Three SOL girls’ basketball players were named to the AP Class AAAA All-State squad. Cheltenham senior Ciara Andrews was the Class AAAA Player of the Year.
Ciara Andrews can create magic on the basketball court.
The Cheltenham senior - better known as ‘CC’ - confirmed that when she scored 10 straight points in the final 25 seconds of the Lady Panthers’ PIAA Class AAAA Tournament opener against Bangor, erasing a seven-point deficit and leading Cheltenham to a miraculous 65-63 come-from-behind win.
“We were hoping she’d be recognized like this,” coach Bob Schaefer said. “When you think about it, nobody had a showing in the state tournament like CC did. She came up real big.”
Andrews scored more than 30 points in three straight playoff wins, including a 32-point effort in Cheltenham’s win over Bangor.
For the season, Andrews averaged 22.6 points a game for a Lady Panthers squad that advanced to the state’s Elite Eight. She also averaged 3.4 steals.
For her efforts on the hardwood this season, Andrews was named the 2012 AP Class AAAA Player of the Year. Joining her on the first team was Council Rock South senior Alex Wheatley while North Penn senior Steph Knauer received third team honors.
Schaefer has coached his share of standout players during a 31-year career at the helm, but the veteran coach, who resigned at the close of the season, admits that Andrews was something special.
“More than any player we had, she put up big points in big games, no question about it,” Schaefer said. “You think about it – Shayla Felder was very good at the foul line so were Brandi Butler and Stacey Smalls at the end of games, but CC just won so many games just by shooting 90 percent at the end of the game.
“She definitely has one of the nicest pull-up jump shots that I have seen. At the end of the season, after three and a half seasons of telling her she had to take the three, she finally started shooting threes.”
“People had a chance to see what she could do in the state tournament, and they saw that she really deserved to be Player of the Year.”
The Lady Panthers captured the American Conference title en route to a 26-4 record.
“The fact that she was such a threat in games helped to open up other players,” Schaefer said. “She always had two people guarding her, and that helped every other player play better and led us to an extremely successful season, really an overachieving season.”
Wheatley boasted some astonishing numbers of her own while leading Rock South to a spot in the record books, averaging 18.6 points and 12.8 rebounds a game.
“She just worked very hard for everything she’s gotten,” coach Monica Stolic said. “Even now, the trainer shut her down for two weeks after basketball before track, and she’s dying. She wanted to go shoot baskets.”
Wheatley has surpassed both the 1,000-point and 1,000-rebound milestones over a stellar four-year varsity career, but she was about much more than points and rebounds. She averaged 3.4 assists per game and had 52 blocked shots and 115 steals.
The Indians, who finished the year 27-3, advanced to the Elite Eight in the state tournament for the first time and captured the school’s first ever SOL National Conference title.
“She’s very athletic, and she’s a well-rounded player,” Stolic said. “She plays offense, she plays defense – she’s a very good defender.
“She’s smart. She knows if someone shoots from the wing there’s a 74 percent chance the ball will go on the weakside, so she knows where the ball’s going to land. She’s relentless. I know she’s 6-3, but you talk about rebounding being about desire. She has the desire to go get the ball.”
Knauer was a force in the paint for a Maiden squad that earned a spot in the District One AAAA final at Villanova University for the first time in 21 years, averaging 12.61 points per game and 10.4 rebounds.
“She always battled and got beat up under the boards, but she still did her thing,” coach Maggie deMarteleire said. “It’s kind of funny because when she was younger she didn’t like to be touched – she acted like basketball wasn’t a physical sport.
“When she realized it was, she could be more effective that way because she has good size.
“She’s a tall strong girl. She protected the basket very well for us defensively as well. She literally and figuratively has broad shoulders.”
Knauer, who averaged a double/double as a junior as well, closed out her career with 1,262 points and 941 rebounds.
“For a person to average double/double her junior and senior years – you really don’t hear that very often,” deMarteleire said. “That speaks for itself.
“I’m sure for her she would have rather seen our season end differently, but this is a nice personal recognition for her. I’m happy for her.”
Knauer will be taking her talents to Shippensburg University while Andrews has accepted a scholarship to St. Joseph’s University and Wheatley will be playing at Princeton University.
2012 AP Girls’ Basketball All-State Team (Class AAAA)
FIRST TEAM
Ciara Andrews, Cheltenham, 5-10, Sr.
Destiny Brown, Gateway, 5-11, Sr.
Meghan Creighton, Archbishop Carroll, Sr.
Sarah Curran, Archbishop Carroll, 5-11, Jr.
Omowumi Rafiu, Neumann-Goretti, 6-2, Sr.
Alex Wheatley, Council Rock South, 6-3, Sr.
SECOND TEAM
Bobbi Baker, Oakland Catholic, 5-7, Sr.
Ashley Espinosa, Governor Mifflin, 5-4, Sr.
Shanice Johnson, Cardinal O’Hara, 6-1, Jr.
Rachel Pearson, Archbishop Carroll, 5-7, Sr.
Isis Thorpe, Reading, 5-7, Jr.
Tara Zdancewicz, Wyoming Valley West, 5-9, Sr.
THIRD TEAM
Jackie Falconer, Cumberland Valley, 5-11, Jr.
Kayla Grimme, Altoona, 6-1, Jr.
Kelly Johnson, Mount Lebanon, 5-6, Sr.
Steph Knauer, North Penn, 6-0, Sr.
Erica Maciejewski, Red Lion, 5-10, Sr.
Brittany Sicinski, Downingtown West, 5-8, Sr.
Sammy Stipa, Spring-Ford, 5-5, Soph.
Player of the Year: Ciara Andrews, Cheltenham
Coach of the Year: Shannon Boyle, Oakland Catholic
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