Several SOL teams came up with huge wins on Thursday night. Check out all the results.
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American Conference
CHELTENHAM 50, UPPER DUBLIN 48
Ciara ‘CC’ Andrews has been the definition of clutch in crunch time for the Lady Panthers this season, and the senior captain was back at it again in Thursday’s thriller, burying both ends of a one-and-one at the foul line with 4.3 seconds left to give the Lady Panthers the win in yet another classic battle between the conference powers.
“It was a terrific game because it was constantly back and forth,” coach Bob Schaefer said. “There were some sloppy plays, but the kids played their hearts out.”
Andrews’ foul shots capped a dramatic finish that saw the Cardinals lead late only to have the Lady Panthers battle back. Cheltenham went on top 48-46 after Andrews – who, according to Schaefer, looked as though she was losing her balance – connected on an impossible 18-footer.
“CC made a beautiful shot,” Upper Dublin coach Vince Catanzaro said. “We were all over her, but you can’t stop her sometimes. It was tough to deal with, but overall, the kids played pretty good ‘D.’”
The Flying Cardinals showed what they are made of when Lauren Rothfeld connected on a shot from the corner to knot the score with approximately 15 seconds remaining.
That set the stage for Andrews’ big foul shots. The senior captain was 10-for-12 from the charity stripe.
“CC always seems to step up when we absolutely have to have it,” Schaefer said.
While Andrews – who scored nine of her points in the fourth quarter - led all scorers with 22 points, the unsung hero for the Lady Panthers was senior Ming Seawright, who scored 10 points but, more importantly, dominated the paint, pulling down 15 rebounds.
“That was real big because no one else was doing anything on the boards,” Schaefer said. “If Ming didn’t step up and have all those rebounds, we would have lost the game. She did a super job on the boards.”
Christina Coleman added seven rebounds to go along with six points. Shayla Peoples, who had a pair of treys for six points, also came up big for the Lady Panthers.
“Shayla played a steady, good defensive game the whole game,” Schaefer said. “Everybody upped their defense that last two to three minutes to make it possible for us to win.”
The Flying Cardinals were led by the 17-point effort of point guard Curtrena Goff, who returned to action after being sidelined for Tuesday’s game. She buried three three-pointers and scored seven of her points in the fourth quarter - 12 in the second half.
“You can’t take into account how much (Curtrena) means to the team when she’s not in the game,” Catanzaro said. “The game was totally different with her tonight.
“Right off the bat, she hits a jumpshot, and boom – two points. She turned the whole game around, and that’s just the way she is. She’s capable of doing that.”
Taylor Bryant added 16 points – including the thousandth point of her career. She had nine points in a torrid third quarter that saw the Flying Cardinals outscore the Lady Panthers 20-18 to make it a 38-37 game heading into the final quarter.
While the Flying Cardinals saw their record fall to 5-2 in league play (11-4 overall), the Lady Panthers improved to 7-0 in the league (15-0 overall) and took a giant step toward winning their 24th league title in 26 years under Schaefer.
“Very few have been really easy,” the veteran coach said. “Upper Dublin – just them alone – cause a lot of stress every time we play them. This was not a gimme tonight. We could have possibly lost that game.”
UPPER MORELAND 51, ACADEMY OF NEW CHURCH 25
The Golden Bears sprinted to a 19-2 lead at the end of one quarter and never looked back. Katie Costello had a big night for Upper Moreland, scoring a game-high 21 points. Megan Penecale added 10 points for the Golden Bears, who improved to 3-11.
Continental Conference
NORTH PENN 37, CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 21
Fans had barely settled in their seats when Emily Hagan came up with a steal on the defensive end and – moments later – Lauren Crisler found teammate Erin Maher for an easy bucket.
The tone had been set.
By the time the first quarter had ended, the Maidens led 7-0, and the Patriots had turned the ball over seven times.
“We just knew the first time we played them we kind of laid back on defense, and we weren’t really getting any steals or any tips,” Maiden senior Brenda McDermott said. “In practice, we were doing all this work on in-your-face defense, and we knew if the guards started picking up their defense, we would create steals for everyone else.”
The Maidens led 9-0 after a Hagan bucket early in the second quarter. Hagan had five first-half points and also had three rebounds and a pair of steals.
“I told her at halftime that was the best half of basketball I have ever seen her play,” coach Maggie deMarteleire said. “She was very aggressive, she was all over the place and did a lot of good things.”
East broke its scoreless drought at the 5:51 mark of the second quarter when Shannon Devlin buried a pair from the foul line to make it a 9-2 game. It was only a temporary reprieve as the Maidens closed out the half with a 10-0 run. The run began with Steph Knauer burying a pair from the foul line and culminated with Vicky Tumasz turning a Maher steal into a layup and a 19-2 Maiden lead at the intermission.
That certainly is a credit to them – they came out with a purpose,” East coach Tom Lonergan said. “We weren’t able to go at them with the same intensity
“They had 13 points with two minutes left in the first half, and I told the girls at halftime, ‘It could be the first time you hold a team under 30 and lose by 20.’ That’s just the way things were going.
“To hold them to no field goals in the first half was just a real tribute to the kids’ team defense,” deMarteleire said. “We got to 7-0 and then turned the ball over four straight times. Other than that, the first half was pretty darn good.”
A ‘pretty darn good’ first half for the Maidens was a nightmare for the Patriots, who – according to Lonergan – were outrebounded 24-4 in the half.
“All the stats showed it was a total lack of intensity on our part,” the Patriots’ coach said. “I pointed to each one of them (at halftime), and I let them know who I thought wasn’t giving the effort they were capable of giving. To their credit, they responded.”
The Patriots should be forgiven if their effort was not up to their usual standards after a very difficult 
week. Last Thursday, freshman Morgan Mysza, a member of East’s jayvee, lost her courageous battle with brain cancer. Her funeral was on Tuesday, and for the Patriots - who wore Team Morgan warm-up shirts, it had been an emotional week.
That being said, they rebounded to make things interesting in the second half. It was a 24-13 game after Lindsey Kelly buried a pair from the foul line late in the third quarter, and when Margaret Anne Hubbell sank one-of-two from the charity stripe, it was a 24-14 game at the end of three quarters.
A foul line jumper by East’s Lexi Scrivano made it a 25-18 game with 5:30 remaining, but a Maher trey from the top of the circle put the Maidens back on top by 10.
“That was huge,” deMarteleire said. “Vicky Tumasz hit a couple of big shots in the third quarter.
“They came out and they were extremely aggressive the second half. Our kids got a little rattled, but I thought they regained their composure.”
That composure was evidenced in McDermott’s performance at the foul line down the stretch. The Maidens’ senior point guard was a perfect 6-for-6 in the fourth quarter to seal the Patriots’ fate.
“We came out really strong against them the first time, and we kind of let up,” McDermott said. “We knew this time we couldn’t let up because they’re a good team, and they’d come back.”
The Patriots actually outscored the Maidens 19-18 in the second half, but they never could dig their way out of a 17-point hole.
“We’re not a team that’s going to be able to come back from that because our style doesn’t dictate that,” Lonergan said. “We’ve got to be able to keep the game close.”
The win – which upped the Maidens record to 6-2 in league play (10-4) overall – put the Maidens back in the hunt for a conference crown. They now trail the Patriots (10-4, 6-1 SOL) by just one game.
“To start off the (league) season with two losses was disappointing because we knew we only graduated one starter from last year,” McDermott said. “We knew this was our year to go into playoffs and do well. This feels awesome.”
CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 59, SOUDERTON 46
On Dec. 16, CB West dropped a 34-32 heartbreaker to Souderton in the SOL opener for both squads. In that game, the Bucks took a seven-point lead into the fourth quarter only to watch it slip away as the Indians closed out the game with a 13-4 fourth quarter surge.
In Thursday night’s rematch – which followed an eerily familiar pattern, the Bucks made sure there would be no reruns, opening up a 22-19 lead at halftime and stretching that lead to 41-36 heading into the final quarter. This time it was the Bucks outscoring the Indians 18-11 in the fourth quarter to earn the convincing win.
“In the (first) Souderton game, we took a lot of bad shots,” coach Terry Rakowsky said. “In this game, our seniors stepped up really well. They handled the ball, handled the pressure.”
The Bucks also buried their foul shots, something they did not do against North Penn when they watched a six-point lead slip away in the final 90 seconds of regulation.
“(Souderton) started to foul us with probably two-and-a-half minutes left,” Rakowsky said. “We were running offense – we weren’t trying to stall, but they came out and started fouling us like North Penn did.”
Unlike their game against North Penn when they misfired on the front end of several one-and-one’s and struggled from the line, the Bucks were golden on Thursday night, connecting on a near-perfect 13-of-15 for the game.
“I don’t think we missed a foul shot in the fourth quarter, which is what I would expect our team to do,” Rakowsky said. “We’re a pretty good foul shooting team.
“When teams put us on the foul line, I feel pretty good about it.”
The Bucks were led by the 13-point effort of senior Sam Colloi while senior Jen Fabian added 12 and freshman Nicole Munger, 10 points.
“Our seniors, in my mind, had to learn how to win,” Rakowsky said. “They took the ball in the last 10 minutes and said, ‘Follow us’ to the younger kids.
“Munger was out there, Mackenzie Carroll was out there, so we had some freshmen out there in the time period. They just said, ‘Follow us,’ and I think that was the maturity tonight.”
The win came on the heels of the Bucks’ impressive 50-27 win over Central Bucks South on Tuesday night.
“This is very big,” Rakowsky said. “You have to put back-to-back big wins together, and you have to beat good teams consistently to be considered a contender. Otherwise, you’re a pretender.
“You can beat anyone on one night. You have to consistently beat the good teams. We have played extremely well all season except for Council Rock South. They were great, taking nothing away from them. They were awesome, but we could have won or should have won every other game.
“We only have eight home games, so we’re not only playing tough teams, we’re playing them all on the road.”
Sophomore Bianca Picard – who connected on three treys and was 5-of-6 from the foul line – led the Indians with 16 points. Liz Mower added eight while Allison Gallagher and Carley Kendall both had seven. All told, the Indians buried nine three-pointers on the night.
While the Indians fell to 4-3 in league play (7-5 overall), the Bucks improved to 5-3 in the league (10-5 overall).
“I’m just real happy,” Rakowsky said. “Our kids are doing it on defense, and as a coach, we couldn’t be any prouder of them.
“At the end of the first quarter, I said, ‘If the game ended right now and we lose it, this is a great game.’ Everyone was playing defense, but they were just hitting shots. It was just a great game.”
National Conference
ABINGTON 52, NESHAMINY 27
Aiyannah Peal scored 20 points – nine in the first quarter – as the Ghosts opened up a quick 17-9 lead and extended that lead to 30-14 by halftime on their way to the big win. Sarah Listenbee added 10 points and sophomore Michael Harris, seven points. Lori Paulits led the Redskins with eight points.
While the Redskins fell to 3-5 in the league (5-9 overall), the Ghosts improved to 7-1 in league play (11-4 overall).
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