PA – Central Athletic League | Archive | February, 2018

MIDDLETOWN >> With 94 feet to move a basketball, and with just under nine seconds to make it happen, Penncrest girls basketball coach Bob Higgins didn’t need to do any time-distance calculating Tuesday night. He already had his answer.

Deliver the ball to Kat Mullaney.

“She likes to get to the rim,” Higgins said. “And we knew she wasn’t going to be running into people.”

So in a tie game with Bishop Shanahan, in overtime, with 8.7 seconds left, Grace Harding inbounded from beneath the Penncrest basket, found Mullaney and watched the rest. She saw Mullaney spin, turn up the speed, blast toward the basket and deliver a layup with three seconds showing to give the Lions a 29-27 victory and a second-round opportunity in the District 1 Class 5A playoffs.

“We knew she would get there fast,” Harding said, “and we let her do her thing.”

By then, Harding had done her thing, too, muscling into the lane and scoring with 5.5 seconds left in regulation to force a 24-24 tie and the overtime. In a game where the host Lions (15-8) did not score a three-point shot, and where the defense from both teams was of championship quality, every point helped.

“I try to use my moves when I can,” Harding said, with a laugh. “But I use my strength a lot.”

As the Lions advanced, their strength was vivid Tuesday, particularly in the third quarter. That’s when they rallied from an 11-10 halftime deficit for a 13-12 lead by denying the Eagles a field goal. The only Shanahan points in the quarter came with nine-tenths of a second left on two Kathryn Greenhut free throws.

Greenhut’s pure, left-handed shooting form would matter later, too. That’s when she buried a three-pointer from the top of the key with 9.7 seconds remaining in overtime, forcing a 27-27 tie. By then, Greenhut had been dominating the defensive glass, particularly in the fourth quarter and overtime, giving the 11th-seeded Eagles a chance for the road upset.

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PETE BANNAN-DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA Penncrest’s (21) Katherine Mullaney puts a shot up in the fourth quater as the Lions over Bishop Shanahan 27-29 in playoffs at Kaufman Gymnasium Tuesday evening.

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UPPER DARBY >> When you look at Downingtown West’s roster and its quintet of contributors standing 6-foot-4 or taller, the natural inclination is to see a mismatch with Upper Darby. When Royals big man Kymir Roper, generously listed at 6-5 but with outsized tenacity, perused the roster, he saw opportunity.

“I love the challenge,” Roper said, “no matter what anybody says.”

Roper played only a peripheral role in the ultimate resolution to Tuesday’s District 1 Class 6A contest, setting the screen that was supposed to get Mamadou Toure to the basket. Instead, Toure banked home a 20-foot jumper with one second left in a 46-44 Upper Darby win. But at the other end, when Will Howard’s home run pass fell shy of its target, Roper’s hands were firmly around the ball as time expired, a fitting symbol for how profoundly he set the tone of cutting the Whippets’ front line down to size.

Roper scored seven points (all in the second half), grabbed eight boards and blocked two shots in a rugged affair. He contributed to 13 Downingtown West turnovers and gave no quarter in the lane, ensuring that every foray into the paint by the Whippets’ rotating corps of bigs met with resistance. Roper’s ability to clamp down on the longer opposition fed directly into ninth seed Upper Darby’s rise to its first state tournament since 2013 — from the microscale of a 13-2 deficit to start the game to the rebound from last year’s six-win campaign — one bench-enlivening denial at a time.

“That gives us a major boost,” Toure said. “That’s what we’re talking about in practice, the big guys, that’s where their points come from. They stepped up tonight, Jalun (Trent) and Kymir especially. It’s huge. And the emotion was there tonight,” coach Bob Miller said. “… We were physical tonight and we really got after it.”

Roper put Upper Darby up, 44-42, on a beauty of a pick-and-roll with Toure with 1:44 left. Naseem Roberson, who struggled to shake off a handful of hard fouls incurred, tied the score on the next trip with two free throws.

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Upper Darby’s Mamadou Toure, left, is congratulated by Floyd Wedderburn after Toure’s winning shot in the fourth quarter Tuesday. (Pete Bannan/Digital First media

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CONCORD >> Madi McKee was in the starting lineup Wednesday night for Garnet Valley’s first District 1 Class 6A playoff game. The junior forward has made a handful of starts this season, and seems to answer the call every time. When she’s not among the starting five, McKee is a valuable piece off the bench for coach Joe Woods.

“One of our games this year against C.B. West, I had to do the same thing, to defend against (the other team’s big girl) and come in and start,” McKee said. “I just tried to have the same mindset tonight. I came out feeling pretty strong.”

McKee scored 10 points on 5 of 11 shooting and played solid defense against Conestoga’s best player, senior center and Saint Joseph’s signee Katie Mayock. McKee’s contributions helped the No. 4 Jaguars earn a 43-33 decision over the 13th-seeded Pioneers. With the victory, the Jaguars — believe it or not — have clinched a berth in next month’s PIAA Class 6A tournament. The Jags, who had a first-round bye, needed only one win to punch their ticket to the state tournament. Eleven teams from District 1 qualify for states. Next up for the Jags is a date Saturday night with No. 5 Abington, a 59-48 winner over 12th-seeded Central Bucks East.

“This was a big game for Garnet Valley,” said McKee, a La Salle lacrosse commit. “Especially with our team, we always have girls coming in off the bench. So we all have a lot of confidence in each other and I feel like, since a lot of us have been playing together for such a long time, a lot of us work well together.”

That was evident in GV’s first game since its disappointing loss to Springfield in the Central League playoff final, which ended a streak of four championship campaigns. The Jags (21-3) had eight days to stew over the loss, but a good week of practice remedied their woes and they played Wednesday with a renewed sense of urgency against the Pioneers, a team that always gives them fits.

“We thought the whole problem was, we needed to have more energy on the court and on the bench,” junior forward Brianne Borcky said. “So, all of us were getting really hyped before the game and we wanted to bring the energy. That was the main focus.”

McKee buoyed the Jags with six points in the opening half, offsetting the lack of scoring production from junior forward and 1,000-point scorer Emily McAteer and Borcky, who were limited to five points in the first two quarters. The Pioneers doubled them both whenever they touched the ball.

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LOWER MERION >> In a back hallway at Harriton High School Tuesday night, two players met and embraced, one wet from a celebratory dousing of ice water, the other’s face stained with tears. In a ***-for-tat fourth quarter, those two players seemed intent on deciding a Central League championship by whomever had his hands on the ball last. Steve Payne did.

The Lower Merion guard hit a runner high off the glass with 2.6 seconds left, one possession after Penncrest’s Tyler Norwood had tied the game in similarly spectacular fashion, as the Aces earned a 48-46 win for their second consecutive Central League championship.The battle for a crown ultimately came down to the two stars, who led the way offensively. Norwood paced all scorers with 19 points, Payne with 18. Of the 20 points scored in the fourth quarter Tuesday, 15 were provided by the duo. From the time Harrison Klevan hit a 3-pointer to put Lower Merion up 43-39 with 4:39 left, the rest was up to Norwood and Payne’s personal game of one-on-one.

“I like that. I like the competitive nature,” Payne said. “Ty’s a great player. He gives me a great game every game. He’s a great point guard, he leads the team, he’s great. I love going against him. I love competing against him.”

“It’s hard because they are playing a box-and-1 with a guy coming at me,” Norwood said. “I can’t really go right back at him; I have to figure out how I’m going to get the ball. Playing against Steve for the past three years has been a battle. He’s a great player.”

Norwood, fighting through the faceguard he was constantly under, hit an and-1 to get Penncrest within 1 at 43-42. Payne drove to the bucket, then hit the front end of a one-and-one to stretch the lead to four, but Norwood would yet have his say. He sunk two at the line, then after Darryl Taylor bricked a front-end, Norwood charged down and hit an eight-foot floater with 31 ticks left.

“They know when the fourth quarter comes, I’m going to try to do what it takes to win the game,” Norwood said. “… Matt (Arbogast) played outstanding on the boards, Chris (Mills) played outstanding on the boards. It’s just one possession away, one shot away or one stop away. Collectively we played the best we could. It just came down to a last-second shot to overcome us.”

There was little doubt whose number Lower Merion would call the final time down the court. Payne held the ball at the top of the arc as the clock ticked under 10 seconds. He bounded to his right, past Justin Heidig and the help defense of Mills and laid one under the outstretched arm of Arbogast, off the backboard and in.

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PETE BANNAN-DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA Penncrest’s (3) Isaiah Rice walks off the court as the Lower Merion after time epired to give the Aces the Central League title game Tuesday evening at Harriton High School.

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LOWER MERION >> Garnet Valley has walked around with a target on its back for a long time. The team to beat in the Central League had won four consecutive league titles and had lost only one game to a conference foe since the beginning of the 2015-16 campaign. Springfield was tired of seeing Garnet Valley win and wanted to do something about it. The Cougars believed it was their time.

It’s not a coincidence that a Ky McNichol-led Springfield team was the last to defeat Garnet Valley. You have to go back to Dec. 22, 2015, when McNichol was in her second year coaching the Cougars. In her rookie season she won six games. The next season, within its first month, McNichol was the coach responsible for ending Garnet Valley’s then-38-game winning streak in the Central League. Could the Cougars do it again Tuesday night at Harriton, with the Central League title at stake? You bet.

Springfield showed an intestinal fortitude that was unmatched. They were hungry … and you know what Eagles lineman Jason Kelce said about hungry dogs. They run faster. Led by textbook defense, sensational clutch shooting by freshman Alexa Abbonizio and a will not to quit, Springfield defeated Garnet Valley, 51-46, to win its first league title since 2010. Springfield also avenged a 39-21 setback to GV in the regular season.

“Going for five years in a row is just an insane amount to win. The fact that we even contended with them is amazing,” sophomore guard Alyssa Long said. “It was our game tonight. We didn’t care who they were, we wanted to win and it was going to happen to us.”

Springfield believed that if it played its usual brand of in-your-face defense, created turnovers and scored in transition, it would be successful. Notwithstanding a sluggish first quarter, Springfield’s blueprint worked to perfection. For starters, the Cougars (18-6) knew it had to rattle the cage ofarguably the best scorer in Delaware County, junior forward Emily McAteer. Jordan D’Ambrosio was tasked with stalking McAteer and limiting her opportunities.

“We knew we had to guard Emily, she’s a very respected player. We had to stop Emily in order to win the basketball game,” McNichol said. “Not let her post up, but not even let her catch the basketball — bottom line. Jordan followed our game plan, and what she had in her mind was that she was not going to let Emily score tonight. We knew the other kids could hurt us, but we were OK with letting them.”

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PETE BANNAN-DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA Springfield players celebrate their Central League title over Garnet Valley Tuesday evening at Harriton High School.

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NEWTOWN SQUARE >> At halftime of a tied Central League semifinal against Lower Merion Sunday, it was a good sign for Garnet Valley that Austin Laughlin was just the Jaguars’ third-leading scorer.

The drought of 13 minutes to begin the second half in which three of the Jags’ starters were held off the scoreboard was less fortuitous. And the fact that the dry spell coincided with a star turn from a somewhat unlikely figure in the Aces’ ranks made that futility too much for the Jaguars to overcome.

Lower Merion’s Harrison Klevan stole the show with 16 points, including a decisive outburst of three consecutive 3-pointers to turn a tight game into a comfortable 72-59 win Sunday at Marple Newtown High School.

The victory sends the No. 2 seed Lower Merion into the Central League title game for the second consecutive season, where it’ll tangle with top seed Penncrest Tuesday night at 8 p.m. at Harriton.

Klevan hit four 3-pointers on an afternoon where the Aces’ other shooters were uncharacteristically chilly. Jack Forrest tallied a game-high 22 points but was just 2-for-5 from 3-point land. Steve Payne scored eight first-quarter points … then was silent offensively until the fourth, going 0-for-4 beyond the arc.

The struggles owed in part to Garnet Valley’s ability to close out on the prime targets of their scouting report. But further down the list of options, the defensive attention waned, and Klevan feasted.

“Jack and Steve are unbelievable,” Klevan said. “They’re the workhorses for our team. If we were getting a scouting report on our own team, Steve and Jack would be at the top of the list. I think they get the most attention, so we just have to be ready whenever we get a chance.”

Klevan certainly was. At 46-43 late in the third and Garnet Valley hanging tight despite the offense going into a lull after a rip-roaring first half, Klevan hit his three consecutive triples. The first was set up by a Darryl Taylor steal and assisted by Payne. Taylor cleaned up a GV miss and hit Klevan in transition the next time down. Then the quarter closed with Forrest rebounding a Payne miss and shoveling to Klevan on the right wing to hit nothing but net as time expired.

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Lower Merion’s Steve Payne drive past Garnet Valley’s Cade Brennan toward the basket during Sunday’s Central League semifinal game at Marple Newtown. Lower Merion won, 72-59. (Mikey Reeves/For Digital First Media)

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NEWTOWN SQUARE >> In the minds of many around the Penncrest boys basketball program, the number 1,551 loomed large this season. For Tyler Norwood, the only one who ultimately had the power to vault that historic standard, it would be more of a byproduct than a long-term goal, merely something that might happen one day if Norwood accomplished many more granular goals.

“Every night, I just went out and played basketball,” Norwood said Sunday. “I didn’t really worry about if I was breaking a record or not. All I worry about is winning championships. It just so happened that I was close and able to do that.”

Sunday, Norwood was able to do both. The Penncrest senior guard and reigning Daily Times Boys Basketball Player of the Year scored a game-high 22 points to get past Upper Darby, 52-39, in the Central League semifinals at Marple Newtown and set the Penncrest all-time scoring mark.Norwood has 1,559 career points, surpassing the mark of 1,551 set by Corey Johnson to become the most prolific scorer in Lions history.

He passed Johnson at 2:42 of the third quarter with a pull-up jumper in the lane for his 15th and 16th points of the night. Norwood finished with 22, the only Lion in double-figures. Justin Heidig (eight rebounds), Matt Arbogast (10 boards, three blocks) and Malcolm Williams (seven rebounds) each provided eight points and vital defense.

The latter commodity set Penncrest (21-2) apart to book a spot opposite No. 2 seed Lower Merion in Tuesday’s final at Harriton (8 p.m.). The Royals were held scoreless for the first quarter, Penncrest amassing a 9-0 lead. It took six minutes for the fourth-seeded Royals (16-7) to even attempt a two-pointer, and that low-post domination manifested in Penncrest’s 37-26 edge on the boards.

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Penncrest’s Tyler Norwood goes in for a layup in the second quarter during the Central League semifinals Sunday. (Mikey Reeves/For Digital First Media)

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NEWTOWN SQUARE >> In the days and weeks ahead, Springfield freshman Alexa Abbonizio and her family will tell stories and share memories about her late grandfather. Robert J. Abbonizio, affectionately known as “Big Bob,” passed away Feb. 6. He was 80. Alexa is one of Mr. Abbonizio’s nine grandchildren. And he was a big fan of his granddaughter, the basketball player. Abbonizio was in the starting lineup for Springfield in its regular-season finale Friday. She had the best game of her young high school career when she scored 29 points to lead the Cougars to victory over Radnor. She dedicated that game to her grandfather.

Sunday at Marple Newtown, mere hours before she would attend her grandfather’s viewing service, Abbonizio helped Springfield defeat Haverford, 37-27, in the semifinals of the Central League playoffs. The Cougars will play reigning league champion Garnet Valley in the final Tuesday night at Harriton. Abbonizio paid tribute to her grandfather the best way she knew how.

“I played for him,” said Abbonizio, who scored a game-high 12 points. “Everything was for him tonight. The win two nights ago, that was for him. It was all for him.”
Abbonizio’s ability to keep her focus on basketball during trying times was not lost on her teammates and coaches.

“She showed a lot of mental toughness,” junior Jordan D’Ambrosio said.

“Especially because she’s only a freshman and she hasn’t been (in big games) before,” junior Belle Mastropietro said. “She played really well.”

Springfield coach Ky McNichol couldn’t have asked for more from Abbonizio in Sunday’s win. Abbonizio hit two field goals, including her second 3-pointer of the day, to help Springfield expand its lead to nine points in the third quarter.

“It has not been an easy week for her or her family and she’s really stepped up for us,’’ McNichol said. “She put her emotions on the floor. She told us that she was going to dedicate these games to her grandfather and she really put her heart into these games and did it for him.”

Abbonizio shot 3-for-7 from the floor and 4-for-4 at the free-throw line. In addition, she grabbed two rebounds, made one steal and dished out one assist. Thanks in large part to her performance, Springfield (17-6) avenged a regular season setback to Haverford (15-8) and will play in the Central League final for the second time in three seasons.

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HAVERFORD >> Somebody on Garnet Valley had to fill a vacant position in the starting lineup Monday afternoon. That somebody was … well, several players. With senior guard Nicole Barnes not in attendance for a Central League showdown at Haverford, many Jaguars were asked to take on added responsibility.

Junior guard Jillian Nagy started in place of Barnes, who was back at home preparing for her senior prom showcase at Garnet Valley. Barnes would have been present had the Central League last week not decided to move all games from Tuesday, their regularly scheduled day, to Monday.

“I was a little nervous, but I’m used to playing with the starters when I have to go in if Nicole gets in foul trouble or if someone gets hurt,” Nagy said. “I feel like I can pick it up pretty well.”

When Nagy wasn’t handling the point and running the offense, the job was given to junior forwards Emily McAteer and Brianne Borcky, or junior shooting guard Morgan Falcone. The all-hands-on-deck approach worked out just fine. After a wobbly start, Garnet Valley caught fire in the second half and rolled to a 44-31 victory to remain undefeated in the Central League one game left to play.

The loss knocks Haverford out of third place, one game behind Conestoga and Springfield, who have three league losses each. If Conestoga cannot defeat Garnet Valley Wednesday, only three teams will qualify for the Central League playoffs, which get underway Saturday. The win against a solid Haverford team proves that Garnet Valley (19-2, 15-0) can overcome adversity.

“We never really practice for it,” Borcky said, referring to Barnes’ absence. “We usually practice with the starting five against the next five off the bench. “During the games we try to get as much subs in as possible so that we’re all used to playing with one another.”

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PETE BANNAN-DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA Garnet Valley’s (42) Brianne Borcky runs over Haverford’s (35) Erin Kelly on a rebound in the first quarter of the Jaguars 44-31 victory.

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