it up right before the half.”
Yoyo Samayoa kept the Titans in it in the first quarter, scoring 10 of her team’s 11 points. Included in her offensive outburst were a pair of 3s and a 2-for-2 effort at the foul line. The Panthers, meanwhile, received one 3-pointer from three different players as six different players scored in the frame.
“Tennent came out of the gates shooting the lights out, dropping 15 points in the first quarter,” South coach Beth Mattern said. “Yoyo Samayoa responded and answered with 10 of her own points, sparking some energy into us. We made a couple defensive adjustments and in the second half worked extremely hard and played our style of basketball.”
In addition to Samayoa, Juliana Tropea and Mia Klein each added nine points while Ella Wheeler had six points.
The Titans connected on 8 of 10 from the foul line in the second half while the Panthers were 2-for-6 and had just one basket in the half – a third-quarter two-pointer by Morgan Volz.
“The second half not much went right for us,” Whitney said. “Offensively, we were out of sorts and had trouble executing our offense, and defensively, we gave up some easy baskets and too many offensive rebounds. We were never really able to recover.”
The Panthers were led by the seven-point effort of Halie Staub while Avery Kucor had six.
“I thought Avery Kocur played really well,” Whitney said. “We asked a lot from her as a freshman, and she was forced to play pretty much the entire game due to some foul trouble, but she played steady and made a lot of smart plays. Defensively, she was active and forced some turnovers and got a few deflections.
“Jess Whisler also gave us some big minutes when Volz got in foul trouble. I thought she played tough and got some big rebounds the first half. As a team, we have to learn from this and get better. It’s still early in the season and we know we can compete. It’s just a matter of getting more game reps and doing the little things better.”
Central Bucks South (1-1) will host Souderton on Friday, and William Tennent (0-2) will travel to Springfield Township on Friday.
Central Bucks South 11-11-11-10 43
William Tennent 15-7-2-2 26
Central Bucks South (43) – Zoe Petsch 0 2-2 2; Ella Wheeler 2 1-2 6; Juliana Tropea 3 3-4 9; Yoyo Samayoa 5 4-5 16; Mia Klein 3 2-3 9; Addy Geary 0 1-2 1; TOTALS 13 13-19 43.
William Tennent (26) – Ella Mednick 1 0-0 3; Avery Kocur 2 1-4 6; Halie Staub 2 1-2 7; Alyssa Lewicki 1 1-2 4; Jess Whisler 1 0-0 2 Morgan Volz 2 0-0 4; TOTALS 9 3-8 26.
3-point goals: CBS – Samayoa Yoyo 2, Ella Wheeler, Mia Klein; WT – Halie Staub 2, Ella Mednick, Avery Kocur, Alyssa Lewicki.
QUAKERTOWN 65, SOUTHERN LEHIGH 31
Ava Pistone was in some kind of groove.
The junior point guard connected on 6 of 7 shots from beyond the arc and finished with a game-high 21 points. Pistone also had six rebounds and four steals. Katie Hagerty had four steals as well.
Carolyn Sipprell added 19 points and 12 rebounds in an impressive double-double. Eight of her rebounds were defensive, and she also had two blocks. Katie Catalano was the third Panther in double figures, finishing with 13 points, which included three 3-pointers.
“This was a game that we finally clicked offensively and defensively,” Quakertown coach Brittany Bamford said. “Everyone contributed to this win.
“Katie Catalano and Ava Pistone shot the ball really well. Kayla Sicher made some important game momentum baskets in the first half, and Julia Henry snagged nine rebounds off the bench. All of these ladies are seniors besides Ava, so they were bringing lots of experience. Their aggressiveness paid off, and their patience on offense is improving. We still need to establish more confidence in each other, but they are improving.”
Sicher contributed six points for the Panthers, who held a tenuous 11-9 lead after one quarter but blew the game wide open with a 26-8 scoring burst in the second quarter. Quakertown outscored its visitors 26-12 in the second half.
The Panthers were 6-for-10 from the charity stripe while Southern Lehigh connected on just 5 of 18 attempts at the foul line.
Quakertown (1-2) will travel to Upper Dublin for Friday’s SOL opener.
Southern Lehigh 11-8-7-5 31
Quakertown 13-26-15-11 65
Southern Lehigh (31) – Cassidy Clausniter 1 0-0 2; Danika Lewis 1 1-2 3; Piper Gluck 0 2-2 2; Allison Bodner 1 0-2 3; Reese MacIntosh 1 1-2 3; Tessa Seagreaves 4 0-2 9; Gabriella Netwall 2 1-4 9; TOTALS 12 5-18 31.
Quakertown (65) — Carolyn Sipprell 8 3-3 19; Katie Hagerty 2 0-1 4; Katie Catalano 4 2-2 13; Julia Henry 1 0-0 2; Kayla Sicher 3 0-2 6; Ava Pistone 7 1-2 21; TOTALS 25 6-10 65.
3-point goals: Southern Lehigh – Allison Bodner, Tessa Seagreaves; Quakertown – Katie Catalano 3, Ava Pistone 6.
PENNSBURY 56, ARCHBISHOP RYAN 27
On a night that saw the Falcons bury 10 3-pointers, Daniella MacDonald led the charge, connecting on five 3s and finishing with a game-high 17 points. Sofia Vitucci also made a pair from beyond the arc and added 12 points, six rebounds and three assists.
“All 11 girls that dressed played in each half as we were able to set the tempo against a Ragdoll team establishing themselves under Julian Ratliff,” Pennsbury coach Frank Sciolla said. “Coach Ratliff has been a longtime, successful club basketball coach, and he is getting them to play his style. He has a really good piece in his daughter Reynah. She played with poise and is extremely unselfish. She created shots for teammates all night long.”
The Falcons, behind five points from Danielle Sherman, led 13-5 after one quarter. They erupted for 23 points in the second quarter to go into halftime with a commanding 36-7 advantage. Sherman had the hot hand in the second quarter, connecting on four 3s and also adding a two-point basket for 14 points.
“Daniella MacDonald busted out of a shooting funk with a big night. She scores a career high 17 while hitting five threes,” Sciolla said, going on to laud freshman Emily Panero. “(She) made her first varsity start at center and played with poise and led us with seven rebounds.
In addition to MacDonald and Vitucci, Sherman added eight points.
Reynah Ratliff’s 14 points led the Ragdolls.
“We overcame shooting a lusty 10-for-32 from the foul line, but the good news is that no one in the crowd was injured from the misses although there were several close calls,” Sciolla said. “It’s going to take us a few weeks to figure out our rotation but there’s little time to rest because we start our league play on Thursday night.”
Pennsbury (1-0) will host Neshaminy in Thursday’s SOL opener.
Archbishop Ryan 5-2-13-7 27
Pennsbury 13-23-8-3 56
Archbishop Ryan (27) – Reynah Ratliff 7 0-0 14; Delaney Finn 2 0-0 6; Riley Lukach 1 0-0 3; Haley Davis 1 0-0 2; Ikera Ellison 1 0-0 2; TOTALS 12 0-2 27.
Pennsbury (56) – Emily Panaro 1 1-3 3; Presley Foote 0 1-2 1; Danielle Sherman 2 3-6 8; Maggie Burns 1 0-0 2; Sofia Vitucci 4 2-6 12; Oliveah Gilchrist 1 0-0 2; Daniella MacDonald 6 0-0 17; Nevaeh Dash 2 0-4 5; Ava Jordan 1 0-4 2; Izzy Ruta 1 1-2 4; TOTALS 19 8-32 56.
3-point goals: ABR — Delaney Finn 2, Riley Lukach; Pennsbury – Daniella MacDonald 5, Sofia Vitucci 2, Danielle Sherman, Nevaeh Dash, Izzy Ruta.
UPPER MORELAND 31, HARRITON 27
Points have not come easily for the Golden Bears, who were coming off a 26-point effort against Bensalem on Saturday. The good news is that despite their low offensive output – the Golden Bears are 2-0.
“It was another offensive struggle for us but as always our team didn’t flinch,” UM coach Matt Carroll said. “It’s amazing how hard our girls continue to work even when the offense is struggling to score. I know as a coach you start to get anxious and tense, and I could feel that happening on my end, but I’m so glad our girls had more composure than I did.”
The Golden Bears scored just nine points in the first half of Tuesday’s game, and they trailed their visitors 15-9, but sparked by nine points from Holly Gohl, UM scored 14 points in the third quarter, outscoring Harriton by seven to go on top 23-22 heading into the final quarter. They held an 8-5 scoring edge in the fourth quarter.
“At halftime we really tried to emphasize getting inside and not settling for 3s,” Carroll said. “We are a good 3-point shooting team, we just haven’t been making them to start the year. It’s going to start happening soon because these girls are too good. Holly jump started us in the second half with nine points in the third and was getting some easy baskets.
“EmmyFaith (Wood), Mikel (Lancit) and Alyssa (Wiley) were GREAT defensively on the perimeter. Harriton has some tough guards, including #13, McFillin, and our three guards did a great job taking away easy baskets. The three of them combined to score just three points in the second half but all contributed with some key assists late in the game. Marie (Meyers) and Lilly (Hansen) had big time baskets in the fourth, including Marie making two free throws under 10 seconds to put the game away. Right now, it’s tough to go through these offensive slumps, but I’m so proud how they keep fighting, keep defending, and pull out these ugly wins, as we wait for our offense to get on track.”
Gohl led the Golden Bears with 12 points while Meyers added eight.
Upper Moreland (2-0) will host Villa Joseph Marie in a non-league game on Thursday.
Harriton 8-7-7-5 27
Upper Moreland 5-4-14-8 31
Harriton (27) – Sophie Kasmer 1 0-0 2; Madeleine McFillin 2 1-2 5; Felicity McFillin 4 3-4 12; Alexis Kanzinger 2 0-0 5; Baline 1 0-0 3; TOTALS 10 4-6 27.
Upper Moreland (31) – Alyssa Wiley 0 1-2 1; EmmyFaith Wood 2 1-2 5;; Lilly Hansen 1 2-4 4; Holly Gohl 5 1-2 12; Marie Meyers 3 2-2 8; Allie LaRocco 0 1-2 1; TOTALS 11 8-14 31.
3-Point goals: Harriton – Felicity McFillin, Alexis Kanzinger, Baline; UM – Holly Gohl.
GERMANTOWN ACADEMY 60, NORTH PENN 57
The Knights exchanged best shots with the visiting Patriots, never once backing down to the perennial Inter-Ac power. They trailed 34-28 at halftime but cut into the lead with a 17-12 third quarter and trailed by just a 46-45 score heading into the final quarter when the Patriots edged their hosts 14-12 to eke out the win.
“They’re very good,” NP coach Bri Cullen said of GA. “We had a game plan in place, and we really executed it well. We had to make adjustments on the fly, and they were really responsive to that, which is a huge step forward from last season.
“There were a lot of times we had a game plan, and we just couldn’t execute it as well as we needed to. GA is a very talented team one to five. We really learned their personnel and played them accordingly.”
The Knights stayed in the game with their impressive long-range shooting. They finished with 11 3-pointers – eight in the first half – while the Patriots had just one in the game. Abby Plaugher had three 3s in the first half while Olivia Stone and Caleigh Sperling both had two.
Plaugher was just finding her stride and added three more in a second half that saw her erupt for 15 points to finish with a game-high 24 points.
“Abby stepped up big tonight,” Cullen said. “She made six 3s, and she really showed what it is to be a senior at a high level of play.
“We don’t want to lose, but there’s a ton of positive takeaways, especially after playing a team like that.
Sperling added 16 points while Stone added 10 points.
Senior Kendall Bennett led the Patriots with 21 points.
North Penn (1-2) will host Pennridge on Friday.
Germantown Academy 15-19-12-14 60
North Penn 11-17-17-12 57
Germantown Academy (60) – Jess Kolecki 4 0-1 8; Addy Levensten 4 0-0 8; Kendall Bennett 8 5-8 21; Izzy Casey 4 0-1 8; Sam Wade 3 1-2 7; Gabby Bowes 2 1-2 6; Jess Aponik 0 2-2 2; TOTALS 25 9-16 60.
North Penn (57) – Cameron Crowley 1 0-0 2; Emily Orth 1 0-0 3; Caleigh Sperling 5 4-4 16; Abby Plaugher 9 0-0 24; Leah Mikulski 1 0-0 2; Olivia Stone 4 0-0 1; TOTALS 21 4-4 57.
3-point goals: GA-Gabby Bowes; NP – Abby Plaugher 6, Caleigh Sperling 2, Olivia Stone 2, Emily Orth.
VILLA MARIA ACADEMY 45, LOWER MORELAND 31
The visiting Lions – behind seven points from Liz Neeld – took a 21-19 lead into halftime, but Villa used a strong second half to notch the non-league win.
“Going into the season, I had a lot of questions about our team and what our identity would be,” LM coach Rich Becker said. “We graduated our leader and leading scorer and team leader (Jess Dugo) and four other seniors.
“We started the season by beating two teams that we were expected to beat, so I was eager to see how we would play against a well-coached and more experienced team. I think our girls were also unsure of what to expect. Even though we lost by 14, it was a good game for us to learn from.
“Villa Maria is the defending 5A champions and start five seniors, so I think that both them and our girls were a bit surprised that we were up by two at the half. I thought that we did a nice job defensively of giving them different looks and we did enough on the offensive end to take the two-point lead into the half.”
Villa outscored its visitors 13-4 in the third quarter and 26-10 overall in the second half.
“Coming out of the half, we knew that they were going to come out with more intensity, and I told that girls that if we can win the first three minutes of the half we could win the game,” Becker said. “Unfortunately, it did not work out that way for us. Kathy (McCartney) made some nice adjustments, and right now we’re not experienced enough to counter them.
“When we look at film tomorrow there will be a lot of things that the girls will be able to see what we need to improve on. The effort and intensity are there, the girls are coachable. Friday, we have Upper Moreland, another really big challenge so I’m looking forward to seeing if we can build on what we did in the first half of today’s game.”
Neeld’s 12 points led the Lions. McFerran added nine, and Amelia Brown had six on a pair of 3-pointers.
Lower Moreland (2-1) will host Upper Moreland in Friday’s SOL opener.
Lower Moreland 10-11-4-6 31
Villa Maria 12-7-13-13 45
Lower Moreland (31) – Brianna McFerran 4 0-4 9; Amelia Brown 2 0-0 6; Jess Shein 1 2-4 4; Liz Neeld 4 3-3; Kayla Quirk 0 0-2 0; 11 5-13 31.
Villa Maria (45) – Elaina Guerzon 3 2-3 9; Sophia Troy 0 2-2 2; Ava Irvine 1 0-0 2; Marah McHugh 1 2-4 4; Liz Sharp 1 0-0 2; Emma O’Hare 2 0-0 4; Ella Iacone 2 0-2 5; Alice Nash 3 0-0 6; Liv Broadhurst 0 1-2 1; Clare Cronley 5 0-0 10; TOTALS 18 7-13 45.
3-point goals: LM – Amelia Brown 2, Brianna McFerran, Liz Neeld; VMA-Elaina Guerzon, Ella Iacone.
CONWELL EGAN 44, NEW HOPE-SOLEBURY 37
The host Eagles opened up a 15-6 lead after one quarter and took a 25-16 lead into halftime. The Lions never could dig themselves out of that early hole.
Junior Brooke McFadden’s 20-point effort led the Eagles. Mya Aizen added nine points.
New Hope-Solebury (1-2) will host Cheltenham in Friday’s SOL opener.
New Hope-Solebury 6-10-10-11 37
Conwell Egan 15-10-8-11 44
MaST CHARTER 57, HARRY S TRUMAN 30
The Tigers fell behind early, trailing 15-4 after one quarter and 37-10 at the half in a contest MaST led wire to wire.
Harry S Truman (0-2) will host Council Rock North on Friday.
MaST Charter 15-22-9-11 57
Harry S Truman 4-6-6-14 30
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