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National Conference
Abington 54, William Tennent 37Don’t be fooled by the final score.
The Panthers gave the Ghosts all they could handle for three quarters, but in the second half, the Ghosts limited the Panthers to just 11 points, going on a 29-11 tear to earn the decisive win.
“They came at us a little bit, but we were able to pull it out,” coach Dan Marsh said. “We took their best shot on the chin and still were able to come out on top.”
The Ghosts led 15-10 at the end of one quarter only to watch the Panthers respond with a 16-10 tear in the second quarter to go into halftime with a 26-25 lead.
“They shot a pretty good percentage in the first half,” Marsh said. “I knew they couldn’t keep that up.
“We did a better job in the second half. We got a little bit more aggressive defensively in the fourth quarter with Chynna (West) and Aiyannah (Peal) trapping a bit and turning them over, but the game plan didn’t change much - we needed to stop (Ashley) Alden, and we did.”
Alden finished with 12 points but eight of those came from the foul line.
“Jess Schmidt did a great job on her,” Marsh said. “We’re relying on Jess to stop these big players.”
While defense played a key in the win, it was the 24-point effort of Peal that was the difference in the game. The gifted junior scored nine points in the first quarter and also hit some free throws down the stretch.
“She was amazing,” Marsh said.
Sarah Listenbee added 12 points and 10 rebounds while West had seven points and seven assists.
“It was a pretty good team effort, Aiyannah was definitely the key,” Marsh said. “They didn’t have an answer for her.”
The Ghosts return to action on Saturday at 3:30 at the Scholastic Play-by-Play Classic at Philadelphia University when they will face Engineering and Sciences.
“Tennent kind of wore us out, so I’m a little worried about tomorrow,” Marsh said. “We don’t have a deep bench.
“We only use eight players, and we used them all tonight. Tennent really came after us. They played well and really showed that they’re a good team and they will be there at the end. We were just able to shut them down in the second half.”
While the Panthers fell to 3-3 in league play (7-3 overall), the Ghosts improved to 5-1 (8-3 overall).
Council Rock South 42, Pennsbury 40
The Falcons had the Golden Hawks on the ropes, but Rock South escaped with the two-point win when a Pennsbury shot for the tie was partially blocked by Alex Wheatley as time wound down.
The Golden Hawks, who led 22-19 at the intermission, trailed by five points in the third quarter and still trailed 32-29 heading into the final frame.
Coach Monica Stolic – whose team was coming off a close loss to Council Rock North - didn’t have to look far to figure out what went wrong. Her team connected on just 24 percent of their shots from the floor, which included an abysmal stretch in the second and third quarters when the Golden Hawks shot a combined 4-for-26.
“We really should have lost this game,” Stolic said.
The Golden Hawks won because Wheatley was flat out unstoppable in the paint, finishing the night 24 points and 22 rebounds.
“Wheatley carried us,” Stolic said.
The Falcons were led by the 10-point efforts of Molly Phillips and Sajanna Bethea.
Rock South returns to action on Saturday at 2 p.m. when the Golden Hawks will face Archbishop Ryan in the Scholastic Play-by-Play Classic at Philadelphia University.
The Golden Hawks improved to 4-2 in league play (7-3 overall) while the Falcons fell to 2-4 in the league (4-8 overall)
Neshaminy 56, Harry S. Truman 22
Thirteen players saw action for the Redskins with 11 of them putting their names in the scoring column. Megan Schafer had four steals for the ‘Skins while Amy Paulits had six rebounds.
The Redskins evened their league record at 3-3 (10-3 overall) while the Tigers fell to 0-6 (1-9 overall).
Council Rock North 57, Bensalem 38
Erin Gold turned in a superb all-around effort, contributing 18 points, five assists and four steals. Emily Grundman also had a big night under the basket, contributing 15 points.
While the Owls fell to 1-5 in league play, the Indians upped their record to 6-0 (9-0 overall).
Continental Conference
North Penn 54, Souderton 34
Steph Knauer (17 points, 15 rebounds) and Lauren Crisler (14 points, seven rebounds) had huge games for the Maidens, who created a logjam for second place in the conference standings as a result of their win.
Four teams – Souderton, North Penn, Central Bucks South and Central Bucks West – boast identical 4-2 records in conference play.
“We played really well tonight,” coach Maggie deMarteleire said. “The key was Brenda McDermott was pushing the ball up the court, and Lauren Crisler was attacking the basket. She just played really aggressive offensively, and she did a good job defensively on Gabby McAndrews.
“We have been spending a lot of time in practice working on transition offense and offensive rebounding and putting pressure on the guards and making entry passes into the post. The kids really did a nice job with it tonight. They were very unselfish with the ball. They really shared the ball well.”
McDermott also contributed eight points for the Maidens.
The Indians were led by the 10-point effort of freshman Bianca Picard while McAndrews added nine points. Carley Kendall was limited to seven points.
The Maidens led 14-11 at the end of one quarter but blew the game open with a 16-6 second-quarter tear to go into halftime with a 30-17 lead.
“Our defense has been pretty good,” deMarteleire said. “It’s just that offensively we haven’t been able to get untracked, and I thought the kids really bought into what we were teaching them this week and did really good job of applying it to the game.
“We have a big up side and a lot of room for improvement. Right now our goal is to improve offensively every game.”
The Maidens return to action on Saturday when they will host Downingtown West in a 1 p.m. non-league contest.
Central Bucks East 57, Quakertown 21
The Patriots sprinted to an 18-2 lead at the end of one quarter and never looked back on their way to the convincing win. Laura Aseltine led a balanced attack with 12 points while Lindsey Kelly added nine points. Eleven players got into the scoring column for East.
Kathryne Ketter led the Panthers with nine points.
While the Panthers fell to 0-6 in league play (2-9 overall), the Patriots remained perfect in the league at 6-0 (8-3 overall).
Central Bucks South 55, Hatboro-Horsham 49
The Hatters took a 12-8 lead at the end of one quarter, but the Titans rallied to knot the score by halftime (25-25). South outscored Hatboro 15-11 in the third quarter on its way to the win.
Madi Vitelli led the Titans with 13 points while Brittany Kaewell had 12 points. Becca Purtell led all scorers with 15 points while Alicia Hayes added 13 points.
While the Hatters fell to 2-4 in league play, the Titans upped their league mark to 4-2 (8-4 overall)
Central Bucks West 47, Pennridge 15
Jen Fabian scored 14 points to go along with eight rebounds and five steals while leading the Bucks to the decisive win. Teammate Sam Colloi added 11 points. The Rams were led by the seven-point effort of Nici Bonacci.
The Bucks led 13-0 at the end of one quarter only to be outscored by the Rams 11-9 to go into halftime with a 22-1 lead. The Rams managed to score just four second-half points.
The Rams saw their record drop to 0-6 in league (0-9 overall) while the Bucks improved to 4-2 in the league (6-4 overall).
American Conference
Plymouth Whitemarsh 39, Upper Merion 18
The Colonials threw some serious defense at the Vikings, allowing just six first-half points and one point in the fourth quarter to earn the big win.
“We went to a triangle-and-two,” coach Becky Duffy said of her team’s efforts to contain Cassidy Koenig and Kristina O’Sullivan. “That was the game plan, and it was a team effort.
“Erin Martin played O’Sullivan, and she is just so quick and so agile, and she can get to the ball so easily and just tears apart defenses. We said to Erin, ‘All we want you to do is keep her in front of you, and know when she turns the corner, someone will be there to help you.’ We said we were going to make the other three girls on the court beat us.”
The Colonials wasted little time seizing control of the game, opening up a 14-3 lead at the end of one quarter and extending that lead to 24-6 by halftime.
“Things just weren’t falling for them,” Duffy said. “If they were, we would have been in trouble.
“We got lucky in that they had an off night, and we were able to keep the pressure on their two big players. We kept the pressure on the whole time. We got them kind of tired and out of their game.”
The Colonials were without their top scorer as Gabby Schumacher was not at the game due to illness.
“We had other girls step up,” Duffy said. “It was great. It was just a very solid all-around performance by my kids. I was really proud of them.
“We’re really trying to develop them into believing. We could have easily crumbled – oh no, one of our starters is out.”
Alyssa Butcher and Alex Borkowski both scored nine points. Borkowski pulled down a game-high 14 boards while Butcher had seven rebounds and three blocked shots.
Martin added eight points and nine rebounds while Egypt Thompson had six points and nine rebounds.
“What I’m really most proud of is we had a game plan – we knew what we wanted to do, we practiced it, we rehearsed it, and they executed tonight,” Duffy said. “They did what we needed them to do. They’re recognizing when we practice and got through the drills over and over again – now we’re reaping the benefits of it.
“Us playing that tough stretch really prepared us for the rest of the season.”
The Colonials will return to action on Saturday when they will host Bensalem in a non-league contest. While the Vikings fell to 1-4 in league play (5-8 overall), the Colonials improved to 3-2 in the league (5-5 overall).
Upper Dublin 42, Wissahickon 30
The Trojans led 8-7 at the end of one quarter, but the Flying Cardinals responded with a 19-6 second-quarter run to go into halftime with a 26-14 lead. That proved to be the difference in the game as the two teams battled to a 16-16 draw after the intermission.
Upper Dublin’s second-quarter tear was sparked by the torrid offensive performance of Taylor Bryant, who did not score a point in the first quarter but exploded for 11 of her game-high 15 points in the second quarter.
Sarah Hallowell added 11 points for the Flying Cardinals, including six in the final quarter. The Trojans were led by the nine-point effort of Kim Schwemmer with nine points. Casey Bill added eight points.
The Flying Cardinals upped their conference record to 5-1 (10-2 overall) while the Trojans dropped to 2-3 in league play (5-6 overall).
Cheltenham 67, Upper Moreland 9
The Lady Panthers improved to 5-0 in the league (9-3 overall) while the Golden Bears fell to 0-5.
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