City of Basketball Love

Zak Wolf (@ZakWolf22)
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FT. WASHINGTON — The Upper Dublin girls had to grind their way through their first round matchup with Downingtown West on Friday Night. The Lady Cardinals avoided the opening round upset, defeating West 37-25 thanks to some toughness on the defensive end. 

The Cardinals needed their defense to be strong, especially in the first half after getting off to a slow start on offense in the first game of the girl-boy doubleheader. 

“I think we started off a little bit rocky, but towards the end of the first half we came out strong,”  sophomore guard Aditi Foster said. “We definitely stayed mentally tough, especially in the second half.”

Foster’s energy is what helped UD get into a grove in the first half after struggling for a large portion of it. 

Upper Dublin had a tough time in the first half converting their looks on the offensive end. It wasn’t sloppy or lazy play, it just came down to the simple fact, the Cardinals weren’t hitting shots. UD only scored two points in the first quarter, and didn’t get their first basket in the second quarter until four minutes in. 

Trailing 14-5, the Cardinals were able to finish the half on a 10-0 run and Aditi Foster's layup gave them a 15-14 lead going into the break. Upper Dublin's press is what sparked the run after they were finally able to set it up off of made baskets.

“What was important was to finally make a shot,” Upper Dublin head coach Morgan Funsten said. “We’ve seen (West) struggle against pressure in the past, but you can’t get into your press break unless you score. I thought there was a nice little snowball at the end of the second quarter in a positive way for us. We were able to come into halftime feeling a little better for ourselves then if it was three minutes earlier.”

Playing in the playoffs can create a lot of nerves and uneasiness, but once Upper Dublin got into their rhythm, it was smooth sailing from there. 

Foster led Upper Dublin with 12 points, six of which came in the third quarter, where Upper Dublin outscored Downingtown West 9-2. The Cardinals were able to hold the lead for the rest of the game, holding West at arms’ length, preventing a big run.

Geena Sarnoski had nine points, including the only 3-three pointers that her team had all game. Sophomore guard Amy Ngo didn’t have her best night shooting the basketball, but did a good job of running the offense and providing on ball defense for the Cardinals. She finished with nine points, going 7-8 from the foul line in the fourth quarter. 

For Downingtown West, Lizzie Grant had a solid night, scoring 13 points, but Upper Dublin kept the rest of her teammates quiet. 

Fourth-seeded Pennsbury awaits Upper Dublin in the next round. UD will have to figure out a way to stop Maryland commit Ava Sciolla to pull the upset over the Suburban One League runner-ups and advance to the quarterfinals.

“We have to try and create situations on offense where our girls feel comfortable and confident in shooting the ball,” Funsten said. “Defensively we have to find a way to take away what they do best. Ava Sciolla is a great player, what makes her so good is how much better she makes her teammates.”

By Quarter
Upper Dublin:            2 | 13 | 9 | 13 || 37
Downingtown West:  7 |  7  | 2 |  8  || 25

Scoring
Upper Dublin: Foster 12, Sarnoski 9, Ngo 9, Klammer 7

Downingtown West: Grant 13, Forsyth 5, Arrowsmith 5, Stauffer 2

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McKee’s putback lifts Garnet Valley 

Garnet Valley was dead and buried and it looked like their season was going to come to an end in the first round of the District 1 6A boys’ playoffs. That was before they decided to pull off a miraculous comeback to beat Upper Dublin 48-46, pulling off a major upset. 

An uncharacteristic first half, full of turnovers and missed shots had Garnet Valley trailing 27-14. That trend continued into the third quarter, with Upper Dublin jumping out to a 34-18 lead, before Garnet Valley came storming back.

“The message at halftime was there was a lot of game left and don’t panic,” Garnet Valley head coach Mike Brown said. “Inch back, I said to them, we’re probably not going to take the lead, but if you can get it to 10 at the end of the third quarter, the problem was that it got to 18, but these guys have a lot of heart, and that was a tremendous comeback”

Garnet Valley started out in a zone, but Upper Dublin shot them out of it thanks to some excellent play from junior point guard Colin O’Sullivan. O’Sullivan hit three triples and finished with 13 points on the night. 

When Garnet made the switch to man-to-man defense, the game was flipped on its head. The Jags were able to fluster the Cardinals and they let their offense feed off of their defense. Once one shot went in for Garnet, they all started to fall, which allowed them to creep back into the game.

“It was about having more active hands-on defense,” junior Max Koehler said. “Seeing a shot go in just helped us make the right plays down the stretch. Everybody played a part at the end.”

Koehler played a big part in the comeback along with senior Ryan Wooten, both of whom played on the Garnet team that made it to the District semi-finals last year. Garnet relied heavily on the two in the third quarter, combining for 14 of their 17 points, helping close the gap to 8 heading into the fourth. 

Koehler finished with 15 and Wooten had 11, but it was their teammates who came up big down the stretch. Jack Krautzel drained a three to put Garnet up one and give them their first lead of the game with 3:15 remaining. Krautzel had all nine of his points come in the second half. 

With less than 30 second remaining and Garnet up 3, Upper Dublin drew up a play to get D.J Cerisier a wide open look in the corner which he buried to tie the game. Garnet then came down the floor and missed their first shot, but Logan McKee was there for the putback and the foul to put Garnet up two with less than a second left. McKee scored all seven of his points in the fourth for Garnet. 

Despite being the lowest seed in the bracket, the No. 24-seeded Jags are confident after finishing the year 14-8.

“I think we’re just as good as any team in the tournament, we’re ready to do damage at 24,” Koehler said. “We can put that first half behind, that’s not Garnet Valley basketball. Second half, that’s what we do, hit shots, make the right plays and play good defense.”

By Quarter
Upper Dublin:  17 | 10 | 12 |  7 || 46
Garnet Valley:  7  |  7  | 17 | 17 || 48

Scoring

Upper Dublin: Cerisier 14, O’Sullivan 13 Kukla 6, Pensabene 5, Johnson 4, Mulroy 3, Kohlbrenner 1

Garnet Valley: Koehler 15, Wooten 11, Krautzel 9, McKee 7, Facenda 4, Sniras 2