A pair of SOL teams advanced to Wednesday’s second round with wins in Friday’s District One AAAA opening round.
#11 SOUDERTON 51, #22 CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 37
The Indians made a little bit of history on Friday night, winning their first district playoff game in coach Lynn Carroll’s nine-year tenure at the helm, and as both players and coaches agreed, there’s nothing quite like playing on your home court when playoff time rolls around.
The girls team – in its first home playoff game under Caroll - made Friday night twice as nice by following their boys team’s win over Pennsbury with a win of their own.
“It’s shocking to sit in the classroom during morning announcements and hear the principal say, ‘I’ve never in my history as principal had a home (playoff) game with both the boys and girls basketball teams,” junior Bianca Picard said. “It gave me chills, shivers down my spine because to be a part of history instead of learning about it is completely different. I’m so proud of our team. I can’t even begin to explain.
“All those long practices, all those times in the summer – I wouldn’t give it up for anything.”
Picard certainly did her part to make sure the night would be a memorable one, torching the Titans for 14 first-half points on her way to a game-high 22 points. The junior point guard buried 12-of-14 shots from the foul line. When it was over, that impressive stat line was the least of Picard’s concerns.
“I can’t even explain how happy I am because having those tough losses at the beginning of the season shows that as a team you’re going to have trial and error, you’re going to have things not always going your way,” Picard said. “Tonight things went our way, and I could not be more proud of our team.”
Allison Gallagher also had a big night for the Indians, contributing 14 points, six steals and four rebounds. Katie O’Connor added seven points. Libby Wetzler had a team-high seven rebounds to go along with four points for the Indians, who will face the winner of Saturday’s North Penn/Upper Merion game in Wednesday’s second round.
“It feels great,” Carroll said. “It felt like it was never going to happen for us. Every year we were barely getting into the playoffs, and for this year to end up this way has just been great.
“(With) the young, confident, unselfish talent we have – I was very excited coming into the season, and they have exceeded my expectations at this point, so let’s see if we can keep building on that.”
The Titans had fallen to the Indians twice in conference play, but both games were tightly contested. Friday’s figured to be no exception, and the Titans served early notice that they meant business when they sprinted to a 15-12 lead at the end of one quarter. The Indians, displaying some firepower of their own, answered with a 16-12 second quarter to go into halftime with a 28-27 lead.
“In the first quarter, they scored 15 points, and already that was way too many,” Picard said. “Teams just don’t do that to us. They were on track to score 60 points.
“Going into halftime, our main focus was boxing out and getting offensive rebounds. Basically, we came together as a team, did what we needed to do and got the job done. That’s it in a nutshell.”
The Indians turned up the defensive pressure in the second half and, in a third quarter that featured limited offense on both sides, outscored the Titans 8-1 to go into the fourth quarter with a 36-28 lead.
“We changed things a little bit at halftime,” Carroll said. “They were getting going coming over halfcourt, and we were having a tough time keeping in front of the girls, especially (Archie) Schneider.
“We just continued with man but stayed within the three-point line, and I think that took away a lot of their dribble penetration, which is what was hurting us because they’re good at driving and good at kicking and making three’s which we saw in the first half. I don’t think we got beat to the basket much in the second half, and we got beat a lot in the first half.”
The Titans made it a 40-35 game after a basket by Jordan Vitelli, but Gallagher sank one-of-two from the foul line, and then Hannah Bergey scored on a basket in close, putting the Indians on top 43-35. Rachel Falkowski sank both ends of a one-and-one for the Bucks, but when Picard – who was fouled hard – threw up an acrobatic shot in traffic that found the net, the Indians had to know this was their night. Picard sank the foul shot to make it a 46-37 game. They never looked back.
Carroll acknowledged that a strong regular season showing put the Indians in a good position.
“I think this is the biggest crowd we’ve had times a thousand since I’ve been coaching,” the Indians’ coach said. “It makes a difference when you win in the regular season.”
The Titans, (7-7, 13-10), were led by Rachel Falkowski and Archie Schneider with 8 points each and Amber Eife with 7 points.
#8 CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 62, #25 GREAT VALLEY 30
The Bucks played to a nearly full house in Friday’s district opener, and they gave the partisan crowd their money’s worth, controlling play from the opening tap on their way to the decisive win.
“It’s awesome,” sophomore Corrinne Godshall said. “When we have a home game, everyone is into it. It’s such a great environment to play in. It definitely helped us.”
The Bucks received contributions from everyone who stepped on the court on Friday. Mackenzie Carroll (14 points) and Nicole Munger (13 points) led the way. Maggie Gratz added eight points while Cait Mautz had seven points and Godshall, six points.
“We generally try to do that,” coach Terry Rakowsky said of his team’s balanced scoring. “We don’t focus on one kid. It’s just sort of who gets that shot.”
Godshall had a huge day under the backboards, pulling down a game-high 11 rebounds in an inspired performance off the bench. Gratz had eight boards and Kat Bahner, five rebounds.
“We rotate our bigs in, and it’s been working that way all year,” Rakowsky said. “One gives you bang, the other gives you size and another gives athleticism, and it’s worked very well for us. Our bigs have been great this year for us.”
Friday’s game was over almost before it began as the Bucks opened up an 8-0 lead when Godshall scored on a putback on her team’s fourth shot of the possession. The Patriots made things interesting, trimming the lead to 10-7, but the Bucks closed out the first quarter with a 12-0 run that included five points from Carroll and culminated with a bucket by Munger to put the Bucks on top 22-7.
It was more of the same in the second quarter for the Bucks, who took a 36-15 lead into halftime. They opened the second half with a 9-0 run that began with back-to-back baskets by Munger – including a three - and was capped with a Carroll drive that put the Bucks on top 43-15.
The Bucks advance to Wednesday’s second round where they will face 24th-seeded Springfield (Delco), a 56-51 upset winner over #9 Upper Darby in overtime.
#7 BOYERTOWN 52, #26 WISSAHICKON 33
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