Upper Dublin capped a magical state playoff run with a 41-39 win over Central Bucks South in Tuesday’s PIAA 6A state title game. Photos provided courtesy of Donna Longacre Photography. CLICK HERE to go directly to our new Zenfolio galleries to see photos from the PIAA Championhip Game and galleries from previous games.
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HERSHEY – In the midst of a jubilant postgame scene, Nicole Kaiser - a smile permanently glued on her face - turned to fellow captain Maggie Weglos and said, “We’re getting a gold medal.”
They were indeed.
A magical state run for the Upper Dublin senior captains and their teammates came to a glorious end on Tuesday night in Hershey with the Flying Cardinals laying claim to the state championship trophy after their riveting 41-39 win over Central Bucks South in an All-SOL PIAA 6A title game.
“You’re just in shock,” Weglos said. “You just think – ‘Did that just happen? What the heck just happened?’
“You’re on the court and you’re playing for 32 minutes, and you don’t really realize when the final buzzer goes off – you’re the state champions. I thought we deserved every second of it. Our fans have been amazing. We worked our butts off to get to this point, and I’m so proud of my team.”
“It honestly feels unreal,” Kaiser said. “It’s so amazing. To be able to play in an arena like that with this group of girls, and just the crowd – it was so amazing.
“Coming into my senior year I would have never imagined a year like this, and I’m just so happy. I can’t even find the words to describe it. It feels so amazing. I literally could not ask for anything better for my senior year.”
The game was a roller coaster ride for both sides, and the Titans had the early momentum, opening up a 5-0 lead after back-to-back baskets – the first by Haley Meinel and the second, the first of four threes by Alexa Brodie. Freshman Dayna Balasa put the Cards on the scoreboard when she hit nothing but net on a three, but Brodie and Meinel answered for the Titans, who led 9-3 midway through the quarter. Balasa and freshman Jess Polin each hit a three to knot the score at the end of one quarter.
The Titans led 16-11 after a three-point play by Meinel, who – despite being fouled - turned a steal on the defensive end into an easy bucket. Sophomore Jackie Vargas responded with a basket for the Cards, and after blocking a shot on the defensive end, Vargas scored again, this time on a drive. The sophomore center scored in transition after a UD defensive stop, and just like that, Upper Dublin led 17-16.
But not for long. Meinel sank a pair at the foul line, and after a Cardinal turnover, Brodie scored on a drive to put the Titans on top by three. In a preview of things to come, Polin buried a three at the buzzer, knotting the score.
“It felt good to go into halftime with momentum,” Polin said. “I just tried to stay calm and confident. I knew my team had my back, and I had their back.
“We were ready to win. We were all so confident coming into this game. Not cocky, but because of the snow delays we had a bunch of extra practices to prepare, and we felt great coming in here. We were loose, relaxed. It was such a cool environment to play in.”
The Titans appeared to be in command when they went on a 10-3 third-quarter tear that included eight straight points by Brodie – back-to-back threes and a pair of foul shots. Putting the finishing touches on the run was Meinel, who turned a steal into a layup that put the Titans on top 32-25.
Balasa broke the run with a three, and then it was Polin scoring on a putback. Kaiser cut the heart out of the Titans when – after a Balasa steal – Kaiser turned a Vargas pass into a baseline three, giving the Cards a 33-32 lead heading into the final quarter.
“I actually wasn’t expecting Jackie (Vargas) to pass, and I got it, and I had a lot of time, so I just took my time,” Kaiser said. “It felt good off my hand, and it went in, so that felt really great. I think that was just a confidence booster for me.”
The Cardinals had more than just a lead. They had momentum, and the Titans never got it back.
“I told them at the end of the third quarter – ‘Wow, I knew we had fight in us, but I didn’t know we had this much fight,’” Funsten said. “That’s what it was.
“Our body language wasn’t great at 32-25. Nothing was going right, and all of a sudden it was 33-32.”
Kaiser scored on a tough drive to open the fourth quarter, but Brodie erased the Cards’ three-point with a three-pointer. Vargas scored on a drive, but Lindsay Scott connected on a pair of foul shots, and the two teams were deadlocked 37-37 with 4:52 remaining.
That score didn’t change until Polin scored on a tough shot over her defender, but with two minutes remaining, Maddie McShane answered with the equalizer at the other end. Neither team scored again until – with 33.4 seconds remaining – Polin stepped to the foul line for a huge one-and-one. She calmly sank both shots to put the Cards on top 41-39.
“I wasn’t thinking – I’m going to miss or I’m going to make it,” Polin said. “I just thought – ‘This is the state championship game. I can do it,’ and I did it. We won, and I’m so happy for more my team and my coaches. I could not be more happy.”
“Jess Polin is just a natural leader,” Funsten said. “I don’t know if there’s anybody else you’d rather have on the line at that moment because of how clutch she’s been.
“Name a shot she hit that wasn’t big – the game-winning foul shots at the end, the threes. Every three she hit was huge, and you’d expect nothing less.”
The Titans had four shots for the tie but came up empty. The Cardinals missed the front end of a one-and-one, and the Titans’ desperation shot fell short at the buzzer.
“There were just a couple of plays that I felt like the ball didn’t really fall our way that could have,” coach Beth Mattern said. “They hit a couple of shots – getting down didn’t really faze them.”
The final horn had barely sounded when the celebration began for the Cardinals and their fans. An Upper Dublin team that finished ninth in District One was the lone team standing on the final day of the season.
“I’m so proud of the girls,” Funsten said. “I said before the game – with the run that we just went on, I thought they deserved a special day like this regardless of what the outcome was going to be.
“All five playoff games – I guess we were the underdog. It’s tough. Maybe next year we’ll be the favorite, and it might not be as much fun because there’s pressure on it. Try to just really enjoy the moment, enjoy the ride.”
The Cardinals reveled in their role as underdogs, knocking off one higher seeded team after another.
“Coming up on the bus, we were pretty loose – we were dancing, playing music on the speaker,” Kaiser said. “We went out to lunch, and we even got to go to Chocolate World, We had a pretty good time coming up.
“I think everyone was just really excited to play. It didn’t feel real until we got here.”
For the Titans, it was a heartbreaking ending to a special season.
“We were just in the locker room, and coach said, ‘This is our last day as a team. Enjoy it,’ but Natalie (DiSandro) turned around and said, ‘This isn’t our last day as a team. We’re going to continue to be together forever,’” Meinel said. “It was fun while it lasted, but Natalie was right – we’re still a team forever.”
“Either way, (the ending) was going to be hard,” Mattern said. “I’m not a very emotional person, and watching ‘The Package’ on the big screen before the game – they’re going to be missed.”
Central Bucks South 9-11-12-7 39
Upper Dublin 9-11-13-8 41
Central Bucks South (39) – Haley Meinel 5 3-3 13; Natalie DiSandro 0 0-0 0; Alexa Brodie 6 4-4 20; Maddie McShane 2 0-0 4; Mackenzie Ehresman 0 0-0 0; Caroline McSorley 0 0-0 0; Lindsay Scott 0 2-4 2; Sofia Sonnet 0 0-0 0; Totals 13 9-11 39.
Upper Dublin (41) – Nicole Kaiser 3 0-1 7; Jess Polin 5 4-4 17; Maggie Weglos 0 0-0 0; Dayna Balasa 3 0-0 9; Jackie Vargas 4 0-0 8; Sarah Eskew 0 0-0 0; Kara Grebe 0 0-0 0; Totals 15 4-5 41.
3-point goals: CB South – Alexa Brodie 4; Upper Dublin – Jess Polin 3, Dayna Balasa 3, Nicole Kaiser.
That’s clutch – The roster says that Jess Polin is a freshman, but on the biggest stage, she played like a seasoned veteran, nailing big shot after big shot and burying both ends of a one-and-one for the game winner. It is the second time in as many games that Polin has scored the foul shots to win it – she connected on one-of-two with time about to expire in the Cards’ 26-25 win over Souderton.
Polin – who connected on 5-of-6 shots from the field - wasn’t the only freshman to come up big. In the opening quarter, after the Titans opened up a 5-0 lead, freshman Dayna Balasa buried her first of two threes in the quarter. Polin had the other.
“I don’t even words for that – they have stepped up so much,” Kaiser said. “Dayna hit huge threes. Jess all night – she had those two foul shots to seal the deal.
“I think they both – especially during this state run – have found who they are on this team and have stepped up so much.”
In the Cardinals 30-24 loss to South in the Dec. 8 season opener, Polin and Balasa combined for three points – with Balasa scoring all three. Polin was shut out.
“She’s unreal,” Weglos said of Polin. “The first game you should have seen her against CB South, and now look at her. She has developed so much over five months, and she’s only a freshman. I’m so excited to come back and watch her play.”
On Tuesday, Balasa and Polin combined for 26 points.
“To be honest, they had a very rough game (in the season opener),” Funsten said. “We didn’t handle the pressure all that well, and it was to be expected.
“I promised I wouldn’t say the ‘F’ word all year. This is the first time I’ve said the word freshmen all year because we’re not treating them like freshmen. We didn’t treat them like freshmen, and they sure didn’t play like freshmen.”
Vargas a force in the paint – Jackie Vargas was a factor all night long. Her 6-0 run in the second quarter erased a 16-11 Titan lead. When the dust had settled on the big win, Vargas line was an impressive one – eight points, a game-high seven rebounds, five blocked shots and two assists. She also handled the ball up top.
Funsten was asked about the future of his 6-3 center.
“She can go anywhere,” the Cards’ coach said. “She’s getting a lot of interest, and she deserves it. When you have physical talent like that, guard skills, and she’s developing a mid-range and outside shot. The sky is really the limit for her.”
Happy ending for senior captains – Moments after the final horn sounded, Maggie Weglos was overcome with emotion, breaking down in tears.
“Honestly, I was just so overwhelmed,” the Cards’ senior captain said. “This year I actually lost my aunt Sally Gray. She was one of my best friends, and I just think throughout the whole state playoffs – she was with me every game.
“I just thought she’s the one that kept me strong throughout the whole thing. I couldn’t have done it without my friends. They’re my best friends – I wouldn’t want to do five months, six days a week with anyone else. I really thought they kept me going, and I thought we motivated each other.”
It’s also been an emotional stretch for fellow captain Nicole Kaiser, who was to leave for the United Kingdom as part of a British Exchange program but pushed off her departure date until Wednesday.
“I was definitely upset when I heard the game got moved to Tuesday, but I would not have missed this game for the world,” Kaiser said.
Funsten had high praise for both of his captains.
“I’m so happy for them,” he said. “Nicole - just a non-stop work ethic has gotten her where she is now, and Maggie is the heart and soul of our team. We are not close to the spot we’re in right now if not for her.
“You talk about the younger players on the team, and Maggie is really the one person to give them the confidence they have to do what they’ve done all season. She got in a little foul trouble tonight, but she kept her head up and made some nice stops on Brodie at the end.”
That’s a wrap - In what was a first since Cheltenham defeated Council Rock North 68-54 in the 2007 PIAA 4A state title game, the SOL had a pair of teams in the state title game. “CB South, especially, I think they run a great program,” Funsten said. “Some teams have a cockiness about them, but they don’t. They come out and play.” For Funsten, Tuesday’s win was his first over CB South in seven tries.
--Alexa Brodie kept the Titans afloat with a game-high 20 points. She also had four steals. “I made the statement that Alexa Brodie is the best player in the state,” Funsten said. “That’s good defense we’re playing on her. The ability to create shots, the ability to get to the rim, the ability to make her teammates better, the ability to lead is all right there. We had trouble with her tonight, but in the end, for our girls to have the focus to be able to double her out on the perimeter when we were up two – just the awareness of our girls was special.” Brodie and Meinel combined for 33 of their team’s points. They also combined for seven steals with Brodie collecting four.
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