Girls Basketball: Hamilton comes up big in Marple Newtown’s win

NEWTOWN SQUARE — Mike Colgan challenged Carly Hamilton Tuesday.

“I told her I wanted 20 (points) and 15 (rebounds),” the fifth-year Marple Newtown head coach said of his junior center.

Hamilton came close to exceeding her coach’s expectations in the first half, and the sixth-seeded Tigers (11-11) earned a 51-41 decision over No. 11 Villa Joseph Marie (7-15) in the opening round of the District One Class AAA basketball tournament.

The win was Colgan’s first playoff triumph in three tries at Marple Newtown. The Tigers will go after Colgan’s next postseason success at third-seeded Villa Maria Friday night.

Hamilton made her first four shots from the floor and her first seven foul shots, finishing with a career high 25 points. She shot 11-for-12 at the line, claimed 17 rebounds, blocked a pair of shots and added one steal. She had 17 points and pulled down 10 missed shots in the first two periods.

“She exceeded expectations,” Colgan said. “I thought she had the ability to do something like that inside. Danielle Collins really did a great job defensively on (Colleen) Coleman (15 points on 6-for-15 shooting as part of Villa Joe’s 17-for-71 shooting woes).

“We came out strong tonight, and that was one of our goals. We wanted to see how they would react if we did that.”

The 6-2 Hamilton didn’t miss from the floor until she started trying 3-point shots in the second period, and hit her first seven foul shots, missed one then made four more in a row.

“I guess I knew I had something like that in me,” said Hamilton, who hopes to play for the Rebels AAU program in the summer. “I just had to find it. We knew (Colgan) had told us if we could come out big, we could have a good game.

“As a team, we wanted to give him a game to remember.”

Junior Rylee Power, Marple Newtown’s leader with a 20-point scoring average, didn’t have a shooting night she’ll want to remember. Power was 4-for-15 from the field and 7-for-12 at the foul line in scoring 16 points.

Nicole Smythe hit her first two shots and chipped in with seven points and nine rebounds for the Tigers.

“Carly played well,” Power said. “When we play the box on defense, (Collins) is the other one and she always does a good job. Getting a playoff win is a nice boost for our program.

“We made playoffs my freshman year and lost right away. Last year we didn’t make the playoffs, so it’s good to know we have the chance to go on this year.”

Because they are advancing, the Tigers can expect to face another challenge or two from Colgan at practice the next two days