City of Basketball Love

Andrew Robinson (ADRobinson3)
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PHILADELPHIA — Jordyn Reynolds didn’t know she was playing Thursday night until Thursday afternoon and Abington would have been lost without her.

A night earlier, the Abington junior guard took an inadvertent shot to the jaw, leaving Reynolds a little sore and a little woozy leading to fears she may have suffered a concussion. Wrapping up a three games in three days stretch against a loaded Penn Charter team on Thursday, the Ghosts weren’t sure what she could give them.

It turned out exactly what they needed and more.

Reynolds scored 18 points and helped Abington outlast Penn Charter 67-63 in the finale of Thursday’s slate of the Speedy Morris Invitational.

“It was real important for me to be out here, real important,” Reynolds said. “I’ve always wanted to help my team get a victory, so I had to step my game up and play hard.”

As a freshman and sophomore, Reynolds was a bench player for Abington used mainly as a floor-spacer thanks to her quick release 3-point shooting. When the Ghosts lost sophomore Dani Brusha for the season due to a knee injury, they looked to Reynolds to fill the void.

A starter from the onset this season, the junior has fit right in by still spacing the floor but also adding an extra ball-handler and showing an increased tenacity on the defensive end. Abington coach Dan Marsh pointed to Reynolds’ defense as the difference maker so far, adding the two-way dimension the team thought it lost with Brusha going down.

“The biggest things with Jordyn were, her defense needed to improve, and her confidence,” Marsh said. “We knew she was talented and she was one of the better players on the ball on team and she’s very deadly that way, it was just a matter of getting her comfortable and getting her confidence up.”

Reynolds had a relatively quiet first half on Thursday, scoring just five points by the intermission but with senior Cire Worley powering the Ghosts with 20 of her 25 and the team leading 37-35, she didn’t need to force shots. After halftime however, Reynolds came to life offensively and certainly saved her biggest plays for late when the team needed the most.

She hit a pair of threes in the third quarter, the second in the midst of a 13-1 run in the heart of the frame that seemingly put Abington in control, and added an assist on a circus shot by Worley.

The Ghosts have rallied together through an extremely difficult opening slate of the season and thanks to Thursday’s win, head into the holiday break feeling good about what they’ve done so far.

“I give it up to my teammates,” Reynolds said. “They’re really helping me with my confidence and we’re all playing hard together.

“When we play together and we play hard like we know we can, then that’s when we’re unstoppable.”

Penn Charter fell behind by as many as 14 before going into the final quarter trailing 57-45. The Quakers, who got plenty of excellent performances across their roster, did not take the deficit well to start the fourth quarter.

Bella Toomey, who scored 20 points and fueled the team’s hot start in the first quarter, scored two baskets and assisted a three by Kaylinn Bethea in a 10-0 run over the opening four minutes that whittled Abington’s lead down to just two. It was Penn Charter’s pressure on the ball, led by Bethea and Aleah Snead, that got Abington into a rut for about five minutes to open the frame.

Reynolds played hero to not only break the Quakers’ run, but give the Ghosts enough of a lead they could out to the finish. After Maya Johnson just got the ball in to Reynolds ahead of a five-second count, the junior guard dribbled to the top of the key and got a favorable match-up as her teammates spread the floor.

From there, she went to the rim and drew contact to earn a while also tossing up a shot going out of bounds that dropped in for the and-one.

“My first thought was ‘yes!’ then my next was ‘I better get back on defense,” Reynolds said. “We won because we played really good defense and took better care of the ball.”

Ryan Carter, Penn Charter’s excellent eighth grader playing up with the varsity team this year, hit two big-time 3-pointers in the fourth quarter as part of her team-high 21 points. Thanks to Reynolds, Abington was able to withstand both of those potential game-changing shots.

Carter’s first three cut the lead to 62-60 with 2:19 left. A foul put Reynolds on the line for a one-and-one, the junior guard knocking down both which proved fortunate when Carter answered with a long three that sliced the lead to one with 1:20 on the clock.

Reynolds capped her night on a layup with 38 seconds left, giving the Ghosts a 66-63 lead.

“She came in with a completely different mindset and I said immediately, ‘she’s ready,’” Marsh said. “She played hurt tonight, she was a little banged up but she was telling me the whole time, ‘I’m good, Coach.’

“She’s so good with the ball, I knew she could get to the rim and she can finish.”

Worley fouled out with 2:54 to play, but the Ghosts’ captain stayed engaged on the bench and was proud to see her teammates scrap out a win against a quality opponent. The UMass-Lowell recruit also sees room for improvement in her team, which is a good sign for a team that wants to be playing its best a few months from now.

“I knew my teammates had my back,” Worley said. “I did my part and I knew they’d get us to the finish line.

“I like our chemistry, but we can always work on it. We’re still finding people in the wrong spots, so we can improve on finding our teammates in the right places.”

By Quarter

ABINGTON 17 | 20 | 20 | 10 || 67

PENN CHARTER 16 | 19 | 10 | 18 || 63

Scoring

A: Cire Worley 25, Jordyn Reynolds 18, Maya Johnson 9, Abril Bowser 8, Piper McGinley 7

PC: Ryan Carter 21, Bella Toomey 20, Kaylinn Bethea 11, Aleah Snead 9, Gracie Shoup 2

Game Three: Penn Charter 71, Simon Gratz 28

The Quaker boys came out hot and didn’t let up, jumping out to a 22-2 lead after one quarter and expanding the lead into the 30s after halftime, the senior-laden Penn Charter squad clicking on all cylinders. 

A full dozen Penn Charter players joined the scoring column, led by sophomore guard Kai Shinholster, who continued his breakout campaign with a 14-point performance, going 6-of-9 from the floor. Lafayette commit Mark Butler didn’t need to shoot much but finished with six points, four assists and six steals, while Trey Shinholster (8 points), Isaiah Grimes (4 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists) and Colin Schumm (5 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals) — all seniors — each had their moments.

The Penn Charter bench, which played much of the second half, finished with 35 points, a number of underclassmen coming in and playing hard during the fourth quarter, like Mase Smith (7 points, 3 rebounds) and freshman guard Jayden Driver (6 points).

By Quarter
Penn Charter:  22  |  16  |  19  |  14  ||  71
Simon Gratz:    2   |  11  |   11  |   4   ||  28

Scoring
Penn Charter: K. Shinholster 14, T. Shinholster 8, Smith 7, Bryson 6, Cotton 6, Butler 6, Driver 6, Schumm 5, Gee 4, Grimes 4, McGlinchey 3, Doran 2

Simon Gratz: Dennison 11, Pembleton-Reid 4, Crawford 4, Sheppard 3, Kittreles 2, Whitney 2, Johnson 2

~~~

Game Two: Cardinal O’Hara 55, Imhotep 20

The defending Catholic League champs were just overpowering, running their offense and getting almost whatever look they wanted, Chrissie Doogan’s multiple-point-guard attack a real problem for opposing defenses. 

Junior guard Joanie Quinn paced the team with a 12-point, six-steal, four-assist, two-rebound effort, setting the tone as O’Hara (3-2) forced 23 turnovers while only giving it away four times. Coming off the bench, fellow point guards Bridget Dawson (3 assists, 3 steals) and Megan Rullo (6 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 assist) both came in and gave the Lions multiple two-way presences, the trio sharing the court for a time and giving the Panthers (4-2) fits).

Sophomore guard Molly Rullo led O’Hara in scoring, benefitting from Quinn, Dawson and her own sister’s dimes while creating a few of her own opportunities, going 11-of-14 from the floor (2-3 3PT) to get to 24 points, with four steals, three rebounds and two assists of her own, an empty fair from the foul line her only real blemish on the night.

It was a close game after one quarter but O’Hara opened things up in the second quarter, forcing 15 first-half turnovers to open up a 28-13 advantage; it was 45-18 after three quarters, the clock running for most of the fourth as the O’Hara reserves, like freshman forward Michelle Eburoh (4 points, 4 rebounds), continued to play well.

By Quarter
O’Hara:  13  |  15  |  17  |  10  ||  55
Imhotep:  9   |   4   |   5   |   2   ||  20

Shooting
O’Hara: 25-58 FG (4-23 3PT), 1-7 FT
Imhotep: 8-29 FG (1-6 3PT), 3-6 FT

Scoring
O’Hara: Mo. Rullo 24, Quinn 12, Me. Rullo 6, Coleman 4, Eburuoh 4, I. Stellabotte 3, S. Stellabotte 3, DiBlasi 2

Imhotep: Stevens 7, Mann 4, Gaymon 3, Evans 2, Geiger 2, Johnson 2

~~~

Game One: Central 67, Bartram 59

A pressing, aggressive defensive attack led by senior guard Sizwe Morris-Louis was the difference-maker for Central in the opener, as the Lancers forced 22 Bartram turnovers and turned them into plenty of advantages on the other end of the floor.

Morris-Louis, a 5-7 senior guard, was all over the court the entire game, coming close to a quadruple-double: 11 points, 13 rebounds, eight assists and nine steals. And he worked for those stats — skying for rebounds, poking the ball away from opposing ball-handlers too often for it to be coincidence, breaking down the defense and finding shooters for a Central (4-3) offense that generally moved the ball well against the Bartram defense.

He was one of four Lancers in double figures. Freshman guard Yahmir Knight-Parker hit two 3-pointers to help him to 13 points, including a key bucket in the lane to give Central — who led most of the way, though not by much — a 62-56 lead with 36.3 seconds left. Junior guard Malachi Brown added two 3-pointers of his own for 12 points, and senior Spencer Rosman had two more triples for 10 points. 

Bartram (2-5) got a terrific game of its own from freshman wing Lateef Lorezno-White. The 6-4 left-hander liked to get into the mid-range and could finish in all sorts of creative ways, and also hit a pair of 3-pointers to help him to an efficient 21 points, with nine rebounds, plus one assist/steal/block each. 

By Quarter
Bartram: 10  |  22  |  15  |  12  ||  59
Central:  21  |  18  |  11  |  17  ||  67

Shooting
Bartram: 20-58 FG (6-22 3PT), 13-27 FT
Central: 22-67 FG (8-27 3PT), 15-27 FT

Scoring
Bartram: Lorenzo-White 21, McCutchen 10, Pelzer 9, Berry 7, Peak 6, Atwell-Fisher 4, Dia 2

Central: Knight-Parker 13, Brown 12, Morris-Louis 11, Rosman 10, Kelly 7, Zellars 5, Rowland 5, Taylor 2, Borgia 2