Girls Basketball: Marple Newtown bends but doesn’t break in win

NEWTOWN SQUARE — Marple Newtown saw its seemingly comfortable lead against Springfield dissipate and eventually the Tigers found themselves down by one point in the fourth quarter.

The Cougars, faced with a double-digit deficit, wouldn’t go away quietly.

And then Rylee Power and Carley Hamilton took over.

The Tigers relied on their top juniors to lift them to a 46-39 victory. Power scored a game-high 23 points. Her biggest basket came with three minutes left in regulation, draining a 3-pointer to put the Tigers ahead to stay.

The 6-2 Hamilton, who could get a double-double in her sleep, secured 11 rebounds, including four in the fourth quarter, to go with 15 points. Power, meanwhile, netted 13 points in the second half and dished out five assists.

“We played better defense and our offense started to click (in the fourth quarter),’ Riley Power said. “It was close.’

The Tigers (3-1, 2-0) have won three straight games in close fashion. Wednesday night, they needed overtime to claim a 55-50 decision over Penncrest. All three of their wins have come by seven points or fewer.

“We’re 2-0 now and we’re definitely starting to feel more confident,’ Power said.

But will it ever get easy for the Tigers, who are looking like Central League playoff contenders this year (albeit after only one week and two league games)?

They went cold for roughly half the game, as they were outscored in the second and third quarters, 22-16, but that deficit seemed much worse than six points. Springfield ramped up its defensive effort after it was torched in the first quarter, when it trailed by as many as 13 points.

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