Eleven SOL squads advanced to the title games of their season-opening tournaments. Several other teams didn’t fare nearly as well. To view action shots of the Garnet Valley/CB East game, please visit the Photo Gallery.
The 2011-12 basketball season started off with a bang for some of the SOL teams in action while for others it was a rough start. Abington, Bensalem, Central Bucks South, Central Bucks West, Cheltenham, Council Rock North, Council Rock South, North Penn, Pennridge, Pennsbury and Upper Dublin all advanced to the championship games of their respective tournaments. Abington will face Central Bucks West while Pennridge will take on Bensalem in all-SOL finals on Saturday at Abington (4 p.m.). Stay tuned.
CHELTENHAM 60, SPRING-FORD 46
In a game that was perhaps Friday’s marquee matchup, Ciara ‘CC’ Andrews was nothing short of magnificent. The St. Joseph’s-bound senior scored a game-high 27 points - which included a 15-for-18 effort at the foul line - in Friday night’s season opener at the Hazleton Tournament.
“She put on a show,” coach Bob Schaefer said of Andrews.
The Lady Panthers’ standout had plenty of help. Jiana Clark – who was 5-for-7 from the charity stripe - had 13 points and eight rebounds while Ming Seawright had a monster game in the paint, pulling down a game-high 12 rebounds to go along with four points. Christina Coleman added seven points and eight rebounds.
“We haven’t been practicing that well, but our quickness – we were just beating them everywhere, and they were fouling us,” Schaefer said. “They’re a big team, and we outrebounded them. We dominated the boards and out-quicked them down the court. It was really an impressive win.”
The Lady Panthers opened up a 15-10 lead at the end of one quarter and extended that lead to 29-19 by halftime. In the second quarter, the Lady Panthers received a major lift from Sabrina Casseus, who had seven points in the frame and also had four rebounds.
“She did a real nice job for us,” Schaefer said.
A 17-10 third quarter gave Cheltenham a 46-29 advantage heading into the final frame. The Rams never threatened.
“I just thought our kids played a very intense game,” Schaefer said. “They upped their intensity on defense, but we still had a lot of turnovers.”
The Lady Panthers will face Abington Heights in Saturday night’s title game.
CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 48, UNIONVILLE 42
Alysha Lofton scored 12 points while Kate McMenamin added nine to lead a balanced Titan attack in Friday's opener at the Springfield (Delco) Tournament. The Titans, who led 27-23 at the intermission, scored half of their points from the foul line, connecting on 24-of-34 in the game.
"We limited out fouls and played a pretty clean game defensively," coach Beth Mattern said. "We just kind of out-executed them. There was a lot of hustle and effort on both side. The girls went to the hoop and, as a result, were getting to the foul line."
The Titans will face Springfield (Delco) in Saturday's title game.
ABINGTON 49, RIDLEY 39
Aiyannah Peal and Sarah Listenbee led the Ghosts with 12 and 11 points respectively while freshman point guard Deja Rawls scored eight points.
“They were a huge eight,” said coach Dan Marsh, whose team led 23-10 at halftime. “We were up big pretty much the whole game, and then Sarah and Aiyannah got into foul trouble. Deja scored six straight points in the third quarter to put us back up 10 and retake control of the game, which I thought was pretty impressive for a freshman.”
The Ghosts will face Central Bucks West in Saturday’s title game.
COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 59, PHOENIXVILLE 44
The Indians received stellar performances from veterans Alyssa Dumont and Emily Grundman, who led Rock North with 23 and 20 points respectively. Dumont also had eight rebounds, four steals, one block and two assists while Grundman had nine rebounds and two assists.
“Alyssa had eight points in the first half and then had a huge second half,” coach Liz Potash said. “Emily was pretty consistent throughout, but it was a total team effort.”
The toughest part of Friday’s opening round game for the Indians just might have been the bus ride. Thanks to road construction, the trip from Newtown to Coatesville took three hours with two of those hours spent simply trying to get onto the turnpike. As a result, the 6 p.m. start time was closer to 7 p.m.
“We were a little disheveled when we got there,” Potash said.
Despite their late arrival, the Indians came out of the gate strong, opening up a 20-14 lead at the end of one quarter only to watch Phoenixville rally to go on top 28-17 at the intermission.
The Indians won the game with a 19-9 third quarter burst and outscored the Phantoms 32-16 in the second half.
“They were scrappy, and they hung around,” Potash said of the Phantoms. “We really upped our defense in the second half.”
“These girls work hard. They’ve been working hard at practice, and they’re going hard the whole time. They’re a really good group of girls. They listen, and they want to do well. Tonight it was just a matter of making a few adjustments, and they did it. They executed. That team was scrappy, but the girls got the win.”
Helena Gemmel added eight points, eight rebounds, two steals, two blocks and five assists while Melissa Rowland had six points, three steals and four assists.
COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 58, PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH 45
The Golden Hawks received 16 points from junior point guard Alexis Hofstaedter while senior Alex Wheatley added 14 points and 22 rebounds in Rock South’s win over the Colonials in an opening round game of the Methacton Tournament.
Courtney Brown added nine points, Caitlin Jackson, eight points, and Taylor Dillon chipped in with six points. Hofstaedter and Brown each had three treys on a night that saw the Golden Hawks bury seven shots from beyond the arc.
“We shot the ball pretty well,” coach Monica Stolic said.
Rock South held a tenuous 15-13 lead at the end of one quarter, but a 20-9 second quarter explosion sent the Golden Hawks into halftime with a commanding 35-22 lead. They outscored PW 13-8 in the third quarter before the Colonials rallied to outscore the Golden Hawks 15-10 in the final frame.
“I give credit to them,” said Stolic, whose team led by as many as 21. “They didn’t have an outstanding player, but they played hard. They were very scrappy.”
The Colonials were led by Erin Martin, who contributed 17 points, eight rebounds and two steals. Gabby Schumacher added 13 points while Egypt Thompson had a team-high nine rebounds to go along with five points. Maya Thomas and Simone Jacques both chipped in with five points and four rebounds.
Rock South has earned a date with Downingtown West in Saturday’s title game. West brought an end to Rock South’s season in a battle for the final state berth last season.
UPPER DUBLIN 43, ST. HUBERT 28
Taylor Bryant scored 18 points while teammate Curtrena Goff added 13 points to lead the Flying Cardinals to the lopsided win the Friday’s opening round of the Upper Darby Tournament. Lauren Rothfield added eight points.
The Flying Cardinals led 10-2 at the end of one quarter and took a 22-13 into halftime before blowing the game wide open with a 17-4 third quarter scoring burst.
“They were a little nervous in the beginning,” coach Vince Catanzaro said. “They missed a lot of layups they should have made, but overall, we played solid ‘D.’”
The Flying Cardinals limited Erin Anastas – who torched them for 28 points in last year’s contest – to just nine points.
“They’re a pretty solid team,” Catanzaro said. “They’re tall. They have a nice 6-1 girl who’s a pretty solid player.
“We played eight kids strong, and overall, we controlled the game pretty much. We had (the lead) up to 19, but we just didn’t really control it like I thought we should. We talked about it on the bus ride home. Hopefully, we can do more tomorrow.”
The Flying Cardinals will face Upper Darby in Saturday’s title game.
NORTH PENN 61, GWYNEDD-MERCY ACADEMY 30
A pair of Maidens contributed double-doubles in Friday night’s win. Junior Lauren Crisler led the way with 21 points and 10 rebounds while senior Steph Knauer added 13 points and 12 boards.
The Maidens sprinted to a 14-2 lead at the end of one quarter and stretched that lead to 21-9 by halftime. It could have been even worse.
“We missed so many easy baskets in the first half it – it almost felt like turnovers,” coach Maggie deMarteliere said. “We did a better job in the second half on our offensive rebounding and also finished around the basket. We shared the ball pretty well.”
The Maidens will face neighboring Lansdale Catholic in Saturday’s title game.
BENSALEM 48, CHRISTOPHER DOCK 39
Tyra Roberts contributed 15 points and seven rebounds while Asleigh Spence had 12 points and six rebounds to lead the Owls to the win in the opening round of the Pennridge Tournament. Ashida Cooper added nine points, three rebounds and five assists. The Owls got out to an early lead but then found themselves plagued by foul trouble in the second quarter. They went into halftime trailing by two but came back strong in the second half, outscoring Dock 28-17.
"We turned up the defensive intensity," coach Don Bogan said of his team's second half effort. "It was a nice opening win, but we have a lot of work ahead of us as a team, including myself."
The Owls will face the Rams in Saturday's title game.
PENNSBURY 46, MERION MERCY 31
Sophomore Sajanna Bethea turned in a dazzling second half performance, scoring 21 of her game-high 23 points after the intermission and leading the Falcons to the big come-from-behind win. In the second half, Bethea connected on 7-of-8 shots from the field and was a perfect 7-of-7 at the foul line after scoring just two points in the first half - and taking just one shot. If you're doing the math, Bethea was 8-for-9 from the field and 7-for-7 from the charity strike in a near-perfect offensive performance. She also had 10 rebounds.
Jae Jackson, who was sidelined two thirds of the season last year with an injury, added five points and pulled down 13 rebounds in a strong supporting effort. Kaitlin Kelly had five points and five assists while handling the ball for the Falcons.
A look back would show the Falcons actually found themselves in an early 10-2 whole but rallied to knot the score 13-13 by halftime. They outscored Merion Mercy 15-11 in the third quarter and blew the game wide open with an 18-7 scoring burst in the fourth quarter.
"We shut them down in the second half and played pretty good defense," coach Donna Nicholson said. "We really put the clamps on them, just played real hard man-to-man. We might have threw the press at them may three times total, but our man-to-man was real good defensive pressure.
"It was a great way to start the season."
The Falcons will face Haverford in Sunday's title game.
CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 56, WISSAHICKON 17
Freshman Nicole Munger had herself quite a varsity debut on Friday, scoring 18 points and also contributing five rebounds and five assists. Senior Jen Fabian added 10 points and eight rebounds for the Bucks, who connected on 14-of-16 at the foul line.
West will face Abington in the title game of the Abington Tournament on Saturday.
PENNRIDGE 68, FAITH CHRISTIAN 6
The Rams received scoring from nine different players in Friday night’s rout. Alyssa Marchunsky led the way with 14 points while Jordan Rimmer added 12. Brianne McGrath scored nine points while Jessie Tennett, Nici Bonacci, Kaeli White and Shannon Chynoweth each had six points. Jen Cooley added five.
Marchunsky had a team-high six rebounds while Chynoweth added five rebounds and five steals. Rimmer had four steals for the Rams, who will face Bensalem in Saturday’s title game.
GARNET VALLEY 39, CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 37
The Patriots struggled to find their offense in Friday’s non-league opener, connecting on just 10-of-38 shots from the floor. Many of those shot were in the paint where the Patriots had a decided height advantage over their opponent.
“We didn’t physically dominate what we were capable of dominating,” coach Tom Lonergan said. “We let a smaller team push us around. We’re not going to win games if we’re not physical and dominate in the paint area.”
Senior Lindsey Kelly led the Patriots with 12 points and nine rebounds while Caroline White added eight points and Morgan Kelly, six points.
“I was very happy with the guard play,” Lonergan said. “Karoline and Shannon (Devlin) played the whole game and played very well. Morgan came off the bench to help us with some scoring from outside. I was very, very pleased with our guard play.
“If you would have told me we would have that type of guard play - there’s no way the game should have been the way it was because of our inability to dominate inside the paint.”
The Patriots struggled early, falling behind 12-6 at the end of one quarter. They regrouped to go on top 16-14 by the intermission and added to that lead in the third quarter, outscoring the Jaguars 12-9 behind six-point effort of Kelly to go on top 28-23.
In the fourth quarter, the Jaguars used their fullcourt pressure to turn a five-point deficit into a five-point lead (37-32).
“They put the pressure on us, and I think we fell to it,” Lindsey Kelly said. “Every team does a little bit. We just have to get better at it.”
A bucket by Kelly in close (White assist) made it a 37-34 game, and after the Jaguars misfired on the front end of a one-and-one, Lonergan called a timeout. His team executed the play he drew up to perfection as Morgan Kelly buried a trey off a screen to knot the score with 16 seconds remaining.
The Jaguars scored a basket on transition to take a lead they would not lose.
“I told the team you can’t defend as well as we did in the second quarter and hold a team to two points and then give up 25 in the second half the way we did,” Lonergan said.
The Patriots will travel to Notre Dame on Saturday for a non-league game.
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