Souderton and Central Bucks South were winners and will compete in Monday’s SOL Tournament title game. CB South/Abington photos provided courtesy of Kathy Leister Photography; Souderton/PW photos provided by Larry Small Photography…CLICK HERE to go directly to the GIRLS' BASKETBALL galleries.
A pair of SOL Continental Conference rivals will do battle in Monday’s Suburban One League Tournament title game at Souderton Area High School (6 p.m.). Both squads – Souderton and Central Bucks South – are newcomers to the tournament this year. CB South edged Abington 43-39, and Souderton defeated SOL American Conference champion Plymouth Whitemarsh 66-46.
Interestingly, Monday’s title game is not only a battle between the Continental Conference’s top two squads but also the top-ranked teams in the District One 6A power rankings.
The two teams split their season series with South defeating Souderton 40-25 on Dec. 19, and the Indians returning the favor in the rematch on Jan. 19 when they earned a 41-30 win over the Titans.
CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 43, ABINGTON 39
Beth Mattern knows that Maddie McShane is one tough customer.
“That girl is the goalie for the soccer team, the catcher for the softball team and our center, and she’s just tough,” the Titans’ coach said.
So Mattern had no misgivings when her center – who says she measures in at 5-6 or 5-7 – was matched up against 6-2 center Kassondra Brown. If it seems as though the Ghosts’ center might have had a field day against the much shorter McShane guess again.
Brown scored just eight points and struggled with foul woes, eventually fouling out in the final minute of the game.
“She killed it,” senior Haley Meinel said of McShane.
“I thought she took Brown out of her game really well and was in great position,” Mattern said.
McShane acknowledged that Brown presented a unique challenge.
“She’s a really strong and tough player, and I knew that her game is inside the post, so I tried my hardest to front her, and I had a lot of help in the back from other players,” McShane said. “I just kept her out wide and tried to make it hard for her to get what she always gets.”
In past years, South has been on the outside looking in when the SOL Tournament rolled around, the fifth team in what is a four-team field. This year, the Titans earned a spot based on their power ranking.
“Every year we have the goal of making the tournament, and last year we came up short, so this year was really important,” McShane said. “Even if we didn’t win the league, we finished strong so we could make the tournament.”
“It’s really exciting for us,” Meinel said. “It’s just going to keep pushing us to be stronger for districts.”
In a first half that saw the Titans’ big guns – Meinel and Alexa Brodie – combine for just four points, McShane, Mackenzie Ehresman and Caroline McSorley combined for 17.
“We really struggled to hit our shots, but that’s what a team is for,” Meinel said. “Everybody picks each other up.”
McSorley came off the bench to score seven points in the second quarter, propelling the Titans to a 21-17 lead at halftime.
“Caroline is a freshman, and she came in and played a great game,” Mattern said. “She hasn’t gotten a ton of minutes throughout the season consistently, and I’m kind of hard on her sometimes, but she’s just such a tough kid and wants to do well. Today she stepped up big for us.”
Keeping the Ghosts in it were point guard Britney James, who had seven second-quarter points, and senior Sam Brusha, who was a perfect 6-for-6 at the foul line in the first half.
The Ghosts suffered a setback when Brown picked up a pair of quick fouls in the third quarter – her third and fourth – and was forced to take a seat on the bench with 5:40 remaining in the quarter and her team trailing 23-19. Brown’s teammates picked up the slack in her absence with Cam Lexow connecting on a pair of shots – her second a 3-pointer that gave the Ghosts a 27-24 lead.
“They know how to win,” Marsh said of his players. “We did it last year in the district championship. We had to fight and fight and fight.”
Then Brodie went to work for the Titans, connecting on a bucket and delivering a pair of nifty dishes to Ehresman for easy buckets. The Titans led by one (30-29) at the end of three quarters.
The Ghosts came back to take a 36-34 lead with four minutes remaining after Brusha buried a three. They’d manage just three points the rest of the way, falling behind 40-38 after a Meinel bucket with 1:05 remaining. The Titans – who twice misfired on the front end of a one-and-one in the final 35 seconds – never relinquished their lead, sealing the Ghosts’ fate when Brodie, after coming up with a steal, was fouled and buried a pair with 2.7 seconds remaining.
Meinel led the Titans with 13 points and Ehresman added 10. Brodie finished with nine.
For the Ghosts, Brusha’s 12-point effort led the way. Brown, who had eight, was whistled for her fifth foul with 34.9 seconds remaining in a contest that saw the Ghosts saddled with foul trouble.
“Let the kids play,” Marsh said. “Listen, it was a great game, and I told my kids – great job, way to persevere. It is what it is.”
The Ghosts’ coach went on to tip his hat to the Titans.
“We knew how good they were defensively, and they did a great job of making us uncomfortable,” Marsh said. “We didn’t run our sets well, and that’s completely due to South’s defense.
“With all that being said, we were right in the game, we had opportunities to win it, and we didn’t. We’re going to use it as motivation and come into districts and try to make a run at this thing. Maybe this will be the loss we need to propel us to the next level.”
Abington (17-6, 10-2 SOL) will have an opening round bye in the District One 6A Tournament and will begin play in the second round on Feb. 21.
“People can say what they want – we’re the five seed with five losses (in the District One 6A rankings), and that’s because we played a difficult schedule, and that difficult schedule has paid off, and we’re going to be ready,” Marsh said. “If we get beat, somebody is going to earn it. We’re not going to play a cupcake schedule. We’re going to play anyone that will play us, and we’re going to be ready. That’s why I’m glad we got to play this game even though I didn’t like the way that it went.”
Central Bucks West (21-2, 10-2) will face Souderton in Monday’s title game at Souderton at 6 p.m.
“It’s exciting,” McShane said. “We’re really strong chemistry-wise as a team, so it gives us one more game to play with each other.”
“We hang out together outside of basketball all the time,” Meinel said. “It kind of correlates with team chemistry.
Abington 10-11-9-13 39
Central Bucks South 6-11-13-9 43
Abington (39) – Jordyn Allen 3, Tamia Wessels 4, Cam Lexow 5, Kassondra Brown 8, Sam Brusha 12.
Centra Bucks South (43) – Caroline McSorley 7, Haley Meinel 13, Alexa Brodie 9, Maddie McShane 4, Mackenzie Ehresman 10.
SOUDERTON 66, PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH 26
Lynn Carroll emerged from her team’s locker room, wearing a smile, and before fielding any questions acknowledged to anyone listening she wasn’t sure her team could play any better than it just had in its rout of the SOL American Conference champions.
“We’re playing with such intelligence on both ends of the court,” the Indians’ coach said.
That intelligence translated into a much-easier-than-expected win over the Colonials, who trailed by just a 7-6 score after Taylor O’Brien buried a shot with 4:10 remaining in the opening quarter. The rest of the quarter belonged to the Indians, who closed it out with a dazzling 13-0 run that included baskets from all five starters.
While that pretty much sums up what was yet another consummate team effort, it doesn’t tell the whole story as the Indians showed it can beat you in more than one way. The run began on the defensive end with a Megan Walbrandt block that resulted in a basket by Alana Cardona at the other end.
The next time down the court it was Kate Connolly delivering a block that led to a driving basket by Tori Dowd on the other end. Then it was Connolly turning a steal into an easy bucket. After a PW turnover, the Indians had a rare miss, but Dowd came up with the hustle rebound, and it was Walbrandt capping the series by burying a three, and the Indians weren’t finished yet.
Megan Bealer turned a steal into a layup, and after yet another Connolly block, Walbrandt buried a shot that put the Indians on top 20-6.
“They don’t care who scores,” Carroll said. “It’s not something we have to enforce. It’s just the kind of kids they are.
“(The Colonials) were playing off Tori (Dowd) and Alana (Cardona) a lot on the perimeter, and we were finding ways to make good decisions even though it was a junk defense.
“Defensively, we have great on-the-ball defenders, and we have great shot blockers. We have kids like Meg Bealer, Megan O’Donnell and Sami Falencki – it takes five people to play the kind of defense that we play, so even if they’re not spoken about a lot, they do their job. We could not have executed better at either end of the court.”
In the second quarter, the Indians received a lift from their bench with Sami Falencki burying a three and Megan O’Donnell contributing five points, including a three. Souderton opened up a 38-11 lead after Bealer scored on a fast break before Taylor O’Brien buried a pair at the foul line, stole the inbounds and sank a three at the buzzer. Still, the Colonials trailed 38-16 at the intermission.
“Coming into it after Senior Night last night, I think we were just all excited to know we had a chance to play at Souderton on Monday,” Cardona said. “But PW is such a good team, and we knew we had to come out strong and really make our mark and play with our intensity.
“It was anyone’s game, and I think we just came out so strong, and then the flow just never stopped. It was always there.”
O’Brien, who had nine first-half points, scored just four the rest of the way, and those came on four foul shots in the third quarter as the Indians’ defense was in top form with Connolly – who had seven blocks on the day – playing the role of enforcer.
“That definitely allows Megan (Walbrandt) and I to be up and causing more commotion for someone like Taylor, knowing we have someone behind us will step in and be there for us,” said Dowd, who along with Walbrandt defended O’Brien. “Help defense is key for our team, and we definitely always trust in our teammates.”
Cardona led all scorers with 22 points to go along with 11 rebounds, and on a night when it seemed as though the Indians didn’t miss a whole lot of shots, the senior forward was there to clean up when they did.
“It was so much fun,” Cardona said. “Sometimes somebody will make a move or a nice pass – unselfish and so smooth, and I’ll sit there in awe.
“One of the good things about this year is that we’re not nervous. We know what we’re capable of, and there’s no hesitation. Tonight we came out running, and when you play with intensity, everything falls into place.”
Bealer finished with 11 points – nine in the first half, and Connolly added nine points, seven rebounds and seven blocks. Falencki chipped in with six points while Dowd added six points, eight rebounds and a steadying floor presence.
“Tori’s playing with a lot more confidence on offense,” Carroll said. “She’s looking to try to make stuff happen. The ball’s in her hands.
“Defensively, she’s absolutely relentless. The kid has a motor unlike anybody I’ve ever seen and a drive unlike anybody I’ve ever seen. She gets angry if somebody beats her to the basket. What she does you cannot coach. She just does it.”
Souderton (21-2, 11-1 SOL) will take on CB South in Monday’s SOL Tournament final at Souderton.
“It’s going to be awesome, considering we have never made it to a tournament like this before and we’ll be on our home court – it’s definitely a great feeling,” Dowd said. “I think there’s going to be a lot of emotions, and if we come out and play like tonight, I think we have a good chance.”
Plymouth Whitemarsh (20-3, 14-0)- the sixth seed in the power rankings – will have an opening round by and will return to action on Wednesday, Feb. 21, in a second round District One 6A Tournament game.
Plymouth Whitemarsh 6-10-9-1 26
Souderton 20-16-15-13 66
Plymouth Whitemarsh (26) – Lauren Fortescue 2, Taylor O’Brien 13, Ali Diamond 3, Anna McTamney 2, Sydney Kesselman 5, Brooke Felgoise 1.
Souderton (66) – Tori Dowd 6, Megan Bealer 11, Alana Cardona 22, Megan Walbrandt 5, Jordan Zimmerman 2, Sami Falencki 6, Megan O’Donnell 5, Kate Connolly 9.
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