Class AAAA
No. 2 Methacton 60, No. 3 Spring-Ford 45
Link to Times-Herald game story
No. 1 Downingtown East 52, No. 13 Norristown 38
Link to Times-Herald game story
Link to Daily Local game story
Final - Friday at 7 p.m. at Villanova
Notes: Downingtown East (26-1) lost to St. Mark's on Dec. 8. The Cougars have not given up more than 46 points all season. They've given up 124 points in four district tournament games (31.0 points a game). Methacton (28-0) hasn't lost in a full year, since a 39-32 loss to Downingtown East on Feb. 21, 2007, in the second round of last spring's district tournament. Methacton has scored fewer than 46 points twice in 28 games and is averaging 55.8 points in the district tournament.
Class AAA
No. 1 Mount St. Joseph 45, No. 5 Pottstown 32
Link to Evening Bulletin game story
No. 2 Villa Maria 46, No. 3 Oxford 43
Final - Saturday at 6 p.m. at Villanova
Notes: Mount (24-2) has beaten Villa Maria (20-6) three times this season, on Jan. 3 (48-39), Jan. 22 (44-42) and Feb. 8 (45-39).
Class AA
No. 4 St. Pius X 55, No. 1 Lower Moreland 38
No. 2 Delco Christian 40, No. 3 Christopher Dock 37
Final - Saturday at 2 p.m. at Villanova
Class A
No. 4 Sacred Heart 55, No. 1 Faith Christian 36
No. 2 Girard College 41, No. 3 Jenkintown 26
Final - Saturday at Noon at Villanova
Thursday, February 21, 2008
D1 Semifinals
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Catholic League Semifinals
Cardinal O'Hara 65, Conwell-Egan 40
Archbishop Carroll 54, Archbishop Wood 46
ARCHBISHOP CARROLL (54)
Erin Shields 1 2-2 4; Kerri Shields 5 4-4 14; Kaitlin Cole 1 2-2 4; Deanna Kelly 2 1-2 6; Megan Pearson 5 2-2 16; Gabby Capuzzi 0 2-2 2; Hollie Mershon 0 0-0 0; Lauren Comly 2 2-2 8; Lauren Wells 0 0-0 0; Marlee Hagan 0 0-0 0; Mary Kate McCann 0 0-0 0. Totals: 16 15-16 54.
ARCHBISHOP WOOD (46)
Ashley Robinson 4 7-9 15; Alyssa Parsons 1 0-0 3; Lisa Strack 3 0-0 7; Taylor Peltzer 2 0-0 6; Rosie Tarnowski 4 5-8 13; Jen Maxwell 0 0-0 0; Laura Caron 0 0-0 0; Ashley B'Oris 0 0-0 0; Jenelle Hudson 1 0-0 2; Grace Gallagher 0 0-0 0; Kelly Young 0 0-0 0. Totals: 15 12-17 46.
AC 18-13-10-13--54
AW 9-7-16-14--46
Three-point goals: Pearson 4, Comly 2, Kelly (AC); Peltzer 2, Parsons, Strack (AW).
***
CONWELL-EGAN (40)
Mourer 3 0-0 7; Moore 1 0-0 2; Griffin 0 1-2 1; Cloonan 2 0-0 4; Tyson-Thomas 6 2-3 15; Breslin 0 0-0 0; Watson 3 2-2 11; Howell 0 0-0 0; Rongione 0 0-1 0; Chase 0 0-0 0; Moonan 0 0-0 0; Ewing 0 0-0 0; Lubey 0 0-0 0; Ralph 0 0-2 0. Totals: 15 5-9 40.
CARDINAL O'HARA (65)
Cloud 4 0-0 9; Womack 5 1-1 11; Manning 2 2-2 6; Downey 0 2-2 2; Holzer 10 4-6 24; Callahan 3 0-0 7; Johnson 0 2-2 2; Duffin 0 0-0 0; Henson 2 0-0 4; Brown 0 0-0 0; Mattera 0 0-0 0; Kilday 0 0-0 0. Totals: 26 11-13 65.
CEC 8-11-7-14--40
CO 16-15-19-15--65
Three-point goals: Watson 3, Tyson-Thomas, Mourer (CEC); Cloud, Callahan (CO).
EIGHT THINGS
1. O'Hara (24-2) took a 14-0 lead. Carroll (19-7) took a 10-0 lead. Conwell-Egan (20-6) never got closer than five points. Wood (23-3) never got closer than seven points.
2. O'Hara junior center Stephanie Holzer had 24 points and 17 rebounds. Conwell-Egan junior guard Carmen Tyson-Thomas had 15 points, six rebounds and five blocked shots.
3. Senior guard Megan Pearson led Carroll with 16 points and hit four 3-pointers. Junior guard Kerri Shields scored 14 points, while senior guard Lauren Comly scored eight points and hit a pair of 3-pointers.
4. Wood junior 6-foot-3 forward Ashley Robinson scored 15 points and grabbed nine rebounds. Senior forward Rosie Tarnowski finished with 13 points and 15 rebounds.
5. Carroll shot 47.1 percent (16 for 34) from the floor. They hit 50 percent (seven for 14) from beyond the 3-point arc. Carroll also shot 93.8 percent (15 for 16) from the free throw line.
6. Wood is 1-9 in the PCL semifinals in the last 10 years. The lone victory was last year against O'Hara.
7. Carroll led by 15 points at halftime, 31-16, but never did really put the game away until the closing minutes. For most of the second half, Carroll's lead fluctuated between eight points and 13 points.
8. O'Hara led by 12 at halftime, 31-19. Holzer scored 12 of her points in the third quarter as the Lions opened up a 49-23 lead and put the game away.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
D1 AAAA Quarterfinals
No. 1 Downingtown East 46, No. 8 Lower Merion 36
Recap: The Cougars (25-1) fell behind early, but came back in the second quarter. Kristen Blye had 13 points and 11 rebounds for DTE.
Link to Daily Local game story
No. 13 Norristown 57, No. 4 Great Valley 52
Recap: Guard Heather McHugh hit three 3-pointers in the last four minutes of the game for the Eagles (21-6).
Link to Times-Herald game story
No. 2 Methacton 46, No. 7 Abington 41
Recap: Methacton senior star Renee Womack scored just one point, but Lauren Ruhl scored 16 points and Rachel Meier added 13 points for the Warriors (27-0).
Link to Times-Herald game story
No. 3 Spring-Ford 51, No. 22 Downingtown West 48
Recap: Spring-Ford (25-2) was down 10 points early, but outscored the Whippets 42-29 over the last three quarters.
Link to Daily Local game story
League records in the first three rounds:
| Ches-Mont Nat. | 6-2 |
| PAC | 4-2 |
| SOL American | 5-3 |
| SOL Continental | 5-4 |
| Central | 3-3 |
| Ches-Mont Am. | 2-3 |
| SOL National | 3-6 |
| Del-Val | 0-4 |
| Independent | 0-1 |
Friday, February 15, 2008
Conwell-Egan 51, Arch. Ryan 37
ARCHBISHOP RYAN (37)
Laura Grow 2 4-4 6; Missy Milanese 3 0-0 6; Danielle Foreman 0 5-6 5; Jess Kosi 2 0-6 4; Kim Hollawell 2 2-4 6; Kate Keal 1 0-0 3; Sarah Strybuc 2 2-3 7; McArdle 0 0-0 0; Smith 0 0-0 0; Heisse 0 0-0 0; Shaw 0 0-0 0; Jerdan 0 0-0 0. Totals: 12 13-23 37.
CONWELL-EGAN (51)
Kaitlyn Maurer 2 0-0 4; Rachel Moore 1 0-0 2; Hilary Cloonan 1 7-8 9; Theresa Griffin 1 4-6 7; Carmen Tyson-Thomas 8 5-5 22; Kate Chase 1 0-0 2; Rebecca Howell 0 0-0 0; Jenny Rongione 1 0-1 2; Trish Watson 0 3-6 3; Kim Breslin 0 0-0 0. Totals: 15 19-26 51.
AR 7 9 7 14--37
CEC 12 14 8 17--51
Three-point goals: Keal, Strybuc (AR); Griffin, Tyson-Thomas (CEC).
Link to Courier Times game story
Link to Friday's Courier Times girls basketball notes
SEVEN THINGS
1. Conwell-Egan (20-5) will face Cardinal O'Hara (23-2) in the Philadelphia Catholic League semifinals at 6 p.m. on Tuesday night at St. Joseph's University. Conwell-Egan hasn't been to the PCL semifinals since 1998.
2. CEC junior guard Carmen Tyson-Thomas had 22 points for the Eagles. Senior center Hilary Cloonan scored nine points and senior guard Theresa Griffin added seven points.
3. “This is the best,”
4. “It’s not something we usually do, so it’s a big deal for us,” Tyson-Thomas said. “We played hard this year, and this is what we deserve. We’ve been playing like you’re supposed to play. We’re playing as a team. That’s the way to win games.”
5. Archbishop Wood faces Archbishop Carroll in the other PCL semifinal in a rematch of last year's PCL championship game (Carroll won).
6. Conwell-Egan has won 13 of its last 14 games since Dec. 27. The Eagles only loss during that span was to Wood on Jan. 22.
7. Conwell-Egan jumped out to a 12-3 lead and never trailed. Ryan didn't get closer than nine points in the second half. CEC beat Ryan three times this season.
Second Round AAAA Thoughts, Plus ...
1. Really big wins for Great Valley and Methacton. Many people questioned Great Valley's schedule, but the Patriots reached states with consecutive wins against North Penn and Cheltenham. Methacton reached the state tournament for the first time with a tough victory over visiting Council Rock-North.
2. Downingtown East is rolling. The Cougars haven't been in a close game since a 32-31 win over Wilson on Jan. 19. Their last seven wins have been by an average of 26.3 points. All of those victories were by at least 20 points.
3. Norristown's upset of Conestoga isn't really a shock. The Pioneers were vulnerable and the Eagles were underseeded. How did the SOL Continental not have a team seeded in the top 12 again? Norristown won. Tennent lost by only two to Spring-Ford. CR-North led Methacton in the second half and was down by three points late despite leading scorer and rebounder Sarah Kiely missing almost the entire game with foul trouble. The system needs to be reevaluated again. If you want to use the power rankings, fine. Although they are horrifically labor intensive for the people who have to calculate them. But use power rankings as one of several factors. Do I need to remind the district that there was usually only minor grumbling, if that, after the old seeding meetings? I sat in on the final one and found it very fair. The system was not broken for the girls. It is now.
4. The PCL playoffs started on Thursday with Archbishop Carroll's 64-43 win over Neumann-Goretti and Cardinal Dougherty's play-in win over St. Hubert. Tonight, Wood hosts Dougherty, Conwell-Egan hosts Archbishop Ryan, and Cardinal O'Hara hosts Archbishop Prendergast.
5. Some Bucks County PCL facts: Wood won its 12 PCL games by an average margin of 35.1 points. The Vikings scored 741 total points in 12 games and allowed 320. Wood averaged 61.8 points a game in the league and allowed an average of 26.7 points. Conwell-Egan’s 10 PCL wins were by an average of 20.3 points. The Eagles won three Catholic League games by 40 points or more. They averaged 59.2 points a game in 12 PCL games and gave up an average of 43.4 points a game.
6. The PIAA and District One need to do something to improve the quality of officiating in the girls games. I really respect the hard work and effort of the officials. But questionable calls and inconsistent officiating have too much impact on playoff games, I believe. One or two bad calls can completely change a game. It's too much of a factor, and the situation is getting worse.
7. Lower Merion is also rolling. The Aces have won 16 of 17 since Dec. 19.
8. Norristown guard Bryn Cotteta seems to be a real clutch shooter. She beat Conestoga with a last-second 3-pointer on Thursday. A few weeks ago, she hit two big 3-pointers down the stretch to beat CR-North.
9. Abington's defense and size could mean trouble for Methacton. It's going to be a close, low-scoring game. And Renee Womack was able to avoid fouls on Wednesday by jumping over CR-North rebounders when she didn't have position. She won't be able to do that against the Ghosts.
10. At 14-10 against one of the top schedules in the district, Downingtown West obviously deserved better than a No. 22 seed. The Whippets played the third-toughest schedule in the entire district. Tweaks to the power rankings must include much more credit for scheduling--and not necessarily beating--very good opponents.
11. League records in the first two rounds:
| Ches-Mont Nat. | 5-1 |
| Central | 3-2 |
| PAC | 3-2 |
| SOL American | 4-3 |
| SOL Continental | 4-4 |
| Ches-Mont Am. | 2-2 |
| SOL National | 3-5 |
| Del-Val | 0-4 |
| Independent | 0-1 |
Thursday, February 14, 2008
D1 AAAA Second Round Recaps
No. 1 Downingtown East 43, No. 17 Henderson 22
Recap:Downingtown East allowed four points in the first half and led 32-11 after three quarters. Kristen Blye had 16 points for the Cougars.
Disappointingly, no online game story.
No. 8 Lower Merion 46, No. 9 Upper Dublin 41
Recap: Lower Merion (21-5) came back from a nine-point halftime deficit to defeat the Cardinals (20-6). Aces junior Molly Hanlon scored 14 of her game-high 17 points in the second half.
Link to Times-Herald game story
***
No. 13 Norristown 45, No. 4 Conestoga 42
Recap: Norristown guard Bryn Cotteta hit a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to upset the Pioneers (20-6).
Link to Times-Herald game story
***
No. 5 Great Valley 52, No. 21 Cheltenham 42
Recap: Huge win for Great Valley (23-3). Andrea Pride scored 20 points for the Patriots.
***
No. 2 Methacton 48, No. 15 CR-North 40
Recap: Senior forward Renee Womack had 26 points, nine rebounds, four steals and three assists for Methacton (26-0). CR-North (17-9), which was within three points, 38-35, in the fourth quarter, got 14 points from sophomore Kelly Scull.
Link to Courier Times game story
Link to Times-Herald game story
***
No. 7 Abington 55, No. 23 Boyertown 25
Recap: The Ghosts (22-4) held Boyertown to 10 points in the first half. Casey Pritz scored 11 points and Emily Leer had 10 points for Abington.
***
No. 3 Spring-Ford 63, No. 19 William Tennent 61
Recap: The Panthers (17-9) nearly upset Spring-Ford (24-2). Tennent sophomore Sarah Godfrey had 18 points and 13 rebounds. For Spring-Ford, Megan Bedard scored 22 points and Allie Kakareka scored 21 points.
Link to Intelligencer game story
***
No. 22 Downingtown West 49, No. 6 CB South 38
Recap: Kelly Coker scored 16 points for the Whippets (16-10).
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Methacton 48, CR-North 40
Juliann Fricke 1 4-5 6; Devin Gold 4 0-0 10; Kelly Scull 5 2-2 14; Sarah Kiely 2 2-4 6; Jen Sroba 0 0-0 0; Kate Logan 2 0-1 4; Jenn Casper 0 0-0 0; Katie Van Aken 0 0-0 0. Totals: 14 8-12 40.
METHACTON (48)
Alison Hammond 1 1-2 3; Renee Womack 7 12-13 26; Lauren Ruhl 1 3-6 5; Rachel Meier 2 1-2 5; Brittany Roth 3 1-3 7; Lindsey Allebach 0 0-0 0; Melanie Ordway 1 0-0 2; Leeann Randall 0 0-0 0. Totals: 15 18-26 48.
CRN 4-15-12-9—40
M 10-11-11-16—48
3-point goals: Gold 2, Scull 2 (CRN).
Link to Courier Times game story
EIGHT THINGS
1. Methacton 5-foot-11 senior Renee Womack had 26 points, nine rebounds, four steals and three assists. She was 12 for 13 from the foul line. After CR-North took a two-point lead, 23-21, early in the third quarter, Womack scored eight straight points for the unbeaten and second-seeded Warriors (26-0).
2. No. 15 seed CR-North (17-9) had a three-point lead, 26-23, midway through the third quarter and was still within three points, 38-35, with four minutes to go in the game. Methacton sealed the win with a 7-0 run.
3. “The fourth quarter is our quarter,” Womack said. “Even if the game’s not going well, we have to pull it out. It’s do or die.”
4. “It’s a huge win for us,” Methacton coach Craig Kaminski said. “It’s exciting for the team and for the whole school."
5. In the quarterfinals, Methacton will play the winner of Thursday's game between No. 7 Abington (21-4) and No. 23 Boyertown (15-9). The Warriors have qualified for the state tournament. CR-North failed to win at least two district games for only the second time since 1997.
6. Indians sophomore forward Kelly Scull had 14 points, and freshman guard Devin Gold scored 10 points.
7. Kaminski felt that it was unfortunate that the district seedings matched CR-North and Methacton in the second round. "(CR-North) is better than a 15th seed," he said. "They played a tremendous schedule. It’s a shame that one of us had to go home.”
8. CR-North will return four starters next season. "I am excited for the future," said Scull, who earned a starting spot midway through the season. "We got a chance to play together. We had to get our chemistry down. It was hard, but we did it."