#16 North Penn 49, #17 Abington 42
TOWAMENCIN – Steph Knauer was matter-of-fact when asked where she was in the first half of North Penn’s District One AAAA opener against Abington.
“Well, we knew they were going to come out and try and double team (me), so our guards weren’t quite comfortable throwing the ball inside,” said the Maidens’ junior center, whose only first-half stat was one rebound. “In the second half, they passed it in well.”
Getting Knauer involved in the game was the difference between winning and losing for the Maidens, who trailed by nine at the half. Knauer dominated play under the basket in the second half, finishing with a game-high 17 points and 12 rebounds and leading the Maidens to the 49-42 win in a battle of the tournament’s 16th and 17th seeds.
“We knew we could come back from a deficit and win,” Knauer said. “This win is huge. We wanted this so bad.
“Coming off a season like last year, we want to go far, and we want to upset (Council Rock) North next week.”
In a game filled with defining moments, there were several that stood out. The one that won the game came out of a Maiden timeout when – with North Penn clinging to a one-point lead – freshman Erin Maher spotted Knauer wide open under the basket for an easy deuce that put the Maidens on top 43-40.
“That was a great pass by Erin,” sophomore Lauren Crisler said. “She sees the court really well, and that was just a really good pass. She was thinking on her toes, and we really needed that.”
Making the pass even more impressive was the fact that it came one possession after the Maidens’ freshman guard saw her pass picked off by Aiyannah Peal, who turned it into a layup that made it a 43-42 game.
“I didn’t even see who (Erin) was throwing it to – I couldn’t see through the lane,” Maiden coach Maggie deMarteleire said. “What a great pass.”
That scenario was replayed over and over again by a Maiden squad that just kept picking itself off the mat. The players repeatedly followed a bad play with a good play and never gave in when things didn’t go their way.
“That’s what I was proud of the kids for,” deMarteleire said. “Steph didn’t play well in the first half, and she came back and played awesome in the second half. Meg Gallagher did not play well in the first half, and she came back and played well in the second half. Brenda McDermott made a turnover, got up off her knees, ran back (on defense) and forced a turnover.
“They didn’t give up, they didn’t hang their heads. I’m just really proud of the overall effort.”
On the other side of the court, coach Dan Marsh – who had never lost in the opening round in six years at the helm - was left to bid farewell to his five seniors after the devastating loss.
“These five seniors are tremendous character kids,” the Ghosts’ coach said. “It’s not fair for them to go out like this. They deserve better.
“They played their butts off. I’m most disappointed for Chynna (West), Jess (Schmidt), Carli (Fitzgerald), Jamie (Shectman) and Mallory (Mugnier). I’ll get another chance, but they won’t.”
There was nothing to suggest the Ghosts might be approaching the end of the line during a first half they dominated.
Abington led 6-2 after Peal turned a West steal into an easy bucket. Sarah Listenbee made it a 10-2 game after back-to-back buckets, the first after an offensive rebound and the second on a baseline jumper.
Peal turned another steal into a layup, and the Ghosts were on top 12-2. Crisler broke the run with a bucket, but Listenbee – who scored 10 of her 12 points in a marvelous first half – scored on another putback to up the Ghosts’ lead to 10 yet again.
McDermott buried a trey for the Maidens, and after a Ghost miss, McDermott – who along with Crisler added 13 points for the Maidens – scored again to make it a 14-9 game at the end of the quarter.
It was still a five-point game (18-13) after Crisler sank one-of-two from the foul line, but West answered by converting a three-point play at the other end to put the Ghosts on top 21-13.
When Shectman came off the bench and buried a trey from NBA range, the Ghosts led 24-13, and everything appeared to be going their way. But a foul under Abington’s basket with five seconds remaining put McDermott on the foul line for a one-and-one. The junior point guard connected on a pair, allowing the Maidens to go into halftime trailing 24-15.
“To be honest, I was never worried,” Marsh said. “I thought we were playing the way we needed to play, and I thought we would win this game up until we got in foul trouble.
“We executed our game plan. We did everything we needed to do until we got in foul trouble. We just couldn’t adjust. We don’t have the depth.”
The foul trouble began early in the second half but not before Knauer got untracked for the Maidens. She scored the first basket of the second half, and then – after Peal made one-of-two from the foul line – scored on a foul line jumper.
Crisler followed an Abington miss by connecting on a pair of foul shots, and it was a 25-21 game. Listenbee took a seat on the bench after picking up her fourth foul with 3:27 remaining in the third quarter.
The Ghosts went back on top 32-25 after Peal turned a steal into a three-point play at the 1:41 mark, but baskets by Crisler and Knauer to close out the quarter made it a 32-29 game.
“Steph really came alive in the second half,” Crisler said. “She was really strong in the post. We knew we had to get the ball to her – bounce passes mostly because they were grabbing everything we threw in the air.
“When we did get it into her, it really started our offense, and everyone started contributing.”
Jessica Schmidt joined Listenbee on the bench with four fouls on the Maidens’ opening possession of the fourth quarter. Knauer buried both foul shots, and it was a 32-31 game. After an Abington miss, Crisler connected on a pair from the foul line to give the Maidens their first lead of the game (33-32).
Another Abington miss set the stage for Crisler to connect on two more from the foul line. The Maidens stretched their lead to 38-32 after Knauer converted a three-point play. Peal answered with a bucket for the Ghosts, but Gallagher buried a foul line jumper.
The Ghosts pulled to within one (41-40) after Shectman found Listenbee in close for a basket, but Knauer scored on a putback at the other end. That set the stage for the Peal steal and bucket that was followed by Maher’s pass to Knauer for a basket that all but sealed Abington’s fate.
The Ghosts misfired at the other end, and the trips to the foul line began for the Maidens as McDermott buried three-of-six to ice the win.
“We panicked a little bit, which is really uncharacteristic of this team,” Marsh said. “I think it was the severity of the situation where it was one-and-done.
“They made a run at us, and we were like, ‘We gotta go, we gotta go, we gotta go,’ and that’s high school athletics. Sometimes the kids remember to stay calm, remember to do what they’re supposed to do, and sometimes they don’t.”
deMarteleire lauded the defensive effort of Crisler on Peal, who finished with a team-high 14 points, but many of those points came in transition.
“Basically, our game plan was to face guard her and not let her get the ball,” Crisler said. “When she did get the ball, we knew she was going to go to the basket because that’s her mentality.
“My teammates did a great job of pitching in and helping when she would drive and get by me.”
While the Maidens improved to 16-6 and earned a date with top-seeded Council Rock North in the second round, the Ghosts fell to 14-9.
“It’s tremendously disappointing,” Marsh said. “I really thought that if we got past this game we could make a serious run.
“I knew this was going to be the tough one because the first one is always tough. The season has been so crazy with everything that happened, and I felt like it was going to pay off. That’s why it’s so disappointing.”
NOTES: When it was over, Marsh expressed his gratitude to deMarteleire for moving the 1:30 game to 4:30 to allow one of his starters, Jessica Schmidt, to attend the funeral of her grandmother and not miss the game. “It was a tremendous thing for her to do,” Marsh said. “I have a tremendous amount of respect for her as a coach. I have never lost in the first round, but if I was going to lose to anyone, I’m glad it’s her. She’s what high school athletics is all about. How many coaches would have done that? They wouldn’t have. She said, ‘We want to beat you with your best,’ and they did.”
NORTH PENN 49, ABINGTON 42
Abington (42) – Francesca 0 0-0 0; Fitzgerald 0 0-0 0; West 3 5-9 11; Schmidt 1 0-0 2; Peal 6 2-3 14; Listenbee 6 0-0 12; Shectman 1 0-0 3; Mugnier 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 17 7-12 42.
North Penn (49) – Hagan 0 1-2 1; Gallagher 1 0-0 2; McDermott 3 6-8 13; Crisler 3 7-9 13; Knauer 6 5-5 17; Tumasz 0 0-0 0; Maher 1 0-0 3. TOTALS 14 19-24 49.
Abington 14 10 8 10-42
North Penn 9 6 14 20-49
Three-point goals: Abington – Shectman. NP-McDermott, Maher
#7 Upper Dublin 40, #26 Coatesville 36
Tori Waters admits she is sometimes a reluctant shooter, but the senior captain did not hesitate for a second when – with her team clinging to a three-point lead and time winding down in Saturday’s district opener – she saw a wide open lane to the basket.
Waters drove baseline and buried a shot that put the Flying Cardinals on top 40-35, sealing the Red Raiders fate and propelling Upper Dublin into the second round.
“I was wide open – why not,” Waters said of her mindset when she took the game’s biggest shot. “The score was getting close, so why shouldn’t I (make) it higher.
“I don’t really shoot much, so getting a basket is always exciting for me.”
It was Waters who – moments earlier - had pulled down the defensive rebound at the other end to give the Flying Cardinals possession with time winding down.
“This was one of the reasons I left Tori in at the end,” coach Vince Catanzaro said. “(My assistant coach) wanted me to call a timeout when she made the move. I saw her getting ready to make the move, and I said, ‘Let her go and see what she does,’ and she scored. It worked out.
“Tori was getting the rebounds in there.”
Waters finished the game with eight points and 10 rebounds for the Flying Cardinals. Sarah Hallowell led a balanced attack with nine points while Curtrena Goff added seven and Jen Myers, six points and nine rebounds.
Coatesville was led by the 17-point effort of Elisha Gaffney.
Neither team exactly set the world on fire offensively, but it was the Flying Cardinals opening up a 9-7 lead at the end of one quarter. A baseline jumper by Myers made it an 11-7 game, and when Waters turned a Lauren Rothfeld steal into a basket, the Flying Cardinals led 13-7.
The Red Raiders made it a one-point game (15-14) after a bucket by Autumn Smith, but the Flying Cardinals opened up a 25-18 lead after Hallowell scored an easy bucket off a Coatesville turnover. The Red Raiders trimmed that lead to 26-22 at the intermission.
“We weren’t really hitting a lot of shots,” Catanzaro said. “We hit a couple of shots that were important when we needed to, but we didn’t hit enough. We didn’t get a lot of second chances, and that’s a key.”
It also didn’t help that Goff picked up a pair of early fouls and spent considerable time on the bench.
“Once (Goff) gets in foul trouble early, everything breaks down a little bit when you have to take her out of the game,” Catanzaro said.
A basket by Goff to open the second half put the Flying Cardinals on top 28-22, and they put some distance between themselves and the Red Raiders after Hallowell connected on a pair of shots in the closing minute, the final a three-pointer off a screen at the buzzer to put the Flying Cardinals on top 36-25 heading into the final quarter.
“That was huge,” Catanzaro said. “That was a set play – we work on that shot.”
The Flying Cardinals still led 38-27 after a Goff bucket at the 6:12 mark, but then the points stopped coming. The Red Raiders made it a 38-33 game after Gaffney connected on both ends of a one-and-one with 3:23 remaining.
Several Upper Dublin turnovers on the spread allowed the Red Raiders to pull to within three (38-35), setting the stage for the big rebound and ensuing bucket by Waters.
“I think holding them off at the end was a little struggle for us,” Waters said. “We were pushing it well at the beginning, and when we started holding the ball, we started making turnovers.”
The Flying Cardinals, who improved to 20-3, will host Council Rock South in a second round game on Wednesday.
UPPER DUBLIN 40, COATESVILLE 36
Coatesville (36) – Smith 2 1-2 5; Southcott 1 0-0 2; Boggs 0 0-0 0; Strand 2 0-0 4; Gaffney 6 5-7 17; Graham 2 0-0 4; Timmons 2 0-1 4; Wilson 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 15 6-10 36.
Upper Dublin (40) – Goff 3 1-5 7; Bryant 1 3-4 5; Hallowell 4 0-0 9; Rothfeld 2 0-0 4; McAneney 0 1-2 1; Blum 0 0-0 0; Waters 4 0-0 8; Myers 2 2-2 6. TOTALS 16 7-13 40.
Coatesville 7 15 3 11-36
Upper Dublin 9 17 10 4-40
3-point goals: UD-Hallowell.
#8 Central Bucks East 69, #25 Chester 54
Senior Courtney McManus and junior Lindsey Kelly both scored 18 points to lead a potent East attack. Melissa Remmey also added 11 points while freshman Shaun Kane came off the bench to contribute 10 points.
“Shaun Kane played well from the get-go,” coach Tom Lonergan said of his freshman guard, who gave the team 20 solid minutes. “She stayed aggressive. Some of our players were back on their heels, but she came in as a freshman and played hard-nosed defense and also played well offensively.”
McManus, in addition to scoring 18 points – which included five treys – also had six defensive rebounds for the Patriots, who actually trailed 15-12 at the end of one quarter.
Sparked by four points from Kane off the bench as well as six points from McManus and five from Kelly, the Patriots began to seize control of the game in the second quarter, outscoring the Clippers 20-8 to go into halftime with a 32-23 lead.
In the third quarter, the Patriots – propelled by six points from both McManus and Kelly – continued their offensive onslaught, outscoring the Red Raiders 20-12 to take a 52-35 lead into the final quarter.
Coatesville’s Gerorria Clark led all scorers with 27 points, but 17 of those came in the fourth quarter when the outcome had long since been decided.
The Patriots will host Spring-Ford in a second round game on Wednesday.
#9 Spring-Ford 64, #24 Neshaminy 56
Scoring 56 points was not a scenario coach Joanne McVey could have imagined when her team traveled to Spring-Ford on Saturday.
“If someone had told me we would score 56 points, I would has wondered if we won by 20 or 25,” the Redskins’ coach said.
As it was, 56 points wasn’t enough, nor was a 48-40 lead late in the third quarter.
“Unfortunately, some of our key players ran into some foul trouble,” McVey said. “The game was called apparently the way it’s called out there.
“Now I see why these teams are scoring 60 points a game if we score 56. We usually can’t throw a beach ball in the ocean.”
A telling statistic shows that the two teams combined for 65 trips to the foul line – 35 by the Redskins, who connected on 22.
“It’s really a shame,” McVey said. “You hate to say it was officiating, but we had a very critical foul called on a scramble for a loose ball. There was almost no contact, and our key player is on the bench for a third of the game.”
The Redskins led by eight when point guard Megan Schafer took a seat on the bench after being whistled for her fourth foul. By the end of three quarters, it was 48-45 game. The Rams outscored the Redskins 19-8 in the fourth period.
“I felt like the two teams got very similar looks, but they made their shots and we didn’t,” McVey said. “We had some tremendous looks at the basket that didn’t go down.”
Schafer – who eventually fouled out – wasn’t the only Redskin in foul trouble. Center Shannon Barlow played just 17 minutes, and the Redskins lost another starter, Lori Paulits, to an injury early in the game.
“We were playing kids that hardly ever played,” McVey said. “I don’t want to complain about the officials, but it definitely was not our style of game.
“With that said, you don’t want to use the officials as an excuse. I was very proud of the way our team played. They played hard, and we hung with a good team.”
Amanda Lally led the Redskins with 17 points while Barlow added nine and Schafer, eight points.
“It’s very important that our younger kids remember that it’s a huge advantage to have a home game in the first round of the playoffs,” McVey said. “If these guys had done one or two of our games before, there’s no way Megan would have been on the bench based on the fouls they called on her, and that is something we can control during the season.
“You need to put yourself in a situation where you’re in comfortable surroundings. I was incredibly proud of our team. Did we play a perfect game? No. We missed some easy looks in the fourth quarter, but these kids played their hearts out. They were bawling in the locker room because we could have and should have won this game.”
The Redskins closed out the year with a 13-10 mark.
#10 Council Rock South 48, #23 Unionville 34
The Golden Hawks sprinted to a 13-4 lead at the end of one quarter but then battled their visitors to a 10-10 draw in the second quarter. Things went downhill in a third quarter that saw Unionville outscore Rock South 13-7 to make it a 30-27 game heading into the final quarter.
“We were up 13-4 and running our plays, and then it’s 10-10 in the second quarter,” coach Monica Stolic said. “We let them come back into the game a little bit.
“I give Unionville a lot of credit. I told the girls, ‘They’re not going to give up. They’ll fight to the end.’ We came out flat in the third quarter.”
Alex Wheatley once again led the Golden Hawks, finishing with 19 points and 18 rebounds, but the junior standout did most of her damage in a fourth quarter that saw the Golden Hawks close out the game with an 18-7 tear. Wheatley had just four points at halftime and six points at the end of three quarters.
Alexis Hofstaedter and Courtney Brown both added nine points for the Golden Hawks, who connected on a perfect 13-for-13 from the charity stripe.
Stolic credited senior Brooke Beidler for playing superb defense on a Unionville player who had buried three treys.
“She didn’t score the rest of the game,” the Golden Hawks’ coach said. “Brooke did a good job.”
The Golden Hawks will travel to Upper Dublin for a second round game on Wednesday.
#13 William Tennent 63, #20 Plymouth Whitemarsh 50
Playing in front of an enthusiastic crowd of 450 fans, the Panthers gave their home crowd plenty to cheer about in Saturday’s opening round win. The Panthers opened up a 13-5 lead at the end of one quarter and took a 32-17 lead into the intermission.
“They got within seven or eight in the third quarter,” Tennent coach Paul Veltre said. “They were very well prepared for our pressure. We had more turnovers than they did (16-12).
“We limited them to one shot, and we controlled the boards.”
Senior Ashley Alden led a balanced attack with 18 points while sophomore Allison Chatburn added 11 points. Liz Koval and Melissa Horn both contributed eight points while Alison Malatesta added seven and Emily O’Donnell, six points. Alden also had a team-high 15 rebounds while Horn added 10.
The Colonials were led by the 22-point effort of junior Gabby Shoemaker. Erin Martin added 12 points and 15 rebounds while Maya Thomas had 10 points. Lex Borkowski had five points and eight boards for the Colonials, who closed out the season with a 15-8 mark.
The Panthers will travel to Cheltenham on Wednesday for a date with the fourth-seeded Panthers.
- Log in to post comments
0
