Check out Tuesday’s SOL girls basketball results. To view photos of the CR North/CR South and Hatboro/CB West games, please visit the Photo Gallery.
BENSALEM 46, ABINGTON 44 (OT)
The Owls pulled the stunner of the night when they handed the Ghosts their first loss of the league season on Tuesday night.
“This is the biggest win I have had coaching these girls the last four years,” coach Don Bogan said. “The whole team played well.
“Our defense won the game for us. We played really good defense, and we started to be patient with the ball. We beat CR South a couple of weeks ago, and we just took our time and we were patient. Abington likes to get out and run, but we didn’t want to get out and run with them.”
The Ghosts led 14-7 at the end of one quarter, but the Owls answered with a 15-10 second quarter to make it a 24-22 game at halftime.
“We fell behind, but then we got back in it,” Bogan said. “We put a 2-2-1 press on, and it worked. They threw the ball away, we got a couple steals, and it was a two-point game at halftime.”
Things got interesting when the fire alarm went off in the third quarter, and both players and fans were forced to evacuate the building for a brief period of time.
“I didn’t want to leave because we had momentum, and we were back into it,” Bogan said. “When we came back, it was back and forth and back and forth.”
The Owls had a two-point lead with time winding down, but the Ghosts tied it, and the final buzzer sounded on regulation before the Owls managed a shot for the win. The Owls opened up a 44-41 lead in overtime.
“We were up by three and got an offensive rebound with less than a minute to go, and instead of kicking it back out and holding the ball, we took a shot and missed,” Bogan said.
The Ghosts knotted the score when, according to Bogan, Sammy Lochner buried a three-pointer from NBA range to knot the score with less than 30 seconds remaining. The Owls misfired on their attempt for the lead, and the Ghosts did as well, but Ashida Cooper, who came down with the rebound, was fouled on the play with 2.6 seconds remaining in OT. With the Ghosts in the penalty, the senior point guard buried both shots, and the big win was in the books for the Owls.
Cooper led all scorers with 17 points while Tyra Roberts added 14, but they weren’t the only players to come up big. After Stephanie Unger fouled out, freshman Samantha Werth gave the Owls important minutes off the bench.
“She handles the ball pretty well, and she did a great job,” Bogan said. “She helped control the tempo and did a lot of nice things.
“Alexa Kohler had all four of her points in the fourth quarter and overtime. We played a matchup zone, and some of the girls you don’t hear a lot about are stepping up and playing well. They’re rebounding, boxing out and having fun. I think they’re starting to understand if we play as a group we can win.”
The Owls (6-5, 3-4 SOL) have a tough schedule this week. They will face Pennsbury on Friday and then will take on a red hot Upper Dublin squad in Saturday’s SOL Challenge.
“We’re still a work in progress,” Bogan said. “We still have a long way to go, today feels good because Abington was undefeated in the league going into tonight’s game. They’re a very good team. They’re very young but very talented, and we matched up pretty well with them.
“I really thought going into the season we might get three or four wins this season, but we have six wins right now, three in the league, so this is a blessing.”
The Ghosts (9-5, 6-1 SOL) were led by Deja Rawls (12 points) and Michael Harris (10 points).
WILLIAM TENNENT 45, HARRY S TRUMAN 38
The Panthers jumped out to a commanding 16-4 lead at the end of one quarter and took a 24-12 lead into halftime. The Tigers rallied to outscore the Panthers 26-21 in the second half but never could get over the hump.
Nikki Alden led the Panthers with 14 points while Khristaijah Jackson led all scorers with 17 points. While the Tigers fell to 0-7 in the league (4-10 overall), the Panthers improved to 2-5 in the league (8-5 overall).
PENNSBURY 52, NESHAMINY 42
The Redskins led 17-15 at the end of one quarter only to watch the Falcons go on a 16-7 second quarter tear to go on top 31-24 at halftime The Redskins trimmed three points off that lead by outscoring the Falcons 9-6 in the third quarter, but the Falcons closed it out with a 15-9 fourth quarter.
Sajanna Bethea led the Falcons with 18 points while Kaitlin Kelly had 11 and Carly Kovin, seven points. McKenna Mullin buried five three-pointers and led the Owls with 17 points. Sarah Oliveira and Megan Schafer both added 11 points.
Three teams now have one loss in the National Conference – Abington, Pennsbury and Neshaminy. The Falcons are 5-1 in the league (9-3 overall) while the Redskins are 5-2 in league play (9-2 overall).
To read Dan Dunkin’s complete game story, please click on the following PhillyBurbs.com link: http://www.phillyburbs.com/my_town/pennsbury-hangs-tough/article_18fd6020-a04f-5309-93c7-d046fb1fa4ee.html
COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 39, COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 38
A complete game story of this SOL Featured Game, sponsored by the Council Rock South Booster Club, is posted on the web site.
Continental Conference
CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 39, CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 24
The Patriots took a 20-16 lead into halftime and then turned up the defensive pressure, outscoring the Titans 19-8 in the second half.
“Our number one priority from a defensive standpoint was to keep them to one and done,” coach Tom 
Lonergan said. “From that standpoint, the guards did a tremendous job of coming back to the ball. Morgan Kelly must have had 10 defensive boards in the second half alone.
“In addition, the guards were really a key defensively. They not only rebounded, but they took away their inside game which forced them to shoot pretty much from the perimeter.”
The Patriots guards – Kelly and Karoline White – weren’t the only ones to come up big. Freshman Kyra Scaliti gave the Patriots a lift off the bench when starting center Courtney Webster was on the bench with foul woes.
“Between those two, they were able to control the center with the guards, and that allowed our forwards to be very active,” Lonergan said. “Lindsey Nier and Katelyn Miller and Kyra also was a forward when Courtney was out – they were able to play extremely well.
“Basically, the key was they were able to react and get out and contest the shots. It wasn’t that they didn’t get shots off. It was just that they got very few uncontested shots.”
Webster led the Patriots with 14 points while White and Miller both added 10. Amber Eife was the Titans’ top scorer with five in a game that belonged to the Titans’ defense.
“They have been playing well when a challenge has been put on them,” said Lonergan, whose team was coming off a 37-22 non-league win over Plymouth Whitemarsh. “PW doesn’t have a lot of wins, but they were scoring a lot of points.
“So the challenge I gave them on Saturday was – I said, ‘It’s easy to hold a team that doesn’t score to 30 and below, but you hold a team like PW that was averaging 51 points a game before they lost to Upper Dublin to below 30 – that’s saying something.’ I reminded them that the team we were playing Tuesday (CB South) was averaging 57. I said, ‘This is your challenge. This is when you have to step it up and show us what you can do on the defensive end.’”
While the Titans fell to 3-4 in league play (8-6 overall), the Patriots are 4-3 in the league (10-4 overall).
“They have picked it up defensively the second half of the season,” Lonergan said. “Back in December, the conditioning was not there yet. They’re not capable of giving you a solid 32 minutes every possession, and that’s going to affect your defense because you won’t move quick enough. They’re now conditioned, they’re primed to give the full effort on the defensive end the full game. We just have to keep it going. We have a lot of games left. We’ll see what happens.”
CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 67, HATBORO-HORSHAM 40
The Bucks jumped out to a 16-2 lead at the end of one quarter and stretched that lead to 29-10 by halftime. They outscored the Hatters 23-13 in the third quarter on their way to the big win.
Three West players finished the game in double figures – Nicole Munger (12 points), Mackenzie Carroll (11 points) and Maggie Gratz (11 points). The Hatters were led by the 15-point effort of Heather Lutz, who scored all of those points in the second half. Teammate Emily Fox added 12 for the Hatters, who fell to 1-6 in league play (2-10 overall). The Bucks are 7-0 after one go-round in the league (10-3 overall).
NORTH PENN 78, PENNRIDGE 44
Senior Lauren Crisler led the Maidens with 19 points and 11 rebounds while junior Vicky Tumasz added 17 points, which included five three-pointers. Freshman Mikaela Giuliani contributed nine points and 13 rebounds. The Rams, who trailed 32-23 at halftime, were led by the 14-point effort of Jordan Rimmer.
“I was pleased with our offense but not very pleased with our defense,” coach Maggie deMarteleire said.
The Maidens are 6-1 in league play (12-1 overall) while the Rams fell to 0-7 in the league (1-11 overall).
SOUDERTON 71, QUAKERTOWN 22
The Indians, who led 18-9 at the end of one quarter, took a 36-13 lead into halftime on their way to the decisive win. Bianca Picard and Allison Gallagher led the Indians with 15 and 14 points respectively. Libby Wetzler and Sarah Derstein both added eight points while Katie O’Connor had seven points. The Panthers were led by Kathryne Vetter (six points) and Taylor Herd (five points). While the Panthers fell to 2-5 in league play (3-9 overall), the Indians improved to 5-2 in the league (7-3 overall).
American Conference
UPPER DUBLIN 27, UPPER MERION 16
Upper Dublin should have had an idea it was going to be a strange night when the Vikings ran four-and-a-half minutes off the clock on their opening possession after winning the opening tap.
“We played defense for four-and-a-half minutes,” coach Morgan Funsten said. “We were playing good defense. The girls were working hard, and we eventually got a stop.
“I think we were so excited to get a stop we immediately turned the ball over. Kudos to them. They made us uncomfortable early in the game.”
The two teams were deadlocked 2-2 at the end of one quarter, and the Cardinals took an 11-7 lead into halftime.
“At halftime, we made a couple of adjustments,” Funsten said. “They scored the first basket to make it 11-9, and then we scored the next 12 points.
“Those were not 12 points in the next minute. They were 12 points over the next 10 minutes. With four minutes to go in the game, it was 23-9, and we were feeling a little bit comfortable with what was going on at that point.
“They viewed it as – keep the game close as long as possible, and hopefully, something crazy happens. I thought it was a great plan on their part. (Kristina) O’Sullivan and (Regie) Robinson are such dynamic players. They’re athletic enough to do something like that, and if they want to, they can execute it pretty well and shorten the game. It was interesting.”
Curtrena Goff (11 points) and Brianna Spector (nine points) led the Flying Cardinals, who improved to 7-0 in the league (11-1 overall).
“I was very proud with out our girls mentally in the first half versus mentally in the second half – we were two totally different teams,” Funsten said. “Just the mental discipline in the second half really showed, and the frustration in the first half turned into exciting energy in the second half, and we played much more under control.”
O’Sullivan and Robinson – the focal point of Upper Dublin’s defense – scored just four points each. The Vikings saw their record drop to 4-3 in the league (9-3 overall).
“We had a specific game plan where we wanted to play a one quarter game, and our girls, to their credit, almost executed it,” Upper Merion coach Tom Schurtz said. “They made their free throws down the stretch. I give them credit. Their girls really responded.
“I thought our four guards O’Sullivan, Regie, Katherine Bailey and Anna Davis did a tremendous job possessing the ball and handling a trap defense and getting what we wanted. We made a coaching decision going into the game. I’ve tried to do this before, and we’ve never even remotely come close to executing something like this. For our girls to be able to go out and commit to something that is completely against our nature, I give them a lot of credit.”
PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH 64, SPRINGFIELD 51
Alynna Williams had the hot hand early on in Tuesday’s game for the Colonials, scoring 15 of her team high 17 points in the first half and propelling PW to a 38-12 halftime lead. Nikki Casey added 12 points and Kayla Wisniewski 11 points while Maya Thomas scored nine points for the Colonials, who led 60-26 early in the fourth quarter. The Colonials are 3-4 in the league (4-8 overall).
Springfield junior Meghan Wheatley led all scorers with 24 points while Veronica Asman added 13. Maisey Bradley added seven points for the Spartans, who fell to 0-7 in league play (2-9 overall).
NORRISTOWN 71, CHELTENHAM 28
The Eagles extended their winning streak to five with Tuesday’s decisive win. Sydney Morse led the Eagles with 21 points while Keifonna Ferguson added 19 points and 14 rebounds. Essence Milligan-Williams contributed 10 points and 12 rebounds for the Eagles, who improved to 6-1 in the league (9-3 overall). The Lady Panthers fell to 3-4 in the league (4-9 overall).
WISSAHICKON 51, UPPER MORELAND 24
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