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.

Council Rock-North 53, Abington 37

Council Rock-North (53)
Juliann Fricke 3 2-2 8; Devin Gold 3 2-2 10; Sarah Kiely 5 3-4 13; Kate Logan 1 1-2 3; Kelly Scull 1 4-4 7; Lauren Gold 4 1-2 10; Chloe Pinto 0 0-0 0; Rebecca Houser 0 0-0 0; Emily Grundman 0 2-2 2; Alexandra Mangogna 0 0-0 0; Jodi Marazzo 0 0-0 0; Stephanie Brennan 0 0-0 0; Brittany Garvey 0 0-0 0. Totals: 17 15-18 53.

Abington (37)
Kelly Gregorio 0 0-0 0; Jen Kelly 3 0-0 8; Aiyannah Peal 5 2-4 12; Liz Layton 3 0-0 7; Ajanae Boone 4 0-0 8; Jessica Schmidt 0 0-0 0; Chynna West 0 0-2 0; Tess Johns 1 0-0 2; Jamie Schechtman 0 0-0 0; Felicia Strother 0 0-0 0. Totals: 16 2-6 37.

CRN: 10-13-17-13--53
A: 13-4-10-10--37

Three-point goals: D. Gold 2, Scull, L. Gold (CRN); Kelly 2, Layton (A).


TEN THINGS

1. CR-North (11-1 overall, 6-0 SOL National) shot 26.7 percent in the first quarter and trailed by seven points, 17-0, early in the second quarter. The Indians went on a 13-0 run to end the first half and outscored Abington (8-3, 3-1) 17-7 over the last 5 1/2 minutes of the third quarter.

2. Junior forward Sarah Kiely had 13 points, five rebounds and three steals for the Indians. Kiely had the first four points of CR-North's 13-0 second quarter run and played tough against a physical Ghosts defense. "Sarah's awesome," Indians point guard Juliann Fricke said. "She can have five people on her and she can still go up and under."

3. Abington freshman forward Aiyanah Peal scored eight points in the first 10 minutes of the game and finished with a team-high 12 points. Peal was outstanding in the early going, but looked less comfortable after the Ghosts fell behind. "She needs to stay patient," Abington coach Dan Marsh said.

4. Sophomore guard Devin Gold had 10 points, five assists and four steals for the Indians. She's averaging 8.6 points, 3.3 assists and 2.8 steals. Freshman guard Lauren Gold had 10 points, three steals and three assists. She's averaging 7.1 points, 2.8 assists and 3.2 steals.

5. Fricke added eight points and five assists. She's averaging 7.8 points, 4.2 assists and 3.5 steals.

6. CR-North coach Lou Palkovics on his team's poise after shooting poorly in the first quarter: “What I’m noticing is a real maturity. They don’t let it bother them. They’ll still launch. We’re not going to go a whole game shooting like we did in the first quarter.”

7. Fricke on the team's mentality: “The best thing about this team is that we don’t get down. We stay calm. Coach always tells us to keep shooting, no matter what. He knows we have good shooters.”

8. Abington has played five games without 6-foot-2 guard Emily Leer and is 3-2. Leer, who averaged 16.0 points in the first six games could return from a knee injury as early as next Friday.

9. Ghosts coach Dan Marsh on his team's impressive start: “We came out ready to play. We executed what we wanted to do on defense. But it was only a matter of time until they got Kiely going. After that, it became more difficult for us.”

10. Abington senior Liz Layton on playing without Leer: “We want her back. That’s 18 to 20 points from our offense. Add 20 points to our score tonight and we’re right there.”

Southeastern Pa. Top 20 (Jan. 1)

Here's a New Year look at the top 20 teams (plus one) in Southeastern Pa. at this point in the season. I haven't seen most of these teams play, so I'm going by scores.

Please feel free to e-mail around the link to this page. And let me know if I have missed anyone.

--Stephen Cornell

*****

TOP 21

1. Cardinal O’Hara (9-0)

2. Germantown Academy (8-0)

3. Archbishop Carroll (8-1)

4. Downingtown East (7-1)

5. CR-North (9-1)

6. Cheltenham (7-1)

7. Notre Dame (8-2)

8. Mount St. Joseph (10-0)

9. Archbishop Wood (5-3)

10. Villa Maria (5-2)

11. St. Basil (8-2)

12. Downingtown West (7-3)

13. CB East (4-0)

14. Abington (7-2)

15. Shipley (9-2)

16. Penn Charter (8-3)

17. Nazareth (8-0)

18. Central (7-0)

19. Springfield Delco (11-0)

20. Lower Merion (7-1)

21. Archbishop Ryan (9-1)

Abington 57, William Tennent 35

Abington (57)
Kelly Gregorio 1 0-0 2; Jen Kelly 4 1-3 12; Ajanae Boone 3 0-0 7; Emily Leer 8 0-1 16; Aiyannah Peal 4 1-4 9; Felicia Strother 0 0-0 0; Chynna West 0 0-0 0; Liz Layton 3 0-0 6; Tess Johns 1 0-0 3; Sam Stutz 0 0-0 0; Jess Schmidt 0 0-0 0; Sarah Listenbee 0 0-0 0; Jaime Shectman 1 0-0 2. Totals: 25 2-8 57.

William Tennent (35)
Alison Malatesta 0 2-2 2; Ashley Alden 1 0-0 2; Deanna Schneiderreit 1 0-0 3; Liz Koval 2 4-8 8; Hanna Sellers 2 0-2 4; Taylor Morgan 2 0-2 4; Becky Allen 2 0-0 5; Emily O’Donnell 0 0-0 0; Melissa Wasserleben 2 0-0 5; Melissa Horn 0 0-0 0; Gina Tyson 1 0-0 2. Totals: 13 6-14 35.

A: 20-14-18-5—57
WT: 6-13-7-9—35

Three-pointers: Kelly 3, Boone, Johns (A); Schneiderreit, Allen, Wasserleben (WT).

SEVEN THINGS

1. Abington (4-1 overall, 2-0 SOL National) is a very talented team. Versatile senior 5-foot-11 guard Ajanae Brown has already signed with the University of Rhode Island, and junior 6-foot-2 forward Emily Leer is going to be a Division I college player. Guard Jen Kelly is an excellent shooter and had three 3-pointers in the first quarter against William Tennent. Freshman foward Aiyannah Peal had nine points vs. Tennent. The Ghosts have so much talent that Liz Layton, who started for a 23-win team last season, is coming off of the bench.

2. Abington led Tennent by 20 points, 26-6, early in the second quarter. The Panthers (2-2, 0-2) were at a distinct disadvantage without three of their top players: forward Sarah Godfrey (illness), guard Megan Zimmerman (illness) and guard Laura Kosma (sprained knee).

3. Leer had 16 points for Abington. Kelly scored 12 points, Peal had nine points, and Boone finished with seven points. “Abington is a very well rounded team,” Tennent coach Paul Veltre said. “They were able to score at will from all over.”

4. Abington has won by 52 points, 24 points, 21 points and 22 points.

5. Abington coach Dan Marsh on his team's talent level: “It’s funny. I said to the Neshaminy coach that this is the most talent I’ve ever had. But it will be my most difficult coaching job. But it’s nice. I’m not going to complain.”

6. Boone on the team's talent level: "We have every weapon. We have everything. Nothing is missing. We have everything we need to win a championship."

7. Abington and Council Rock-North (3-1, 2-0) are the clear favorites in the SOL National, but they don't meet until Jan. 9.

Abington 2008-2009

Coach: Dan Marsh
Last year: 23-7 (11-3 SOL National)

Schedule
Dec. 5 Abington Friends W, 77-25 (1-0)
Dec. 6 St. Basil L, 38-42 (1-1)
Dec. 9 Neshaminy W, 49-25 (2-1, 1-0)
Dec. 10 Plymouth-Whitemarsh W, 47-26 (3-1)
Dec. 12 at William Tennent W, 57-35 (4-1, 2-0)
Dec. 16 Pennsbury, ppd.
Dec. 19 at CR-South W, 57-42 (5-1, 3-0)
Dec. 23 at CB South L, 44-49 (5-2)
Dec. 29 at Owings Mills W, 65-15 (6-2)
Dec. 30 at Eastern Tech W, 55-33 (7-2)
Jan. 5 Wissahickon
Jan. 6 at Truman
Jan. 9 CR-North
Jan. 13 at Bensalem
Jan. 16 at Neshaminy
Jan. 20 William Tennent
Jan. 23 at Pennsbury
Jan. 27 CR-South
Jan. 28 at Methacton
Jan. 30 Truman
Feb. 3 at CR-North
Feb. 6 Bensalem