Friday, February 6, 2009

Archbishop Wood 61, Conwell-Egan 51

Conwell-Egan (51)
Carmen Tyson-Thomas 10 2-2 26; Rachel Moore 1 0-0 2; Trish Watson 3 2-5 8; Jenny Rongione 0 0-0 0; Kaitlyn Mourer 4 0-0 9; Kim Breslin 1 2-2 4; Sam Lubey 0 0-0 0; Kristen Ralph 1 0-0 2. Totals: 20 6-9 51.

Archbishop Wood (61)
Christine Verrelle 1 0-0 2; Cait McCartney 0 0-0 0; Ashley Robinson 6 9-11 21; Sam Greenfield 5 4-4 14; Jenelle Hudson 1 0-0 2; Grace Gallagher 0 0-0 0; Jen Maxwell 2 0-0 5; Kelly Young 0 0-0 0; Steph Keyes 6 0-0 17. Totals: 21 13-15 61.

CEC: 16-10-10-15—51
AW: 8-19-18-16—61

Three-point goals: Tyson-Thomas 4, Mourer (CEC); Keyes 5, Maxwell (AW).

TEN THINGS

1. Conwell-Egan (14-8, 8-6) jumped out to a quick 11-2 lead after 4 1/2 minutes and still led by six points, 24-18, with 2:20 left in the first half. Wood (17-5, 13-1) took its first lead, 25-24, on a basket by Sam Greenfield with 1:14 remaining in the second quarter. The Vikings led the entire second half, but not always by a lot. Conwell-Egan was within three points, 39-36, after two free throws by Kim Breslin with 1:45 to go in the third quarter. The Eagles were only down six, 57-51, in the game's final minute.

2. Conwell-Egan senior Carmen Tyson-Thomas had 26 points, seven rebounds, three steals and three blocked shots. Wood senior Ashley Robinson had 21 points, six rebounds, five blocked shots and three steals.

3. “(Conwell-Egan) has a lot of weapons. They are a very good team,” Wood coach Jim Ricci said. “Carmen is a tough matchup for anybody."

4. For Wood, Greenfield had 14 points and four assists and sophomore guard Steph Keyes scored 17 points off of the bench. Keyes hit five 3-pointers. She hit four of those in a span of 4 1/2 minutes in the second half.

5. The game was fast-paced and extremely physical. The two teams combined for only 24 free throws, but there was a lot of hard contact that wasn't called either way.

6. Conwell-Egan junior Kaitlyn Mourer did a nice job defending Robinson. "She played tremendous defense," Conwell-Egan coach Norman O'Rourke said. "We didn't gang up on (Robinson). It was mostly one on one."

7. Wood has won eight straight and 12 of its last 13 games. The Vikings are 14-2 since a 3-3 start. Wood won its last 11 Catholic League games after losing to Archbishop Carroll on Dec. 11, 55-41.

8. Wood tied for first place in the PCL with Carroll and Cardinal O'Hara. Wood will be the top seed in the playoffs because it won a coin flip. That means the Vikings wouldn't see Carroll or O'Hara until the PCL championship game.

9. “We came out and left everything on the court,” Tyson-Thomas said. “As seniors, we knew it was time to step it up.”

10. “We have an opportunity to do great things,” Robinson said of the PCL playoffs.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

CR-South 57, Bensalem 39

Bensalem (39)
Kristen Gilroy 0 0-0 0; Kate Clarkson 2 0-0 5; Sharmane Hall 8 4-6 20; Jackie Deegler 0 2-2 2; Paige Ormont 3 0-0 6; Alexis Nyekan 0 0-0 0; Alexia Ewing 0 0-0 0; Jody Sokol 2 2-2 6; Ashleigh Spence 0 0-0 0. Totals: 15 8-10 39.

Council Rock-South (57)
Ann Silverthorn 3 5-5 12; Lea Britton 3 0-0 7; Alex Wheatley 2 0-0 4; Emily Nowicke 7 2-2 16; Chelsea Allen 3 7-8 13; Steph Gillio 1 1-2 3; Jackie Weber 0 2-2 2; Brianna Schlupp 0 0-0 0; Lindsay Kirlin 0 0-0 0. Totals: 19 17-19 57.

B: 3-13-14-9—39
CRS: 18-16-9-14—57

Three-point goals: Clarkson (B); Silverthorn, Britton (CRS).

NINE THINGS

1. CR-South (14-7 overall, 8-5 SOL National) roared out to an 18-2 lead after about seven minutes. The Golden Hawks were ahead 24-3 with 6 1/2 minutes left in the first half. Bensalem settled down and played better in the second half, but the closest the Owls (12-8, 8-5) could get was 10 points late in the third quarter.

2. Most projections had CR-South slightly ahead of Bensalem in the District One Class AAAA seedings going into this week. The Golden Hawks seem to have put themselves in good position to earn one of the top 16 seeds and a home game.

3. South has won six of its last seven games since the heartbreaking last-second loss to Neshaminy on Jan. 20. The Golden Hawks’ last six victories have been by an average margin of 16.7 points. Five of those wins were by 14 points or more. They are 12-4 since a 2-3 start. The turnaround from last year's five-win season is remarkable.

4. “This year is a blast,” CR-South junior forward Emily Nowicke said. “Last year we accepted the losses. This year we’re playing for the wins. It is so exciting.”

5. Nowicke scored 10 of her team-high 16 points in the first seven minutes of the game. She had 17 points in Tuesday night's win over William Tennent.

6. For South, senior guard Ann Silverthorn had 12 points, five rebounds and five assists. Junior forward Chelsea Allen had 13 points and eight rebounds, while junior guard Lea Britton added seven points and eight assists.

7. Senior forward Sharmane Hall led the Owls with 20 points. Forward Jackie Deegler scored two points and guard Kristen Gilroy was scoreless.

8. CR-South hosts rival CR-North (19-2, 13-0) in the regular season finale on Friday night. "It's humongous," Nowicke said. "They are (13-0) in the league. It's North-South. It's a complete rivalry. It's the only way to end the (regular) season. We're going to be pumped and ready for it."

9. "I think they're very confident," CR-South coach Monica Young said. "They are starting to really believe. They're finishing games."

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

CR-North 60, Abington 38

Abington (38)
Ajanae Boone 3 2-4 8; Jen Kelly 0 0-0 0; Aiyannah Peal 3 0-2 6; Tess Johns 1 0-0 2; Emily Leer 2 5-8 10; Liz Layton 5 0-2 10; Chynna West 0 0-0 0; Jessica Schmidt 0 0-0 0; Shiela Longo 0 0-0 0; Sam Stutz 1 0-0 2. Totals: 15 7-16 38.

Council Rock-North (60)
Lauren Gold 2 4-4 8; Juliann Fricke 2 0-1 4; Devin Gold 2 2-2 6; Kelly Scull 4 2-2 11; Sarah Kiely 11 2-4 24; Kate Logan 1 1-2 4; Rebecca Houser 0 0-0 0; Alexandra Mangogna 1 0-0 3; Steph Brennan 0 0-0 0. Totals: 23 11-15 60.

A: 6-8-7-17—38
CRN: 12-16-19-13—60

Three-point goals: Leer (A); Mangogna, Scull, Logan (CRN).

NINE THINGS

1. Council Rock-North (19-2, 13-0 SOL National) thoroughly dominated. About a minute into the second quarter, North led by two points, 12-10. Over the next 18 minutes, North outscored Abington 41-12. The Indians led by 31 points, 53-22, with less than five minutes left in the game.

2. Abington 6-foot-2 forward Emily Leer, who missed the first meeting with a knee injury, was not a factor. She finished with 10 points, but six of those game in the last 4:45. North guarded her with forwards Kelly Scull and Kate Logan and doubled her when she got the ball with guards or forward Sarah Kiely.

3. CR-North's defense was stifling. Leer had very few touches in good position. Freshman Aiyannah Peal couldn't get on track and finished with six points. Guard Jen Kelly wasn't able to open shots and didn't score.

4. Kiely dominated for CR-North. She finished with 24 points and 10 rebounds and shot 65 percent from the field. Kiely scored inside on a number of nice moves, but also hit jumper after jumper after jumper from as far out as 19 feet. "Sarah was in a zone," North coach Lou Palkovics said.

5. CR-North clinched the SOL National title, its 10th league crown in 12 seasons under Palkovics. The Indians need to defeat CR-South on Friday night to finish undefeated in the league for the first time since 2001, but South has won five of six games.

6. North guards Juliann Fricke, Devin Gold and Lauren Gold combined for 18 points and 13 assists and played outstanding defense.

7. With five minutes to go in the game, Abington had 22 points and nine field goals.

8. Kate Logan: “It’s huge. I didn’t expect anything like that. One of the key things was our defense. We held them to 38 points. We also got out to a lead quickly.”

9. Abington (15-5, 10-3) had won six straight games and will still be a dangerous team in the Class AAAA District One tournament. CR-North should be one of the top four or five seeds for districts.