Central Bucks East, Cheltenham and CR South moved one step closer to clinching conference titles. Check out all of Tuesday’s SOL results, To view photos of the Cheltenham/PW game, please visit the Photo Gallery.
Continental Conference
CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 51, CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 43
The Patriots moved one step closer to a Continental Conference crown, thanks to Tuesday’s big win over a gritty West squad that was coming off a double overtime win over North Penn on Friday.
“They’re a great team,” East senior Lindsey Kelly said. “Their program has completely changed since my freshman year. They’re a really aggressive team, they work hard, and I know they wanted this since our freshman year.
“I know the other seniors wanted it bad because they have not beaten us. It means a lot to not let them win.”
It was Kelly’s 16-point effort that led the Patriots. The senior post player spent the better part of the night taking trips to the foul line where she was a perfect 12-for-12.
Is it really as easy as Kelly makes it look?
“I wish,” the senior standout said with a laugh.
And then Kelly explained her mindset when she steps to the line.
“I just relax and take my time,” she said. “It’s not a big deal. You’re at the line – you got there, so you might as well finish them.”
The Patriots took an early 5-1 lead after a basket by Margaret Anne Hubbell, but the Bucks rallied, going on top 9-8 after Jen Fabian, who scored a team-high 16 points, buried a pair from the foul line.
In the second quarter, the fouls began to mount for the Patriots, and with three of their big players on the bench with two fouls or more, the Bucks began to extend their lead. They led 19-11 after an Amanda Parker trey and still led 24-19 heading into the intermission after Mackenzie Carroll found Fabian for a bucket in the closing seconds of the half.
“We were in all kinds of foul trouble,” East coach Tom Lonergan said. “That was our big talk at halftime. When we had the starters on the floor, I thought we outplayed them even though the score didn’t look that way.”
An inspired East squad came out of halftime and outscored the Bucks 16-4 in the third quarter. Hubbell and Kelly both scored six points in the frame, and Shannon Devlin buried a baseline jumper in the closing seconds to send the Patriots into the final quarter with a 35-28 lead.
The Patriots – who held a 37-14 advantage on the backboards for the game – dominated the paint in the third quarter.
Lexi Scrivano scored on a drive to open the fourth quarter to put the Patriots on top 37-28, but Fabian answered with a trey and then – after an East miss – converted a conventional three-point play to make it a 37-34 game. Another East miss set the stage for a Nicole Munger trey, and just like that, the two teams were deadlocked 37-37.
A Kelly basket put the Patriots back on top, and after Calypso Carty sank one-of-two from the line for the Bucks, Devlin connected from just inside the arc. East sophomore Karoline White sank the front end of a one-and-one and then tracked down the long rebound of her miss, setting the stage for a pair of Kelly foul shots that put the Patriots on top 44-40.
“I thought one of the turning points was when we worked hard on boxing out at the foul line, and they got that rebound,” West coach Terry Rakowsky said. “In a close game like this, you can’t give up those rebounds. That has got to be a gimme for us.
“This year we have been real good at that, but we didn’t do it today.”
If the Patriots needed insurance, they got it when Scrivano connected on back-to-back baskets, the second after a steal to put East on top 48-40.
“Lexi responded by keeping herself on the floor,” Lonergan said of his senior forward who was plagued by early foul trouble.
White and Hubbell both scored eight points for the Patriots while Scrivano and Devlin each added six. For the Bucks, Munger added eight points and Sam Colloi had six.
With the win, the Patriots upped their record to 10-1 in league play (14-5 overall) while the Bucks fell to 7-4 in the league (13-6 overall).
“They just beat us,” Rakowsky said. “It was nothing that we didn’t do well enough, other than executing what we should have done. They executed, and we did not.”
NORTH PENN 32, CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 23
The Maidens avenged an early-season loss to the Titans, turning up the defense several notches and limiting their visitors to just seven first-half points.
“The last time they just ran circles around us,” said coach Maggie deMarteleire of her team’s 44-41 loss to the Titans. “I don’t know if we were overplaying the perimeter, but they were driving right by us.”
The two teams battled to a 4-4 tie after a first quarter devoid of offensive production. The Maidens basically won the game with an 11-3 second quarter to go into halftime with a 15-7 lead.
“Vicky (Tumasz) hit a couple of shots, and Steph (Knauer) was pretty strong inside in the first half,” deMarteleire said. “Erin Maher hit a three to end the half.
“She was wide open, and Brenda (McDermott) hit her, and as time ran out, she hit a three. That was kind of big because there’s a difference between 12-7 and 15-7.”
Knauer led the Maidens with 10 points while Lauren Crisler added seven and Tumasz, six points. The Titans were led by the eight-point effort of Kate McMenamin while Alysha Lofton and Tori Steinberg each added six points.
“They’re so physical, and they play so hard on defense,” deMarteleire said. “We played good defense tonight too.”
While the Titans fell to 7-3 in league play (12-6 overall), the Maidens improved to 8-3 in the league (14-5 overall).
SOUDERTON 54, QUAKERTOWN 12
The Indians sprinted to a 20-5 lead and took a 28-7 lead into halftime. Carley Kendall and Bianca Picard led a balanced attack with 11 and 10 points respectively. Allison Gallagher added nine points, and Libby Wetzler had eight while Lindsey Kwiatkowski had six points. Ashlee Ruzicka led the Panthers with five points.
While the Panthers fell to 0-9 in league play (1-16 overall), the Indians improved to 6-5 in the league (10-8 overall).
HATBORO-HORSHAM 58, PENNRIDGE 51
The Hatters exploded for 26 points in the fourth quarter, turning a 39-32 deficit into the dramatic win. Carly Bixler scored 11 of her team-high 13 points in the final quarter while teammate Chrissy James scored seven of her nine points in the frame. Emily Marvin added nine points for the Hatters, who led 26-23 at the intermission 
only to watch the Rams go on a 16-6 third quarter tear.
The Rams received a pair of huge efforts from Shannon Chynoweth (16 points, 12 rebounds, seven steals and two blocks) and Alyssa Marchunsky (17 points, 10 rebounds). Marchunsky scored 10 of her points in the fourth quarter.
While the Rams saw their record fall to 2-9 in the league (3-14 overall), the Hatters improved to 3-8 in the league (5-12 overall).
American Conference
CHELTENHAM 58, PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH 43
The Lady Panthers took out any frustration they may have been feeling after Saturday’s loss to North Penn – their first of the season – on the Colonials, opening up a 22-5 lead at the end of one quarter and never looking back.
Shayla Peoples buried a pair of treys and scored eight of her 12 points in the frame while Ciara ‘CC’ Andrews and Christina Coleman both added six points in the opening quarter.
“We went out ahead and never caved,” coach Bob Schaefer said. “(PW) played hard and never quit.”
The Colonials outscored the Lady Panthers 13-10 in the second quarter, cutting Cheltenham’s lead to 32-18 by halftime. The Lady Panthers held a 26-24 edge in the second half.
Andrews finished with a game-high 21 points while Coleman and Peoples both added 12. Coleman also had 10 rebounds. Ming Seawright led the Lady Panthers under the boards with 12 rebounds. Sabrina Casseus had six points in her second start of the season.
Erin Martin led the Colonials with 13 points while Simone Jacques added eight and Maya Thomas, seven points.
While the Colonials fell to 4-6 in the league (7-11 overall), the Lady Panthers upped their record to 9-0 in league play (18-1 overall).
UPPER DUBLIN 62, NORRISTOWN 43
Sparked by the superb 26-point effort of senior Taylor Bryant, the Flying Cardinals notched their fourth win in as many games. They seized control of this one early, opening up a 15-4 lead at the end of one quarter and extending that to 35-18 by halftime. The Flying Cardinals’ dominance continued in the third quarter when they outscored the Eagles 20-15 to go on top 55-33 before a 10-7 fourth quarter that favored the Eagles.
Jen Myers added 10 points for Upper Dublin while Lauren Rothfeld added nine and Brianna Spector, eight points. The Eagles were led by the 15-point effort of Nicole Graham. Tyshay Britten added seven points while Brianna Kennedy and Colleen Kennedy both scored six points.
The Eagles fell to 5-5 in league play (8-10 overall) while the Flying Cardinals improved to 8-2 in the league (15-4 overall).
WISSAHICKON 45, UPPER MORELAND 39
Rachel Stone scored 13 points while teammate Kim Schwemmer added 10 points to lead the Trojans to the much-needed win. The Trojans, who won for just the second time in their last 11 games, also received seven points from Meredith Bryne and six points from Dominique Earland.
The Trojans led 17-11 at the end of one quarter and took a 23-16 lead into halftime. They maintained that lead for the better part of a second half that saw the Golden Bears hold a 23-22 edge.
Lindsay Walder and Katie Costello led the Golden Bears with 10 points each while Karli Lynch added nine points.
The Trojans improved to 2-7 in league play (4-12) while the Golden Bears fell to 0-9 in the league (3-15 overall).
National Conference
COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 44, PENNSBURY 32
Alyssa Dumont had a big night for the Indians, scoring a game-high 16 points with nine of those coming in a fourth quarter that saw Rock North outscore the Falcons 16-7.Freshman Jessica Gerber added 10 points while Emily Grundman added nine.
“They really collapsed on Emily, and other kids stepped up tonight, which was nice,” Rock North coach Liz Potash said. “Alyssa had a nice game.
“Whether she scores or not, she always does positive things on the floor. The points may or may not be there, but she’s always getting rebounds, she’s always getting steals, and she does a nice job with assists. When you look at her line, she consistently does things besides score.
“I challenged her tonight to step up defensively, and she got in foul trouble guarding (Sajanna) Bethea, who’s tough. She spent a long time on the bench in the first half because she was in foul trouble. In the second half, she started lighting it up. She hit a couple of outside shots, which she hasn’t done a lot recently, so it was nice to get her confidence.”
Dumont, who was 4-for-5 from the foul line, also had six rebounds, four steals and one assist. Teammate Helena Gemmell had seven rebounds, six steals and two assists to go along with seven points.
The Falcons led 9-7 at the end of one quarter, but the Indians outscored their visitors 10-5 in the second quarter to go into halftime with a 17-14 lead. Both teams scored 11 points in the third quarter, setting the stage for Dumont and the Indians to take charge in the final frame.
“Pennsbury is a nice team,” Potash said. “I’ve been saying that all year.
“I thought we did a nice job defensively. One of our big focuses was on (Kaitlin) Kelly, who has been shooting the ball real well, and we held her to zero.”
Bethea had a big game for the Falcons, leading the way with 15 points.
While the Falcons fell to 5-6 in league play (10-9 overall), the Indians improved to 8-3 in league play (11-7 overall).
COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 63, ABINGTON 32
Alex Wheatley has turned in some dazzling masterpieces during a stellar four-year career for the Golden Hawks, but the gifted senior would be hard pressed to top her performance in Tuesday’s showdown against the second place Ghosts. Wheatley finished the night with a stat line that included 28 points, 20 rebounds, four steals, four blocked shots and six assists. And, despite all those touches, she had just one turnover in a performance that bordered on perfection.
“It was one of the best games I have seen her play,” coach Monica Stolic said. “She had a really good game her sophomore year against Reading when she had something like 25 (points) and 20 (rebounds), but this was more of a total effort.”
The Golden Hawks led by just a 13-10 score at the end of one quarter but stretched that to 33-20 by halftime. They owned the second half, outscoring the Ghosts 16-9 in the third quarter and 30-12 in the half.
“I called a timeout with 3:30 to go in the first quarter – it was tied,” Stolic said. “We started in a man-to-man, and we weren’t containing Rawls and Peal, so I went to a zone, and we stayed with that.
“We owned the boards tonight, which was a big difference from the first time we played them. I made the team watch the film of that game – they really outrebounded us that time. I know in the first half (tonight) they didn’t get one offensive rebound.”
Taylor Dillon added 10 points for the Golden Hawks, who received seven points from Courtney Brown and six from both Taylor Hunt and Alexis Hofstaedter.
Freshman point guard Deja Rawls led the Ghosts with 11 while Aiyannah Peal added eight and Sarah Listenbee, seven points.
With the win, the Golden Hawks improved to 11-0 in league play and 19-0 overall. They have already matched their win total of last season. The Ghosts, meanwhile, fell to 9-2 in the league (13-6 overall).
BENSALEM 31, NESHAMINY 28
Defense, according to coach Don Bogan, was the difference between winning and losing on Tuesday night. The Owls held a seemingly comfortable 17-5 halftime lead, but the Redskins came roaring back, cutting the deficit to 24-18 after three quarters and making things real interesting with a 10-6 fourth quarter.
“We built a nice lead but ran out of gas during the fourth quarter and defensively held on for the win,” Bogan said. “Both teams played hard.”
Bogan lauded the defensive efforts of Jere St. Lewis, Ashida Cooper, Ashley Schneider, Ashleigh Spence, Tyra Roberts and Stephanie Unger.
“They played good man-to-man and finally got the defensive rotation correct, preventing them from running their fast break,” the Owls’ coach said. “We made them play a halfcourt game.
“The girls have been working hard, but we have a short bench.”
Roberts led the Owls with a game-high 13 points while Spence added eight and Cooper, six points. Meghan Schafer led the Redskins with 12 points while McKenna Mullin added six and Lori Paulits, five points.
The win, just the second in eight games for the Owls, upped Bensalem’s league mark to 4-7 (6-9 overall) while the Redskins fell to 3-8 in the league (6-12 overall).
WILLIAM TENNENT 61, HARRY S TRUMAN 38
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