D1 and PCL Predictions (Feb. 17-18)

DISTRICT ONE CLASS AAAA

No. 16 Norristown (15-8) at No. 1 Cheltenham (22-1)
Cheltenham didn't really have a huge win in the first round over William Tennent. The Panthers are a little young and inexperienced for a top seed. Nice win for the Eagles over Upper Dublin in Round 1.
Pick: Cheltenham, 58-41

No. 9 Abington (18-5) at No. 8 Henderson (19-4)
I thought the Ghosts with Emily Leer were better than a No. 9 seed, but they only beat Pennridge by 11 in the first round. Henderson needed 41 points from Shante Evans and a strong fourth quarter to down Spring-Ford by nine points in the first round.
Pick: Abington, 44-39

No. 13 Council Rock-South (15-8) at No. 4 Lower Merion (21-2)
CR-South captured the program's first-ever district tournament win in the first round. The Golden Hawks are used to playing very good teams in intense games because of the two-times-per-year rivalry games with CR-North. But Lower Merion should be able to get to the quarterfinals.
Pick: Lower Merion, 53-43

No. 12 Chester (15-6) at No. 5 Upper Darby (21-2)
Both teams won big in the first round, Chester by 21 points and Upper Darby by 26. Upper Darby didn't play an especially tough regular season schedule, but did play tough against Lower Merion in two losses.
Pick: Chester, 46-38

No. 18 Bensalem (13-9) at No. 2 Downingtown East (21-2)
The Owls played well to upset a hot North Penn team in the first round, 36-31. Senior Sharmane Hall scored nine points and guard Kate Clarkson scored 11. But the Cougars might be the best team in the district and probably should have been the top seed - power rankings aside. Their only losses all season were to Germantown Academy and Central Dauphin. Downingtown East's last two opponents scored 15 and 14 points.
Pick: Downingtown East, 41-20

No. 10 Perkiomen Valley (18-5) at No. 7 CB East (21-2)
CB East might be better than than three of the teams seeded ahead of it. Perkiomen Valley has won 17 of its last 18 games, but didn't fact top competition.
Pick: CB East, 51-39

No. 14 Methacton (14-9) at No. 3 Council Rock-North (21-2)
The Indians rolled by 50 points in the first round. Methacton had a relatively easy win, as well. Methacton, which knocked CR-North from the district tournament last year, had the second-most Schedule Points in the district's power rating system.
Pick: CR-North, 58-42

No. 11 Downingtown West (16-7) at No. 6 Great Valley (20-3)
I think this one's a toss-up. Downingtown West played the tougher schedule, but Great Valley did have some quality wins and playe Downingtown East tough.
Pick: Downingtown West, 47-46

***

PHILADELPHIA CATHOLIC LEAGUE

No. 3 Archbishop Carroll (22-1) vs. No. 2 Cardinal O'Hara (22-1)
Two of the state's top teams are playing the early game in the PCL semifinals at Gwynedd-Mercy College on Tuesday. O'Hara won the first meeting on Dec. 28 by 17 points, 61-44. Carroll seems to have trouble matching up with O'Hara. Expect O'Hara to win this game, but both teams to go very far in their respective state tournament brackets--O'Hara in Class AAAA and Carroll in Class AAA.
Pick: Cardinal O'Hara, 63-52

No. 1 Archbishop Wood (18-5) vs. No. 4 Archbishop Ryan (18-5)
Wood won the first meeting on Jan. 27 by six points, 50-44. Although an upset's not impossible, don't expect this one to be quite as close. Wood senior center Ashley Robinson scored 16 of Wood's 50 points in the first game, but the Vikings should get more scoring from the perimeter. One caveat, Wood needs a decent first quarter. If Ryan gets an early lead, anything can happen.
Pick: Archbishop Wood, 53-42

CR-South 49, Boyertown 38

Boyertown (38)
Jess Schlesmen 1 2-5 4; Megan Stewart 1 0-1 2; Sarah Bennett 3 5-7 11; Alex Brown 6 0-0 15; Michelle Hartman 0 0-0 0; Kelly Furman 0 0-0 0 Lauren Walker 0 0-0 0; Gillian Hilbert 0 0-0 0; Nicole Slickers 2 0-0 6; Brooke Fisher 0 0-0 0; Tara Powell 0 0-0 0; Emily Moatz 0 0-0 0; Kaley Snyder 0 0-0 0. Totals: 13 7-13 38.

CR-South (49)
Lea Britton 1 0-4 2; Ann Silverthorn 2 1-2 6; Alex Wheatley 6 3-4 15; Chelsea Allen 3 7-10 13; Emily Nowicke 3 0-2 7; Steph Gillio 2 0-0 6; Jackie Weber 0 0-0 0; Lindsay Kirlin 0 0-0 0; Brianna Schlupp 0 0-0 0. Totals: 17 11-22 49.

B: 9-8-11-10—38
CRS:16-9-11-13—49

Three-point goals: Brown 3, Slickers 2 (B); Gillio 2, Silverthorn, Nowicke.

NINE THINGS

1. CR-South (15-8), the 13th seed in the District One Class AAAA tournament, led the whole way over No. 20 Boyertown (12-11). The Bears cut into South's lead a few times in the second half, but CR-South pulled away each time. This is the first district tournament win ever for the Golden Hawks' program.

2. Freshman center Alex Wheatley had 15 points and 11 rebounds for South, while junior forward Chelsea Allen finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Wheatley scored 12 of CR-South’s 25 first-half points. Allen had nine of the team’s 24 second-half points.

3. “Before the game, I thought that Alex and Chelsea could dominate inside, and they hit the boards well," South coach Monica Young said.

4. CR-South has tripled its win total from last season. “I can’t even describe what this means to them,” Young said. “From where they came from, it’s unbelievable.”

5. “This is really exciting,” Allen said. “We were a little nervous at first. We have no playoff experience. And it was a little sloppy. But you’re going to have some games like that.”

6. CR-South visits No. 4 seed Lower Merion (21-2) in the second round. "We'll go into it the same as we go into any other game," Allen said. "They're not invincible. We have to play really well."

7. Guard Steph Gillio came off the bench to hit two big 3-pointers. Gillio hit her first in the first quarter with CR-South ahead by only two and struggling to score. The second, in the fourth quarter, stretched South's lead to 12, 43-31, with 3:22 to play and pretty much sealed the win.

8. Young used her bench extensively in the first half after Allen and guard Ann Silverthorn picked up their second fouls.

9. Alex Brown led the scrappy Bears with 15 points and Sarah Bennett added 11 points. Although Boyertown didn't have the caliber of scorers that South has, the Bears got to a lot of loose balls and forced double-digit turnovers.

Archbishop Wood 59, Neumann-Goretti 35

Neumann-Goretti (35)
Ashley White 6 0-0 13; Nica Meccariello 2 5-6 10; Adriana Sciascia 1 0-0 3; Michaila Hatty 2 0-0 4; Christine Furia 0 0-0 0; Drew Balchaitis 1 0-0 2; Danielle Squilla 1 0-1 3; Megan Edwards 0 0-0 0; Tonia Russo 0 0-0 0. Totals: 13 5-7 35.

Archbishop Wood (59)
Sam Greenfield 0 1-2 1; Jenelle Hudson 1 0-0 3; Jen Maxwell 4 0-0 12; Christine Verrelle 2 2-3 7; Ashley Robinson 6 12-14 24; Stephanie Keyes 3 0-0 8; Cait McCartney 1 0-0 2; Tori Arnao 0 1-2 1; Grace Gallagher 0 0-0 0; Kelly Young 0 1-2 1. Totals: 17 17-23 59.

NG: 8-10-9-8--25
AW: 6-27-12-14--59

Three-point goals: White, Meccariello, Sciascia, Squilla (NG); Maxwell 4, Keyes 2, Hudson, Verrelle.

SEVEN THINGS

1. Archbishop Wood (18-5) trailed by two points, 8-6, after the first quarter. But Wood hit six 3-pointers in a 27-point second quarter to build a 15-point lead, 33-18, at halftime. The Saints never got closer than 15 points in the second half.

2. Wood senior center Ashley Robinson finished with 24 points, seven rebounds and four blocked shots. She had 17 points in the second half. Robinson had nine points in the third quarter and eight in the fourth before going to the bench with a few minutes left in the game. She was seven for eight from the free throw line in the second half and 12 for 14 overall.

3. The Vikings had eight 3-pointers in the game. Jen Maxwell (12 points) hit four 3-pointers, including three in a span of 1:10 in the second quarter.

4. Wood faces Archbishop Ryan (18-5) in the PCL semifinals at Gwynedd-Mercy College on Tuesday night at 8 p.m. The Vikings won the regular season meeting, 50-44, on Jan. 27.

5. “What can you say about (Robinson)? It’s playoff time and we’ll go to her,” Wood coach Jim Ricci said. “In the first half, they surrounded her in that zone. But Jen (Maxwell) and Steph (Keyes) got off (shooting 3-pointers) and that pulls people away (from Robinson).”

6. Maxwell suffered a badly sprained ankle in the first game of the season and missed more than a month. She only recently began to feel 100% and just returned to the starting lineup in Wood's regular season finale last week. "She’s really important to us offensively and as a leader,” Ricci said. “We really needed her shooting to get us going."

7. Maxwell and Stephanie Keyes (eight points) combined for five 3-pointers in the last 3:41 of the first half.

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.

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."

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.

Neshaminy 51, William Tennent 40

William Tennent (40)
Megan Zimmerman 1 3-4 6; Sarah Godfrey 4 0-0 10; Ashley Alden 3 0-0 6; Hanna Sellers 4 0-3 8; Alison Malatesta 1 3-5 6; Taylor Morgan 0 1-4 1; Liz Koval 1 0-0 2; Gina Tyson 0 0-0 0; Deanna Schneiderreit 0 1-2 1. Totals: 14 8-18 40.

Neshaminy (51)
Victoria Mazzeo 2 0-2 4; Kelsey Ryan 6 2-4 14; Avery Wunder 5 5-10 17; Brianna Hires 2 4-5 8; Brianna Weiler 3 1-2 7; Chelsea Rota 0 0-0 0; Jennifer Slivka 0 1-2 1. Totals: 18 13-25 51.

WT: 5-6-12-17—40
N: 16-14-8-13—51

Three-point goals: Godfrey 2, Zimmerman, Malatesta (WT); Wunder 2 (N).


SIX THINGS

1. Neshaminy (10-10 overall, 7-5 SOL National) led by 11 points, 16-5, after the first quarter and by 19 points, 30-11, at halftime. Tennent (9-10, 4-8) got within 10 points in the fourth quarter, but wasn't able to make it a competitive game.

2. Senior point guard Avery Wunder had 17 points and three assists and played an outstanding overall game.

3. “Avery had a great game,” Neshaminy coach Joanne McVey said. “She showed senior leadership in a big way. She’s a little bit of a reluctant leader. But these kids really look to her. To see her have this kind of success is one of those things you go into coaching for.”

4. Junior forward Kelsey Ryan finished with 14 points and six rebounds for the Redskins, who also received nice contributions from guard Brianna Hires and forwards Victoria Mazzeo and Brianna Weiler.

5. For Tennent, junior Sarah Godfrey had 10 points, five rebounds and two blocked shots, and junior forward Hanna Sellers had eight points and six rebounds. Guard Megan Zimmerman finished with six points and four assists, while guard Ashley Alden added six points and seven rebounds.

6. Neshaminy really wanted to redeem itself for an overtime loss to Tennent back on Jan. 12. Wunder fouled out of that game in the fourth quarter and seemed particularly intent on redemption. “We wanted to come back and get revenge,” Wunder said. “We came in pumped up. And I really wanted to do well to make up for last time.”