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RADNOR – Liz Taliaferro called it ‘lucky.’By any description, the Cheltenham junior’s play to save a ball from going out of play that she’d deflected away from a Council Rock North ball handler near midcourt was impressive enough. The fact that Taliaferro – while airborne – somehow directed the ball to streaking teammate Dayna McCrewell for a layup at the buzzer was nothing short of incredible.
“I was lucky I was there,” Taliaferro said. “Dayna was downcourt, and I just trying to keep it inbounds and get it to her.
“We played great team defense. That’s what kept us in there.”
McCrewell’s basket capped a 7-0 Lady Panther run to close out the first half of Saturday’s nightcap pitting the top SOL schools in the Eighth Annual Scholastic Girls Classic at Archbishop Carroll.
The basket not only knotted the score 31-31 at the intermission but also gave the Lady Panthers some serious momentum that they carried into the second half, turning that 7-0 run into an 18-2 tear that put them on top by nine on their way to a 63-56 win over their archrivals.
“What a great effort,” Cheltenham coach Bob Schaefer said of Taliaferro’s steal. “And having the wherewithal to tip it down to Dayna for the breakaway – that was fantastic.
“It’s the little things like that that made the difference in the game – people diving on the floor to tie it up. I told them every possession is crucially important in this game.”
Making Taliaferro’s steal even more difficult to swallow for Rock North was the fact that the Indians – holding for the last shot at the end of the first quarter – took a shot sooner than coach Lou Palkovics had hoped, allowing Taliaferro to score a fastbreak basket off the miss at the buzzer to tie things up at 15.
“I didn’t think we were very efficient at the end of any quarter,” Palkovics said. “I give a little bit of credit to their defensive pressure, but we weren’t making smart decisions at the end of quarter – taking a shot with 12 seconds to go, forcing a pass into the post with 20 seconds to go knowing when we get inside 40 seconds, I want the last shot.
“They got a little panicked. Maybe it was the pace of the game. I don’t know what it was.”
One Rock North player who never looked panicked was freshman Lauren Gold, who scored a team-high 18 points and made life difficult for the Panthers with her lightening quick drives to the hole.
“I have been watching Cheltenham play since my two sisters have been playing them,” Gold said. “I know what they do.”
Sarah Kiely added 16 points for the Indians, but every one of those was hard-earned.
For the Lady Panthers, McCrewell – who is coming on strong after sitting out a portion of her junior season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament – scored a game-high 20 points to go along with eight rebounds, two steals, two assists and one block. Guards Shayla Felder (17 points, five steals) and Monet Constant (14 points, four rebounds) also came up big for the Lady Panthers, who extended their winning streak to 12.
“This felt great,” McCrewell said. “We have all been looking forward to this game for a long time, and we knew we would have to play hard.
“We played hard last night against Upper Dublin (a 74-52 win), and we knew we would have to dig deep tonight and find something (extra). We all dug deep and we came out and played hard.”
The Indians, meanwhile, saw their string of 13 consecutive wins come to an end.
“How can I come in and rip them after the run they’ve had?” Palkovics asked. “We lose the first game of the season to the number two team in the state and then you run off 13 in a row. Of the 13, there were five or six big wins against very good teams.
“I still believe that after the top two in the state it’s a free for all when you look at the next 16 or 17 teams.”
Things certainly appeared to be going the Indians’ way in the second quarter when they turned a 22-18 deficit into a 31-24 lead with a nifty little 13-2 tear of their own. The run got started when Juliann Fricke scored a fastbreak bucket at the end of the Panthers’ press and culminated with Kiely scoring after a nice spin move in the paint.
Jenna Peoples (seven points, six rebounds) buried a short baseline jumper that sparked the Panthers’ 7-0 run, a run that culminated with Taliaferro’s big defensive play and McCrewell’s bucket at the buzzer to knot the score.
“That was a great play on Liz’s behalf,” McCrewell said. “Liz always hustles. As she was doing it, I was ready and waiting for it.”
While the end of the first half may have been deflating, the Indians still found themselves locked in a tie. It was the beginning of the third quarter that ultimately led to their demise. McCrewell, who scored 12 points in the frame, had more than a little to do with that.
“At halftime, Schaef gave us a real good pep talk about just going out there and working hard, and we were all pumped up and ready for the second half,” McCrewell said.
The senior forward opened the quarter with a bucket, but Scull answered with a baseline hoop for the Indians.
On the Panthers’ ensuing possession, McCrewell ignited her team when she uncharacteristically took – and buried – a baseline three-pointer.
“It’s something I have been working on,” she said. “The girl backed up, and I was wide open, so I was like, ‘Hey, might as well.’”
A Felder steal prompted Palkovics to call a quick timeout, but Felder scored out of the timeout, and after a Rock North miss, McCrewell converted an offensive board into a basket.
“When she gets hot, she’s dangerous,” Schaefer said of McCrewell. “The kid’s got a real big heart, no question about it.”
Another Felder steal – this one at midcourt – resulted in another Indian timeout. Again, Felder scored out of the timeout, putting the Panthers on top 42-33.
“We put in a new play in the locker room for Shayla, and she came out and scored twice on it, which really made a difference,” Schaefer said.
“That was unexpected,” Felder said of the new play. “At first I was a little shaky because we just made it up in the locker room, but it came out successful.”
Coming as no surprise, the Indians made several runs – their final one capped with Devin Gold finding Kiely for an easy bucket to make it a 59-56 game with 35 seconds remaining.
Felder, who was fouled on the inbounds, sank both ends of a one-and-one at the other end to all but seal the deal for the Panthers.
“This is really big,” Felder said. “Party at Tiff’s house.”
Saturday’s win – which avenged last year’s 58-52 loss to Rock North in the Scholastic Classic – was reason to celebrate for the Lady Panthers, who upped their record to 13-1.
“This is awesome, especially after the way we lost to them last year,” Taliaferro said. “This is great – best win of the season so far.”
CHELTENHAM 63, COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 56
Council Rock North (56) – Juliann Fricke 2 0-0 4, Devin Gold 3 2-2 9, Kelly Scull 1 3-4 5, Sarah Kiely 4 8-10 16, Kate Logan 2 0-0 4, Lauren Gold 7 4-5 18. Totals 19 17-21 56.
Cheltenham (63) – Jenna Peoples 3 1-3 7, Monet Constant 5 3-4 14, Tiffany Johnson 0 1-2 1, Shayla Felder 5 7-8 17, Dayna McCrewell 9 1-2 20, Liz Taliaferro 1 0-0 2, Sydni Epps 1 0-0 2. Totals 24 13-19 63.
Council Rock North 15 16 12 13-56
Cheltenham 15 16 18 14-63
Three-point goals: Devin Gold, Monet Constant, Dayna McCrewell
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