Intelligencer AAAA Projections

Intelligencer girls basketball beat writer Todd Thorpe spent a good deal of time going through the numbers over the last few days. His Class AAAA district projections are on his blog at http://blogs.phillyburbs.com/intelgirlshoop.

There are a lot of guesses flying around the Internet and too many numbers for me to spend hours calculating, but if Todd felt confident enough to publish these rankings, I'd bet they're very close to the actual numbers.

The Courier Times will publish my projections on Sunday. But my 32-team field projection is based on how I think the teams should be seeded using the old method of subjective thought and analysis. I'm not a fan of this new number-crunching method. I don't understand the need for it, and I don't think it works.

Basically, it does not reward teams for playing tough nonleague schedules, completely disregards the final league standings and ignores teams that improved during the season and were playing their best by late January. Oh, and it thoroughly confuses everyone. To me, those four significant problems are enough reasons to return to the old system.

Pennsbury 62, Neshaminy 50

NESHAMINY (50)
Wunder 4 5-6 16; Shunkwiler 1 4-5 6; Rota 2 3-3 7; Ryan 2 0-0 4; J. Slivka 2 0-0 4; Allen 1 3-4 5; Lally 0 2-2 2; S. Slivka 2 2-2 6; Eggerd 0 0-0 0; Alexander 0 0-0 0. Totals: 14 19-22 50.

PENNSBURY (62)
Prine 6 4-4 16; Thorn 6 0-1 14; Natale 0 0-0 0; DiVeglio 0 1-3 1; Beri 0 0-0 0; Kobal 2 0-0 4; Rebert 0 1-2 1; Ponza 0 3-6 3; Klock 3 0-0 6; Balascsak 6 3-4 16; Arrigan 0 1-2 1. Totals: 23 13-22 62.

N 17-12-8-13—50
P 16-10-17-19—62

3-point goals: Wunder 3 (N); Thorn 2, Balascsak (P).

Link to Courier Times game story

THREE THINGS

1. Pennsbury (11-13 overall, 4-10 SOL) trailed by eight, 34-26, early in the second half. The Falcons took control with a 23-3 run. Pennsbury and Neshaminy (11-12, 5-9) teams are on the bubble for the 32-team Class AAAA District One tournament.

2. Senior guard Jenn Prine had 16 points, eight rebounds, five steals and three assists in her final regular season game. Prine has started 104 of Pennsbury's 105 games during her four-year career.

3. Senior Falcons guard Sarah Thorn finished with 14 points and eight assists. She scored eight points in about a minute in the third quarter to put Pennsbury ahead, but turned her ankle on a layup with 4:40 to go in the third quarter and never returned.

Nazareth 54, VJM 41

VILLA JOSEPH MARIE (41)
Kazarnowicz 2 2-2 6; Quatrocchi 2 0-1 5; Files 0 0-0 0; J. J. Heston 3 1-1 7; Abel 1 4-5 6; Van Wert 4 0-2 9; C. Heston 2 0-0 6; Bierly 1 0-0 2; Waterson 0 0-0 0; Ledwith 0 0-0 0. Totals: 15 7-11 41.

NAZARETH (54)
Brady 3 3-6 10; Brown 3 3-4 9; Hladczuk 2 0-0 5; McGee 5 5-13 17; Haddow 1 0-0 2; Malboeuf 0 0-0 0; Borski 0 0-0 0; Matthews 1 3-4 5; Kudzmas 0 1-2 1; Sylvester 0 0-0 0; Dirscherl 2 0-0 5. Totals: 17 15-29 54.

VJM 9-10-7-15—41
N 21-11-5-17—54

3-point goals: C. Heston 2, Van Wert, Quatrocchi (VJM); McGee 2, Brady, Dirscherl, Hladczuk (N).

Link to Courier Times game story

THREE THINGS

1. VJM went down big early and never got closer than seven points.

2. With the win, Nazareth finished tied for third in the AACA with St. Basil, which pulled a shocking upset of Mount St. Joseph on Thursday to knock VJM from the four-team AACA playoffs. Mount had been unbeaten in the AACA and ranked No. 1 in the state in Class AAA. VJM (14-8, 8-6) finished in fifth place, one game behind Nazareth and St. Basil.

3. While sitting on the stairs at Nazareth waiting to conduct interviews after the game, I leaned back and hit my head on a concrete wall. That's why this is so short. Sorry. Ouch.

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.”

Standings, Jan. 28

Through Monday, Jan. 27

SOL National

	League	Overall
CB South	10-2	18-4
Abington	10-2	18-3
Pennridge	9-3	13-8
Bensalem	8-4	15-7
North Penn	4-8	7-14
Neshaminy	4-8	10-11
Pennsbury	3-9	10-12
HS Truman	0-12	2-18

SOL Continental

	League	Overall
CB East	10-2	12-8
Norristown	9-3	16-6
CR-North	9-3	14-7
W. Tennent	8-3	15-6
Souderton	5-7	9-13
CB West	3-8	5-13
CR-South	3-9	5-16
Hat.-Horsham	0-12	3-18

SOL American

	League	Overall
Methacton	14-0	22-0
Upper Dublin	12-2	17-5
Wissahickon	9-5	14-8
Cheltenham	9-5	12-9
Quakertown	7-7	12-10
P-W	6-8	9-13
Upper Merion	5-10	9-13
Springfield	2-13	4-16
U. Moreland	0-14	1-20

AACA

	League	Overall
Mount St. Joseph	11-0	18-1
Villa Maria	10-2	14-4
Villa Joseph Marie	7-5	13-7
Nazareth	7-5	11-8
St. Basil	7-5	10-8
Sacred Heart	2-9	6-12
Gwynedd-Mercy	1-10	3-13
Merion Mercy	1-10	3-14

PCL North

	League	Overall
Arch. Wood	8-0	17-2
Arch. Ryan	5-2	11-7
Conwell-Egan	6-2	15-5
Card. Dougherty	3-3	6-10
St. Hubert	2-5	6-12
Bishop McDevitt	1-7	5-15
Kennedy-Kenrick	0-6	4-13

PCL South

	League	Overall
Card. O'Hara	7-0	14-0
Arch. Carroll	7-1	13-5
Neu.-Goretti	5-3	7-7
Little Flower	3-5	9-8
Arch. Prend.	3-5	7-12
W. Catholic	2-5	7-11
Hallahan	0-8	3-13

Friends League

	League	Overall
Shipley	4-0	9-4
Germ. Friends	5-1	14-5
George Sch.	4-1	8-4
Fr. Central	3-1	12-4
Westtown	2-2	4-6
ANC	1-3	6-4
Abington Fr.	1-3	4-11
Moorestown Fr.	1-4	4-11
Fr. Select	0-6	4-14

Notre Dame Academy 54, Arch. Wood 45

ARCHBISHOP WOOD (45)
Alyssa Parsons 1 2-2 4; Lisa Strack 3 4-8 10; Taylor Peltzer 3 2-2 9; Rosie Tarnowski 5 2-3 12; Ashley Robinson 4 2-4 10; Sam Greenfield 0 0-0 0; Jen Maxwell 0 0-0 0; Laura Caron 0 0-0 0; Carolyn Bucher 0 0-0 0. Totals: 16 12-19 45.

NOTRE DAME ACADEMY (54)
Mia Nickson 2 4-7 8; Morgan Wrightson 1 0-0 2; Kristin Coles 5 1-2 11; Azania Stewart 2 3-4 7; Josette Campbell 4 3-4 14; Jessica Escorza 1 1-2 3; Janelle McDonald 1 5-6 7; Kristen Brown 1 0-0 2; Chelsea McNamee 0 0-0 0. Totals: 17 17-25 54.

AW 10-9-15-11—45
ND 20-14-4-16—54

3-point goals: Peltzer (AW); Campbell 3 (ND).

Link to Courier Times game story

TEN THINGS

1. Wood made a huge comeback in the second half. The Vikings were down by 19 points, 34-15, with 1 1/2 minutes left in the second quarter.

2. Notre Dame Academy (19-2) of Middleburg, Va., was No. 6 in USA Today's most recent Super 25 national poll.

3. Wood (17-2) outscored Notre Dame 15-4 in the third quarter. The Vikings got within two points twice in the fourth quarter, but couldn't tie it up.

4. Wood senior forward Rosie Tarnowski had 12 points, five rebounds and two steals. Junior center Ashley Robinson finished with 10 points, nine rebounds, four blocks and four steals. Lisa Strack had 10 points, Taylor Peltzer had nine points and Alyssa Parsons added four points.

5. Both of Wood's losses this season have been to nationally ranked teams. Notre Dame Ohio's Lakota West beat Wood in a holiday tournament on Dec. 30.

6. Notre Dame has four players going to Division I colleges: 6-foot-4 center Azania Stewart (Florida), 6-foot-1 guard Mia Nickson (Boston College), 5-foot-9 guard Morgan Wrightson (Bucknell) and 5-foot-8 guard Kristen Coles (American).

7. Senior 6-foot-1 guard Josette Campbell led Notre Dame with 14 points. Coles scored 11, Nickson had eight and Stewart finished with seven.

8. Wood held the Dragons to one field goal in the first 9:50 of the second half and four field goals in the entire second half.

9. “It was really important (to play well in the second half),” Parsons said. “There was a little bit of screaming at halftime. We had to come back. We were pumped up, and we battled. We came out to show each other that we could play with them.”

10. “We came out flat in the first half, but we realized in the second half that we could play with them,” Robinson said. “When you face the No. 6 team in the country, you learn that if you can play with them, you can play with anybody.”