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)

Dist. 1 to Teams: "Take the Easy Way Out."

I was going to do a whole post about the seriously flawed District One power rankings system, but the Intelligencer's Todd Thorpe beat me to it at his blog at http://blogs.phillyburbs.com/intelgirlshoop.

As Todd said:

Last year’s very flawed power rating system had one thing this year’s system did not. It took into account whether opponents were Class AAAA, AAA, AA, or A, and awarded schedule points accordingly. That wasn’t taken into account with this system, and hence some team were rewarded just as many points for playing and beating much smaller schools, but ones that happened to have good records against the rest of the teams it played.

Non-league games are at the discretion of the coaches and athletic directors. But if one team goes 4-4 in non-league games and the competition includes very quality teams, and another goes 7-1 against lesser competition against small Class A schools, why should the one be punished for scheduling better?

It doesn’t encourage better scheduling. It encourages winning, no matter the opponent. That’s the central flaw of this system.

Personally, I think they should go back to the committee seeding system and all the aggravations that came from it. But one thing about it, though, they usually got it right. The best teams were usually the ones who made it states every year.

I just want to point out what several SOL teams got for scheduling tough teams.

Council Rock-North for losing to Archbishop Wood, one of the three best teams in Pennsylvania - 4.55 Power Rating Points.

CB East for a one-point loss to Spring-Ford - 4.58 Power Rating Points

Pennridge for a loss to Mount St. Joseph's - 4.55 Power Rating Points

What each team could have earned for scheduling and beating New Hope-Solebury: 5 + 2.63 + 6.32 = 13.95 Power Rating Points.

Or for scheduling and beating Christopher Dock: 5 + 3.25 + 7.8 = 16.05 Power Rating Points.

Why do you want to encourage teams to drop games against Wood, Spring-Ford and Mount to schedule tiny Bicentennial Athletic League teams such as Christopher Dock and New Hope-Solebury?

The message to kids: "Don't challenge yourself. Take the easy way out and get rewarded."

CB East 55, William Tennent 45

CB EAST (55)
Lissa Tercha 1 0-0 2; Megan Zimmerman 0 0-0 0; Sarah Godfrey 5 1-2 12; Ashley Alden 5 3-4 13; Hanna Sellers 3 1-2 7; Laura Kosma 2 3-6 8; Erin Boyer 1 0-0 3; Gabrielle Cancelliere 0 0-0 0; Alison Malatesta 0 0-2 0; Patty Rauchut 0 0-0 0. Totals: 17 8-16 45.

WILLIAM TENNENT (45)
Jordan Seiz 4 1-2 10; Alli Rosati 1 1-5 3; Liz Martin 4 6-10 14; Sarah Pullar 4 0-0 8; Madeline Ross 1 1-1 3; Caitlin Vasey 1 3-6 5; Abby Gallager 0 0-0 0; Jaime Donovan 4 1-3 12; Sarah Martin 0 0-0 0. Totals: 19 13-27 55.

CBE 9-19-12-15—55
WT 5-10-11-19—45

3-point goals: Donovan 3, Seiz (CBE); Godfrey, Kosma, Boyer (WT).

SEVEN THINGS

1. CB East (13-8 overall, 11-2 SOL Continental) clinched at least a share of the league championship with the victory, and will likely secure the title outright with a win over Hatboro-Horsham (0-13 SOL) on Friday.

2. East jumped out to a 9-1 lead and never trailed. The Patriots were ahead by 13, 28-15, at the half and held an 18-point lead, 48-30, with a little more than six minutes remaining. Tennent went on a 12-0 run to get within six points, but could not get closer.

3. Sophomore Liz Martin had 14 points and nine rebounds for CB East, and junior Jaime Donovan scored 12 points. Jordan Seiz scored 10 points, and Sarah Pullar added eight points and eight rebounds.

4. CB East lost two of its first three league games, but has now won 10 straight in the SOL. In the last three weeks, East won at Norristown, at Council Rock-North and at William Tennent to take the league.

5. Freshman Ashley Alden had 13 points for Tennent, and sophomore forward Sarah Godfrey added 12 points.

6. “After starting 1-2, I think the only people who believed we could do it were the 17 of us, the coaches and our parents,” CB East senior Alli Rosati said.

7. “When we fell to 1-2 in the conference, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t concerned,” CB East coach Tom Lonergan said. “But we had a huge fourth quarter in that game against Tennent and pulled out the victory. Then we had key road wins at Norristown, Council Rock-North and Souderton. I give this team a lot of credit. This is our fourth big road win in the second half of the season.”

Pennsbury 52, CB East 42

CB EAST (42)
Alli Rosati 0 2-2 2; Sarah Pullar 4 2-5 10; Madelline Ross 3 2-2 8; Jordan Seiz 4 2-4 10; Liz Martin 2 0-0 4; Abby Gallagher 1 0-0 3; Jaime Donovan 1 0-0 3; Caitlin Vasey 1 0-0 2. Totals: 16 8-13 42.

PENNSBURY (52)
Sarah Thorn 5 3-4 14; Jenn Prine 4 7-9 15; Kelly Rebert 2 0-0 5; Brittany Kobal 4 1-1 9; Michelle Beri 0 0-0 0; Kelsey Balascsak 1 0-0 3; Amanda Klock 0 0-0 0; Meghan Ponza 1 2-2 5; Jennalese Taylor 0 0-0 0; Lauren DiVeglio 0 1-2 1. Totals: 17 14-18 52.

CBE 11-11-8-12—42
P 12-4-13-23—52

3-point goals: Donovan, Gallagher (CBE); Thorn, Rebert, Klock, Ponza (P).

Link to Courier Times game story

SIX THINGS

1. Pennsbury trailed by 10 points, 26-16, early in the third quarter. Over the next 11 minutes, the Falcons outscored CB East 28-7.

2. Pennsbury (10-12) has won four straight. CB East (12-8) had won nine of its previous 11 games.

3. Pennsbury's senior guards combined for 29 points. Shooting guard Jenn Prine scored 15 points and point guard Sarah Thorn scored 14. Prine had eight points in the fourth quarter. Thorn scored 12 points in the second half.

4. Jordan Seiz and Sarah Pullar scored 10 points apiece for the Patriots.

5. The Falcons have averaged 60.5 points in their last four games.

6. College note: Pennsbury graduate and St. Bonaventure sophomore forward Dana Mitchell had 16 points, five rebounds and three assists to lead the Bonnies to a 60-54 win over La Salle on Saturday. Mitchell is averaging 19.8 points and 6.1 rebounds a game for the 14-6 Bonnies. She was 15th in the nation in scoring going into Saturday's game.