Wednesday is a big night for seven SOL Class AAAA teams since the winners will be guaranteed a coveted berth in the PIAA Tournament. Upper Merion also will begin its quest to advance when the Vikings take on Harriton in the opening round of the District One AAA Tournament.
#16 North Penn at #1 Council Rock North
The top-seeded Indians might have been anticipating a rematch with archrival Abington in Wednesday’s second round. North Penn had other ideas, and if the Maidens didn’t have the Indians’ attention before, they undoubtedly got it on Saturday when they rallied from an 11-point first half deficit to defeat Abington by seven points.
“I have not seen them, but a couple of the girls on the team went to watch the Abington game,” Rock North junior Alyssa Dumont said. “We know they have talented players, and they’re coming off a big win against Abington and they’ll be pumped up and ready to go.
“If we play our game, we have talented players also, so we should be okay.”The Indians certainly played their game defensively in an opening round win over Central Bucks West, allowing the Bucks to score just 13 points. Offensively, the Indians struggled to find their stride and had just 20 points heading into the final quarter when they exploded for 21 points.
“That game was very frustrating,” Dumont said of the Indians’ 41-13 win. “Our shots just weren’t falling. We weren’t playing that bad offensively – it was one of those nights when no one could hit a shot.
“It was our defense that really helped that game. We held them to 13 points and played really strong help defense. Our defense was really aggressive. It was just one of those nights when no one could hit a shot.”
Friday’s game was followed by several very intense practices as the Indians prepare for the Maidens.
“When we came to practice, everyone was really focused,” Dumont said. “We’ve had good practices since that game, and I think that really helped us refocus and come together as a team.”
The Maidens have been playing their best basketball of the season in recent weeks, and they are hoping to avoid the slow starts that plagued them in Saturday’s win over Abington and in a two-point loss to Central Bucks East in the season’s final week.
“It’s going to be really important to play 32 minutes of good basketball,” Maiden sophomore Lauren Crisler said. “We have to play very smart and not have a lot of turnovers like we often have in the first half.
“We can’t take the first half or even the first quarter to get adapted to their defense and how they’re going to run the game.”
Crisler - whose younger brother Zach is coached by Lou Palkovics on his Lenape Valley travel team – knows the Maidens will have their hands full against the top-seeded Indians.
“He knows what he’s talking about,” Crisler said of Palkovics. “We know Rock North is a very well-coached team, and they’re the number one seed for a reason.
“It’s just a great experience to go up against that kind of competition. We know if we work really hard, execute the game plan and do what Maggie (deMarteleire) tells us to do we have a chance of winning it.”
Crisler’s emergence has been a key to the Maidens’ late-season surge, and she has 
provided the perfect complement to junior center Steph Knauer. Both are averaging in double figures.
provided the perfect complement to junior center Steph Knauer. Both are averaging in double figures.“North Penn has a pretty strong post, and we just need to work on our team defense and help on the post moves because she has strong moves on the post,” Dumont said of Knauer. “If we shut her down and not let them swing it around and even enter the post, we should be good.”
According to Crisler, getting the ball to Knauer will be key.
“We just have to work it inside-out, not always passing guard to guard but working it into the post,” the sophomore guard said. “They’re going to be athletic, and they’re going to be all over the place – pressuring, trapping and doing whatever they can do to get those steals.
“We have to stay really composed and focus on bounce passing the ball.”
The Indians are led by the Gold sisters, Devin (12.0 PPG, 3.6 assists) and Lauren (10.7 PPG, 4.3 assists) as well as junior center Emily Grundman (11.5 PPG).
“I’ve heard a lot about the Gold sisters and that they pretty much run the team,” Crisler said. “One of our big things is going to be to try and shut them down.”
“Devin and Lauren are very tough defenders up front,” Dumont said. “Helena (Gemmell), Megan (Cunningham) and Emily (Grundman) are really aggressive and when we play all together, it’s really tough to beat.”
The Maidens, who bring a 16-6 record into the game, are yet another in a long line of teams hoping to play the role of giant killer. Only one team has defeated the Indians this season – that was Council Rock South in a late-season contest.
“As upsetting and hard as that loss to Council Rock South was, I think it helped our team,” Dumont said. “It was almost like a wake-up call. I think it refocused us, knowing if we don’t play our game there are a lot of talented teams out there, and we can be beaten.
“I think if we stick to our tough defense and if we hit some shots, we’ll be okay.”
#13 William Tennent at #4 Cheltenham
Two years ago, Cheltenham sent William Tennent packing in the opening round of the district playoffs. Many of the players on that Tennent team are on this year’s squad that has a second round date with the Lady Panthers.
“We play them in the spring and summer leagues, we have gotten tapes, and our coaches have scouted them,” Tennent senior Alison Malatesta said. “We’re pretty prepared for the game.”
Preparing for a Lady Panther squad best known for its defense is no easy task.“In practices, we try to simulate their pressure with our fast players,” said Malatesta, who plays point guard. “Our coaches always remind us to make sure we protect the ball at all times because they’re quick with their hands and will try and steal it.
“It’s kind of hard to practice it until you get into the game. We’ll see what happens.”
Tiffany Johnson, the Lady Panthers’ savvy point guard, admits that except for the fact that her team played Tennent in the fall league she doesn’t know a lot about Cheltenham’s next opponent.
“To prepare for games, we just worry about ourselves,” Johnson said. “We know if we can come out and play our game – no matter who our opponent is – we’ll win.
“That’s one thing Schaef never does – some teams watch tape on other teams they’re about to play. He may talk about it a little bit and go over certain things during practice, but it’s mainly us we focus on.”
That’s not to say coach Bob Schaefer doesn’t give his team a scouting report. He does, and Johnson knows that Tennent – led by senior center Ashley Alden - will have a decided height advantage when the two teams take the court on Wednesday.
“Basically, our posts have to play the way they played against Abington and North Penn,” Johnson said of a pair of teams with strong inside games.
Beyond that, the Lady Panthers will look to run the floor.
“We run at every opportunity,” Johnson said. “We’re quick, and no matter if it’s a steal or rebound, we push the ball up.”
No one is a better finisher on the break than Ciara ‘CC’ Andrews, who is averaging close to 20 points a game this season.“Last year’s team was fast, but we had a couple of players that weren’t as fast,” Johnson said. “With Austen (Hamler) and Christina (Coleman) starting, our posts can be as fast as some of our guards.
“It’s fun. The best part is when I look up and see CC because she’ll finish.”
The Panthers are coming off a huge win against Souderton, this despite never unveiling their trap.
“We didn’t want to show our trap,” Johnson said. “We like to pressure a lot. That’s where it starts. Defense leads to our offense.”
Tennent is fresh off an emotional opening round win over Plymouth Whitemarsh in front of a large home crowd.
“It was pretty amazing,” Malatesta said. “The last three years I’ve played – we haven’t had a home (playoff) game. There was a lot more people than I expected, and it was a lot of fun to play because they were all cheering us on. It was fun.”
Although the atmosphere figures to be decidedly different when the Panthers travel to Cheltenham, the Panthers, according to Malatesta, are excited.
“We want to see what happens because everyone pretty much thinks we’re going to lose, and we want to prove people wrong,” the senior captain said.
With five seniors on their roster, the Panthers are hoping to extend their season a whole lot longer.
“The past couple of years we haven’t been as good as we are this year,” Malatesta said. “I have played with Ashley Alden and Melissa Wasserleben since I was 10 years old. We’ve been together for a while, and we’re all really close.
“We don’t want it to end. It will be sad when it does.”
#10 Council Rock South at #7 Upper Dublin
Taylor Bryant needed to watch Rock South play just once to know exactly what the Flying Cardinals will need to do to stop the Golden Hawks.
“The key is going to be just putting a body on Alex (Wheatley) with every single shot that goes up,” the Upper Dublin junior said. “Not letting her touch the ball and also, when the ball goes up, not letting her get a rebound or any second shots. You can’t let her touch the ball.”
Trying to contain Wheatley is every team’s game plan, and Bryant and several of her teammates were in attendance when – in Rock South’s final regular season game - Central Bucks East effectively contained the junior center and went on to earn the big win.“Central Bucks East was a very, very good team,” Wheatley said. “We kind of got sucked up into their game, but if we had to lose a game at the end of the season, that was the one to lose.
“It gave us a taste of what the district games will be like. We’ll keep that CB East game in mind as we head into Upper Dublin on Wednesday because it’s going to be a battle. They’re seven and we’re 10, but a seed is just a number. The only thing that matters is what you bring to the court that day. We really want to get to states.”
While East’s ability to contain Wheatley – who is averaging close to 20 points a game - was key, so was the Patriots’ ability to control the backboards against the Golden Hawks.
“In that first quarter, you need to come out strong, and you need to show them who’s boss,” Wheatley said. “It definitely sets the tempo, and it sets the stage for the rest of the game.
“One of our keys to every game is we need to rebound the ball because we want to be able to run the ball, we want to keep the other team to one shot. That’s one thing we’ve worked on in practice since the East game. That loss brought us down to earth. I think now the fight is back in us.”
In Saturday’s opening round win over Unionville, the Golden Hawks opened up a quick 13-4 lead but found themselves leading by just three heading into the final quarter when they blew the game wide open.
“We have to play 32 minutes,” Wheatley said. “Our typical game usually ends up that our first quarter isn’t our greatest quarter, and in the second half, we gain momentum. “Saturday was an interesting game in that the third quarter caused a lot of trouble for us. We need four quarters like our fourth quarter.”
The Flying Cardinals are coming off a closer-than-expected 40-36 win over Coatesville in Saturday’s opening round.
“Our minds weren’t into that game,” Bryant said. “We weren’t playing defense like we normally do, and we weren’t running our offense like we normally do. It was just a mentally bad game.
“It was very frustrating. We couldn’t get the shots we wanted, and we couldn’t get the stops we wanted on defense.”
Bryant and Curtrena Goff are the players that make the Flying Cardinals tick, and Bryant – like her teammates – hasn’t forgotten last year’s second round loss to Council Rock North and the Flying Cardinals’ ensuing season-ending loss to Boyertown.
“I think this game is one of the most important games of my career,” Bryant said. “If we win, we go to states automatically, and that is what our coach has been harping on.
“Our home crowd gets really into it, and knowing our court and having the support of our home crowd will help a lot. Our fans give us a lot of energy. We’re very excited. These are the games you play for all season.”
#9 Spring-Ford at #8 Central Bucks East
The Patriots will be facing a familiar opponent in Wednesday’s second round game. Spring-Ford is the same team East faced in last year’s second round as well. In that contest, the Patriots rolled to a 46-25 win over the Rams.
“They’re definitely an improved team this year,” East senior captain Melissa Remmey said. “It’s a similar game plan to what we had last year, but it will be harder.“Last year when we played them, they were all guards. This year they have pretty good post players, and it makes them harder to prepare for.”
Defense has always been a trademark of East under coach Tom Lonergan, and that hasn’t changed.
“At practices before games, we work specifically on what the other team’s strengths are and try and stop them,” Remmey said. “It’s really making sure everyone is on the same page on defense and focusing on what their strengths are.”
Remmey, who generously lists herself at 5 8 ½, has been a force under the backboards for the Patriots and her fellow co-captain, Courtney McManus, has been the catalyst on offense. Both have played key roles in bringing a young Patriot squad together this season.
“A key was just making everyone feel comfortable and that they are part of the team,” Remmey said. “We all get along really well, and just making sure that everyone knows we’re all working together for one common goal and that everyone is a part of it even if they’re not necessarily playing a lot in a game.
“We’re all a team, and everyone is as important as anyone else. It’s just the whole team concept.”
While Remmey and McManus are the undisputed leaders, the Patriots have been getting contributions from a lot of players. Lindsey Kelly has been a force in the paint. Shannon Devlin is a consistent contributor.
In the win over Rock South, Lexi Scrivano had a monster second half, and in East’s opening round win over Chester, freshman Shaun Kane came off the bench to score 10 points and provide solid minutes.
“We have a lot of girls on this team who can put points on the board and play well on any given night,” Remmey said. “When they get their chance, they’re doing an awesome job of stepping up.
“Shaun didn’t play like a freshman on Saturday. She played really well.”
With a berth in states on the line on Wednesday, Remmey hasn’t forgotten her freshman year when the Patriots were upset by William Tennent in the first round and did not advance to states.
“That was a big disappointment,” the senior co-captain said. “East basketball has an expectation to get to states. It would be disappointing if we didn’t. We’re definitely not satisfied with just winning the conference. We want to go further.”
DISTRICT ONE CLASS AAA TOURNAMENT
#10 Harriton at #7 Upper Merion
Cassidy Koenig has re-written the record books at Upper Merion with her deadly three-point shooting. The junior sharpshooter has established a new single-season record for three’s with 88, and she already holds the school’s career mark with 176 with another year to add to that total.
“I always liked to shoot from the outside,” Koenig said. “In AAU, I have been a shooter.”Koenig is one of the reasons the young Vikings find themselves playing a home game in the postseason when the Class AAA Tournament begins on Wednesday.
“There have been certain people that have had to step up and take big responsibility,” Koenig said. “We have also had underclassmen like Sully – she has had to take on a big role this year and play point guard.”
While Koenig has averaged 15.4 points a game, Kristina ‘Sully’ O’Sullivan has been contributing 11.6 points, 9.2 rebounds and 5.4 assists per game.
“The rebounds are really remarkable given that she’s our point guard,” coach Tom Schurtz said of O’Sullivan. “The assists are the product of Koenig making so many shots – someone has to pass her the ball.
“Those two players make us go. It’s no mystery.”
“Sully is good at driving to the basket and kicking out,” Koenig added. “She’s really good at seeing the open players and passing them the ball.”
While the Vikings hope to leave a mark this year, the players know their future is even brighter.
“It’s exciting,” Koenig said. “We’re already talking about next year and how we think we’re going to be really good again.”
- Log in to post comments
0
