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It was another wild and wacky night of action in the SOL.
There were the usual upsets – Council Rock South and Souderton saw to that, and Cheltenham senior Shayla Felder became the fourth SOL player this season to surpass the 1,000-point mark when she buried a three-pointer in the opening quarter of the Lady Panthers’ 58-44 win over Springfield.
“It was great,” coach Bob Schaefer said. “She deserved it.”
As for the upsets, Rock South came up with one of the biggest, knocking off once-beaten Abington 46-33 and avenging a 13-point loss to the Ghosts earlier this season.
Not to be outdone, Souderton – four days removed from a 19-point drubbing at the hands of North Penn – upended a Central Bucks South squad with title aspirations, holding on for a 45-43 win.
Pennridge continued its quest to reach the .500 mark with a mild upset of Quakertown, eking out a 59-57 win.
And that was just the beginning of an exciting night of basketball as the regular season comes down the home stretch.
Felder hits milestone – Shayla Felder came into Tuesday night’s game against Springfield needing five points to reach the 1,000-point plateau. It didn’t take long for the Cheltenham senior to get them.
Felder found herself in the middle of a celebration - complete with balloons and confetti - after sinking a three-pointer in the first quarter, bringing an end to a countdown that had been going on for quite some time.
“I knew probably a month before,” Felder said. “My mom and everybody on the team was tracking my points.
“It was basically, ‘Don’t worry about me. Worry about the game. When it happens, it happens.’”
In truth, the celebration could have taken place in Friday’s game against Upper Merion when Felder had 24 points in the first half and 29 in the game before she took a seat on the bench.
“Schaef didn’t have me get the thousand because they didn’t have balloons and everything ready, so then I knew I was five points away,” she said with a laugh.
The balloons were ready on Tuesday at Springfield, and Felder added her name to an elite group of Cheltenham athletes.
“This was one of my goals, especially coming into high school and looking at the older players who had done it and wanting to be like them,” she said. “First it was – I want to be a point guard for Cheltenham, and then it was – I want to be on the board.
“I had a lot of goals, and this was one of them.”
Felder scored 20 points, which included an 11-for-14 effort at the foul line in a game that saw the Spartans battle the Lady Panthers tough. Cheltenham – which had averaged 70 points in each of its last three wins – held just a 13-11 lead after one quarter and still led only 26-22 at the half. The Lady Panthers outscored the Spartans 16-8 in the third quarter to get some breathing room.
“We were trying to work on our trapping, but (Elise) DiFilippo is a nice little ball handler,” Cheltenham coach Bob Schaefer said of the Spartans’ point guard. “We could not get our trap to work. It wasn’t pretty.”
Austin Hamler had a big night for the Panthers contributing 15 points and 12 rebounds.
“She did a real nice job for us,” Schaefer said. “The only kid we could say played a nice game was her.”
DiFilippo and Annie Crudele kept the Spartans in it as each scored 16 points.
While the Panthers upped their league mark to 11-0, the Spartans are 4-7.
Golden Hawks exact revenge – Council Rock South did what only one team before it had done this season when the Golden Hawks notched an impressive 46-33 win over Abington on Tuesday. The win avenged a 57-44 loss at the hands of the Ghosts earlier this season.
“I thought we had a lot of shots the last time that didn’t fall,” Rock South coach Monica Young said. “We had looks, but the shots didn’t go in.
“I made the girls watch the film of that game, which I don’t usually do. We had shots, but I think their gym is hard to shoot in since it doesn’t have a wall (behind the basket). I think it’s one of the hardest gyms around.”
In the friendly confines of their own gym, the Golden Hawks took an early lead and never looked back. They led 16-12 at the end of one quarter and extended that lead to 28-18 by halftime.
“Our defense was very good tonight,” Young said. “I really think we controlled the tempo of the game.
“We had the ball for three minutes at a time sometimes – for two minutes we were running our offense. We just kept running it. We had possession of the ball, especially in the third quarter.”
Both teams managed just four points in the third quarter, and the Golden Hawks took a 32-22 lead into the final quarter.
Abington senior Emily Leer led all scorers with 20 points, but she had just nine points entering the fourth quarter. By that time, the outcome had been all but decided.
“Alex Wheatley did a good job on Leer,” Young said. “For a sophomore, she held her own.”
Wheatley finished the game with eight points and 12 rebounds.
“She had some key rebounds,” Young said.
Emily Nowicke led the Golden Hawks with 14 points while Chelsea Allen and Lea Britton each added seven. Jackie Weber came off the bench and contributed a pair of three’s.
“Besides the fact that this win will really help us in our seeding – this is the first time these girls have beaten Abington in four years,” Young said. “I had a senior parent come up and give me a hug and said, ‘We waited four years for this.’
“I think it means a lot to the seniors, and it gives us great, great motivation heading into next week.”
Abington and Rock South find themselves locked in a tie for second with identical 9-2 records. Both trail Council Rock North by two games.
Indians stun Titans – Souderton looked as though it might be down for the count after the Indians were soundly defeated by North Penn last Friday, but the Indians rose from the ashes of that disappointing 19-point defeat to stun Central Bucks South 45-43 on Tuesday.
“I thought we did a great job of attacking and finishing, finishing enough,” Souderton coach Lynn Carroll said. “Defensively, we’re playing against a team that puts up a lot of points.
“Other than Gabby (Vass) killing us in the first half, I thought we played great defense all the way around.”
Vass led all scorers with 15 points, but she had 12 of those in a first half that saw Souderton’s Carley Kendall connect for 10 of her 12 points. The sophomore center also had 12 rebounds.
“I think we just looked inside, and a lot of the passes were working,” Kendall said. “We were slowing it down, and we kind of dictated (the tempo) that half.”
Liz Mower also had 12 points for the Indians, and the sophomore guard said she had a point to prove.
“I struggled the first time we played them,” Mower said. “I definitely didn’t have my best game, but I just forgot about the game and started over and didn’t really think because I usually do best when I don’t think, to be honest.”
It was Mower’s hasty shot at the buzzer that sent the Indians into halftime with a 27-25 lead. They extended that to 34-27 after a bucket by Emily Price just inside the arc. They still led by seven (36-29) after Averie Brittin scored on a putback midway through the third quarter.
By the end of the quarter, the Titans – thanks to a three-point play by Vass and a bucket by Katelyn Schneider – had trimmed the Indians’ lead to one, 36-35.
Mower hit nothing but net on a trey to put the Indians on top 39-36 early in the fourth quarter, but the Titans knotted the score. Baskets by Kendall and Brittany Sandone put the Indians on top 43-39 with 1:40 remaining, but Nicole Mummert sank a pair from the foul line, and after a Souderton miss, Schneider scored on a bank shot to knot the score with 30 seconds remaining.
With 25 seconds showing on the scoreboard clock and the Titan fans trying to distract her, Brittin calmly sank both ends of a one-and-one to put the Indians on top 45-43.
“I just had to step back, take a deep breath and relax and try to make it as little pressure as possible, so it wouldn’t affect my shots at all,” the Indians’ senior point guard said.
In a telling stat, Souderton connected on three three-pointers while the Titans had just two.
In addition to Vass, Mummert and Kaycee Schaefer each scored eight points for South.
While the Titans saw their league mark fall to 9-3, the Indians improved to 7-4.
Maidens upend Bucks – North Penn jumped out to a 16-point lead and still led 26-13 at halftime of Tuesday night’s game against Central Bucks West, but the Bucks staged a furious comeback, forcing 15 second-half turnovers before falling to the Maidens 46-38.
“They played really, really hard,” North Penn coach Maggie deMarteleire said of the Bucks. “They pressed us.
“It was good because the kids had to buckle down and play good defense, make better decisions and make our foul shots, which we did. It was good for us to be in a game like that.
“They played physical, they played really hard, and they just came after us. I think our kids were surprised, but when push came to shove, our kids did what they needed to do.”
The Maidens – who were without point guard Dara Nelson (injury) – were led by the 10-point efforts of Mary Ward and Lauren Crisler. Taylour Alston and Steph Knauer each added nine points.
Sophomore Sam Colloi led the Bucks with 13 points.
The Maidens improved to 9-3 in league play while the Bucks are 2-10.
Rams win thriller over Panthers – Pennridge put three players in double figures in its 59-57 win over Quakertown. Sam Simononis – who has been on a tear – led the way with 24 points while Jordan Dominic added 14 and Alyssa Marchunsky, 10 points and 11 rebounds. Dominic also had five assists.
“They were limiting Jordan as far as bringing the ball up the court, and a lot of times that can enhance Sam’s game,” Pennridge coach Brooke Martin said. “It allows her to create the fast break and create offense.
“Alyssa Marchunsky was a big factor for us, especially in the second quarter when the other girls didn’t score as much. Our main concern is our offense.
“We know we can limit teams defensively. It’s just a matter of us putting the ball in the basket. Our offense was there today. It’s either there or it’s not. We moved the ball around and got open looks. Our shot selection was good as well.”
Marchunsky scored eight of her points in a second quarter that saw the Rams outscore the Panthers 16-10 to go into halftime with a 25-22 lead. The two teams were deadlocked heading into the final quarter when the Rams opened up a 59-54 lead before Daniella Ciccarone buried a long-range trey at the buzzer.
”Quakertown is a big rivalry for us,” Martin said. “We know going into it that it’s going to be a physical game. The kids will be talking trash because some of the girls were close friends.
“It’s so emotional out there. We knew it was going to be close. This was a big win for us.”
For the Panthers, Ciccarone had 25 points and Lauren Starzecky added 18.
The Rams are 4-7 in league play while the Panthers are 5-6.
Trojans silence Eagles – Kristy Ragbir scored 15 points and teammate Colleen Hinde added 13 to lead Wissahickon to a convincing 44-29 win over Norristown.
“Our bench is a little thin right now, so it was a nice win for us,” said coach Jerry Hartman, who was without Jess Scannapieco (injury). “We struggled a little bit early. They came out and played a box-and-one on Jess Keller since she had 17 against them the last time. Our shot selection wasn’t what it needed to be.”
The Eagles led 9-8 at the end of one quarter with Ragbir scoring six points to keep the Trojans afloat. By halftime, the Trojans led 20-17. They stretched that lead to 27-22 heading into a fourth quarter that saw Wissahickon outscore its hosts 17-7.
“Especially in the fourth quarter, Casey Bill did a real good job of running our offense,” Hartman said of his point guard. “It was one of her better games of the year. She made good decisions and took a little time off the clock.
“They had to come out and play us man-to-man, and it was a little easier, but they played hard. They have a big, strong team, and it’s always tough to play there.”
In addition to leading the Trojans offensively, Ragbir – who was 3-for-4 from the foul line - also contributed defensively.
“She did a nice job,” Hartman said. “She played tough defense on their point guard (Cashae Hinton), and with them playing a box-and-one on Keller, Kristy picked up the scoring slack for us.”
The Trojans improved to 9-2 in league play while the Eagles – who were led by the 13-point effort of Natasha Matthews - are 3-8.
Panthers down Falcons – William Tennent used a balanced scoring attack to down Pennsbury 44-38. The Panthers led 14-7 at the end of one quarter and took a 26-17 lead into halftime. They led 37-27 heading into the final quarter when the Falcons staged a rally.
“The bottom line is we did shoot well from the foul line,” said Tennent coach Paul Veltre, whose team connected on 14-of-20 from the stripe. “They had three three’s from three different people, and it got closer than we wanted.
“We definitely were able to take care of their run, so that was a good thing. Nothing spectacular, but it was a win.”
Alison Malatesta was 3-for-5 down the stretch to lead the Panthers at the charity stripe. Ashley Alden led the Panthers with 10 points while Liz Koval and Melissa Horn each added nine points.
For the Falcons, Lauren Pisauro had nine points, Kelsey Moulton added eight, and Kelly Rebert and Lindsey Weaver both had seven points.
Tennent is 5-6 in league play while the Falcons are 3-8.
Around the league – Central Bucks East had its inside-outside game working to perfection in its 58-44 win over Hatboro-Horsham. While Liz Martin scored 18 points in a dominant effort inside, teammate Courtney McManus lit up the net for five treys and 15 points. Kate Romano led the Hatters with 14 points while teammates Alicia Hayes and Carly Bixler each added 10.
The Patriots sprinted to a 17-6 lead at the end of one quarter and stretched that lead to 37-9 by halftime. McManus had four first-half treys while Martin also had 12 points.
Devin Gold had 16 points, five steals and four assists in Council Rock North’s 50-25 win over Neshaminy. In other action, Bensalem downed Truman 33-16 while Upper Dublin defeated Plymouth Whitemarsh 44-27.
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