Check out the recaps for SOL girls’ basketball teams in action Friday. PW/Upper Dublin photos provided courtesy of Larry Small. Check back for a gallery of the game.
SOL Liberty Division
PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH 31, UPPER DUBLIN 23
The Colonials moved one step closer to repeating as division champions, grinding out their second win over the Flying Cardinals in eight days to remain undefeated atop the standings.
“If you want to win a championship in our league, you have to beat Upper Dublin twice, and that’s what the girls did,” Dougherty said. “And we have to beat Abington twice, so we have to beat them too.
“This was a huge game for us to try and win a league championship. Upper Dublin stole a page from Abington’s playbook on Tuesday night. They played us in a flat 3-2 zone, daring us to shoot from the outside.”
Defense was unquestionably the story of a game that saw the teams combine for one field goal and seven points in the second quarter. For the game, the Flying Cardinals connected on 8-of-37 shots from the field (21.6 percent), and they made just 1-of-16 3-pointers.
“It was a clinic in man defense, I thought,” Dougherty said. “Tonight was our 10th game, but it was the fourth time we played back-to-back games, and when we looked back, the last three times we’ve come out and tried to press and really struggled. We watched film of our first game with them, and we really thought that our man defense against them the second half was good enough to win.
“So that’s what we did tonight. We had that emotional night last night of Anna McTamney getting a thousand and no practice day to get ready for Upper Dublin – and they’re good at breaking the press anyway. We just came out in a man defense. We’ve played each other so many times. We know each other’s playbooks. We know what they want to try and do, we know even if they run a different play – we know the philosophy that they’re trying to do.”
Sparked by five points from Anna McTamney and 3’s from Abby Sharpe and Gabby Cooper, the Colonials opened up a 13-7 lead after one quarter over the visiting Cardinals. Then came a second quarter that saw PW manage just a 5-for-6 effort at the foul line while the Cardinals had only a basket from Dayna Balasa. PW took an 18-9 lead into halftime.
The second half was more of the same as the Colonials outscored the Cardinals 14-13.
“Honestly, I thought the score could have been the same as the last time, but we missed so many layups again tonight,” said Dougherty, whose team notched a 46-31 win last Friday. “Our free throw shooting was terrible.
“We should have stretched that game out to 15-20 points, but our missed layups and missed free throws kept the game closer than it needed to be.”
The much taller Colonials finished with seven blocks – three by Erin Daley.
“Honestly, I thought it really broke down to a lot of one-on-one basketball on their side of things,” Dougherty said. “They tried to go one-on-one against Jordyn Thomas, Lainey Allen or Erin Daley, and they rose to the challenge.
“Jess Polin got four points at the end of the game on drives, but we held that team to 15 points through three quarters.”
McTamney’s 11 points led the Colonials. No other player had more than five in a contest that featured a whole lot more defense than offense.
“Erin Daley’s defense tonight on number 22 (Amy Ngo) was just outstanding,” Dougherty said. “I thought that was the matchup they really kept going to. She’s a very talented player, but Erin Daley probably had eight inches on her.
“We kept telling our kids every timeout, every possession – ‘Dig in defensively, keep your girl squared up.’ Where our kids have really gotten better, especially Jordyn Thomas, Erin Daley and Lainey Allen, is to just switch and defend. We ended up with Jordyn Thomas on Jess Polin, we ended up with Lainey Allen on Ngo. I know it was a low-scoring game, but the man defense was outstanding. I couldn’t be prouder of the girls for it.”
Polin’s eight points led the Cardinals with no other player finishing with more than five. She also had a team high six rebounds. Dayna Balasa had three rebounds, one assist and two steals. Ngo had four rebounds, two assists, four deflections and one steal.
The Colonials held a 31-23 advantage under the backboards, but on this day, defense was the story, and it was an adjustment by PW that paid dividends.
“We like to play up tempo, but we learned a big lesson last Saturday after beating Upper Dublin and then trying to press CB West the next day. We beat Upper Dublin, and we tried to press CB West, and we found ourselves in a world of trouble.
“The same thing happened earlier in the season. We played CB South on a Saturday after playing someone the night before, and we tried to press CB South, and we were losing at halftime. With the shutdown and everything, we’re just not there physically enough to do it on back-to-back nights.”
Plymouth Whitemarsh (10-0, 7-0 SOL) will travel to Wissahickon on Tuesday, and Upper Dublin (9-2, 5-2) will host Quakertown on Saturday at 5:30 p.m.
Upper Dublin 7-2-6-8 23
Plymouth Whitemarsh 13-5-9-4 31
Upper Dublin (23) – Bliss Brenner 0 4-4 4; Jess Polin 3 2-2 8; Amy Ngo 1 0-0 2; Sarah Eskey 2 0-0 5; Dayna Balasa 2 0-0 4; TOTALS 8 6-6 23.
Plymouth Whitemarsh (31) – Kaitlyn Flanagan 2 0-0 5; Erin Daley 0 2-4 2; Abby Sharpe 2 0-1 5; Gabby Cooper 1 2-4 5; Anna McTamney 2 7-8 11; Lainey Allen 0 1-2 1; Jordyn Thomas 1 0-2 2; TOTALS 8 12-21 31.
3-poing goals: UD – Sarah Eskew, PW – Abby Sharpe, Kaitlyn Flanagan, Gabby Cooper.
SOL Freedom Division
HATBORO-HORSHAM 45, WISSAHICKON 41
The Hatters put a damper on Wissahickon’s Senior Day celebration, rallying from a 24-18 halftime deficit to outscore their hosts 28-17 in the second half to earn the come-from-behind win.
When coach Dennis Steinly calls this a team win, the Hatters’ coach isn’t kidding.
“As cliché as it may be, this was a great team win,” he said. “Every player made a significant contribution to this victory. Ava McKinney topped her 15-point performance on Tuesday with 16 tonight, including 11 in the first half to really keep us in the game.
“Alice Hall came up big in the third quarter with eight of her 13 points when we made a nice run to close the eight-point halftime deficit to three. McKinney grabbed an offensive rebound and got off a shot just as the buzzer sounded - it bounced at least three times on the rim before dropping in.
“Caroline Shegogue hit her three 3’s in the second half and it seemed each one came at a big moment. Emily Thomas scored all seven of her points in the decisive fourth quarter, including 3-4 from the line. She made two foul shots to make it a two-possession game with about 15 seconds left.
“But the most important contribution tonight came from Sam Hollish, whose name didn’t make the scoring column. We talk about important things that don’t show up on the stat sheet, and tonight Sam did more than anyone looking at the box score will ever know. Alice (Hall) picked up three fouls in the first half and Sam did an outstanding job defending (Kaitlyn) McGeary in the second half. She had a couple steals on entry passes and forced some turnovers fronting their post player. She came up with at least three offensive rebounds that led to baskets. I specifically remember her kicking out to Caroline for a three from the top of the key. A lot times those types of contributions fly under the radar but the past two games Sam has embraced the little things that help teams win.”
McKinney’s 16 points led the Hatters while Hall added 13. Shegogue scored nine on three 3-pointers, and Emily Thomas had seven points.
Wissahickon coach Rodney Cline pointed to rebounding and turnovers as the difference in the second half.
“They outworked us on the boards,” Cline said. “In the first half, we just executed so well. Everything we did – offensively and defensively, we just executed. It was really, really fun to watch.
“We did the little things – set screens, knocked down shots, made the right pass. It was really enjoyable to watch the girls play as well as they did. In the second half, they outworked us on the glass – they had 20 offensive rebounds. That was the story. They got a couple of rebounds on free throws, and that’s unacceptable if you want to win a close ball game. We made some careless turnovers late in the game when it was a one-possession game, and you just can’t do those things. Everything has a purpose. We learn from it. We’ve been in a lot of close games. We came out on the wrong end tonight, and it was Senior Night, so that made it even worse.”
The Trojans recognized seniors Libby Kunzier and Lily Hyatt.
“Lily Hyatt played so well, and Kunzier couldn’t play because she had a concussion,” Cline said. “They gave her a ceremonial two points. We missed her on the boards. She’s like our little Charles Barkley – she works hard, boxes out and plays her role. That was a loss.
“Lily Hyatt really, really played well. I’m sorry we couldn’t get the W for them. The girls did a lot of good things, but in order to compete in these ball games, we have to do the little things, the fundamentally sound things – boxing out and being patient and poised with the basketball late in the game.”
Hyatt’s 12 points led the Trojans while McGeary had 10. Leah Dubin and Julia Verrier each had six points.
Hatboro-Horsham (5-6, 3-6 SOL) will host William Tennent on Tuesday, and Wissahickon (3-10, 1-8) will host North Penn in a non-league game Monday.
Hatboro-Horsham 7-9-16-13 45
Wissahickon 9-15-11-6 41
Hatboro-Horsham (45) – Caroline Shegogue 3 0-0 9; Ava McKinney 5 3-5 16; Alice Hall 5 3-6 13; Emily Thomas 2 3-4 7; TOTALS 15 9-15 45.
Wissahickon (41) – Lily Hyatt 5 0-0 12; Leah Dubin 3 0-0 6 Kylie Friedman 2 0-0 5; Julia Verrier 3 0-0 6; Libby Kunzier 1 0-0 2; Libby Kunzier 1 0-0 2; Kaitlyn McGeary 3 4-5 10; TOTALS 17 4-5 41.
3-point goals: HH – Caroline Shegogue 3, Ava McKinney 3, Wissahickon – Lily Hyatt 2, Kylie Friedman.
WILLIAM TENNENT 36, CHELTENHAM 27
Tennent took a 12-point lead into the fourth quarter only to find themselves fighting off a gutsy Lady Panther squad, but they held on for the win.
“Cheltenham – I give them credit,” Tennent coach Laura Whitney said. “They play hard with seven girls. I know they’ve been playing through some injuries. Ben (Bowman) does a great job with them. They play hard – no quit.
“So I told our girls – ‘Don’t rest. This game isn’t over. They’re going to bring everything they’ve got and keep playing to the end.’ I felt like our girls were almost playing in the fourth quarter like we were down. We started to play a little bit quick. We forced a few passes, took a few ill-advised shots. Give credit to Cheltenham. They got it to four at one point.”
The two teams were deadlocked after one quarter, but Tennent used a 9-3 second quarter to go into halftime with a 19-13 advantage. Kailyn Hansen’s seven points led the home team. Umayrah Sulayman also had seven points to lead the Lady Panthers.
The Panthers – sparked by five points from Chase Dubzak – outscored their visitors 11-5 in the third quarter and took a 30-18 lead into the final quarter when the Lady Panthers – behind Sulayman’s eight points – came roaring back.
“It definitely got interesting,” Whitney said. “It was a little bit ugly, but it’s our girls being young, lacking experience being in those positions. I told them – it’s a learning experience. We’ve got to go through these growing pains to get to the next level. Being in the league we’re in and playing against the top teams, a lot of times we’re on the other end where we’re down, so playing with a lead late in the game just learning how to manage game situations – our girls aren’t used to that.
“I was just proud after coming off a tough loss last night – it was a good team win tonight the way we responded and bounced back. I’m proud that the girls fought to the end. We say, ‘Just find a way, just grind it out.’ They made plays when we needed to. Our free throws were much better. We made free throws when we needed to, got some stops.”
Courtney Bragen’s 10 points led the home team. Dubzak and Hansen each added eight.
“Courtney is Courtney – she finds ways to impact the game,” Whitney said of Bragen. “I thought Chase (Dubzak) hit a couple of big shots today, showed poise when we needed her to make those big shots.
“We had a freshman, Ella (Mednick), coming off the bench. She doesn’t play like a freshman, she doesn’t play scared. Especially when she’s playing off the ball, she doesn’t feel the pressure as much, and she just seems to get in a nice rhythm. I thought she did a nice job with extra passes, decision making and not showing any fear for a freshman. She had a couple of nice takes. She only scored two points, but she got a lot of minutes, and I thought she really produced and gave us those quality minutes.”
For the Lady Panthers, Sulayman had another big game, leading all scorers with 18 points, which included a 6-for-9 effort at the foul line.
“Number 20 for them (Sulayman) is a great player,” Whitney said. “She plays hard, she’s a smart player.”
Friday’s win came on the heels of a 33-25 loss to Lower Moreland one night earlier.
“This was just a good team win,” Whitney said. “All season long it’s been a struggle to score. Before the bus came today, we were doing a walk-through, going through things, getting some extra shots in.
“We literally just put a wrinkle into the offense just to try and get better movement and better looks. I’m not going to say it was perfect, but for the first three quarters, we definitely seemed to play with more energy. We were moving the ball well – a lot of unselfish play. We were making the extra pass where we were getting good open looks. It’s a work in progress. I’m proud of the girls. They deserved this win tonight.”
William Tennent (4-7, 4-5 SOL) will travel to Hatboro-Horsham Tuesday, and Cheltenham (1-7, 1-6) will be on the road at Upper Moreland Tuesday for a 6 p.m. contest.
William Tennent 10-9-11-6 36
Cheltenham 10-3-5-9 27
William Tennent (36) – Kailyn Hansen 3 2-5 8; Olivia Kaczmarek 0 1-2 1; Emily Thran 0 3-4 3; Courtney Bragen 2 6-8 10; Chase Dubzak 3 0-0 8; Ella Mednick 1 0-0 2; Morgan Volz 2 0-0 4; TOTALS 11 12-19 36.
Cheltenham (27) – Angel Vample 0 1-2 1; Assata Robinson 3 0-4 6 Janiya Townes-Wakefield 1 0-0 2; Umayrah Sulayman 6 6-9 18; TOTALS 10 7-15 27.
3-point goals: WT – Chase Dubzak 2.
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