City of Basketball Love

Sean McBryan (@SeanMcBryan)
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Upper Dublin trailed Cedar Cliff by four heading into the halftime break.

The Colts’ size and athleticism eventually wore the Cardinals down in the second half as the undefeated District 3 champions topped the District 1 sixth-place finisher 39-26 Tuesday night in a PIAA Class 6A girls basketball second-round game at Gov. Mifflin Intermediate School in Shillington.

Cedar Cliff advances to face District 7 runner-up Upper St. Clair, which defeated Pennsbury 42-31, in the quarterfinals Friday.

Upper Dublin doubled in the paint defensively and fundamentally boxed out to try and neutralize Cedar Cliff’s size in the first quarter and it was working. The Colts led 13-10 after one.

Cedar Cliff had the clear advantage in the height department with two players standing 6-foot-2 — junior Kathyrn Sansom and senior Alexis Buie — and 5-10 guard Olivia Jones, who is also a strong rebounder.

Jones’ offensive rebound and putback plus the foul made it 18-10 before Nora Brady answered with a 3-pointer for Upper Dublin. Jones made a runner in the lane, but Brady’s third 3-pointer of the first half with 12 seconds left cut the Colts’ lead to 20-16 heading to the break.

“In the first half I thought we made some tough shots to kind of keep it close,” Upper Dublin head coach Morgan Funsten said. “They have a ton of size and athleticism.”

The four-point deficit is the closest the Cardinals (18-11) would get.

The Colts (28-0) started the third quarter on a 6-0 run to extend their lead to 10 and led by at least seven points for the rest of the game.

Upper Dublin battled on the glass in the first half, but it eventually took its toll with all the energy being expended on the defensive end. The Colts crashed the boards offensively and got multiple second-chance points. 

The Cardinals shot 35.2% from the field with three 3s in the first half before shooting 21.1% with only one 3 in the second half. Upper Dublin was getting good looks that just weren’t falling.

“They’re so physically talented,” Funsten said of the Colts. “I think all of our girls had trouble getting some space and, like I said, I did like our shots that we got in the second half more than the first. But they definitely kept us off balance all night.”

The Colts held a 12-point rebounding advantage with Jones (14), Buie (6), 5-foot-9 guard Sydney Weyant (4), 5-7 guard and Penn soccer commit Taylor Ferraro (4), and Sansom (3) all contributing.

Buie finished with a game-high 11 points and Jones had 10.

Upper Dublin is built well for the future with every starter returning except senior guard Alaina Sanders. It might be hard to see after a loss, but the Cardinals are trending upward after advancing in states this season for the first time since 2019, when they went to the semifinals before the COVID time warp. 

“You hope that your younger players always learn from their mistakes,” Funsten said. “I think what was really great about our team this year is how much growth we had. We were the 19th seed out of the district and here we are in the final 16.

“You hope that a loss in a game like this motivates them in the offseason, just makes them hungry when we come back next year.”

Brady, a junior, led the team with nine points and also had six rebounds, freshmen Megan Ngo and Colleen Besachio held their own and will only get better, junior Amy Ngo will get more comfortable as she recovers from a knee injury.

The Cardinals held Cedar Cliff to the third-least points its scored in a game all season; the only teams that have been closer to beating the Colts this season are Cardinal O’Hara (four-point loss), Red Lion (five-point loss), Central Dauphin (nine-point loss), and Central York (10-point loss). Silver linings.

Central York 64, Easton 46: The District 3 runner-up Panthers pressured the Rovers into submission in the early PIAA Class 6A girls basketball game Tuesday at Gov. Mifflin Intermediate School. 

Senior Shippensburg commit Bella Chimienti had 16 points, freshman Alivia McCaskell 15, and senior Jazmine Parker 11 as Central York’s full-court pressure caused countless Easton turnovers and subsequent scoring opportunities.

Evalyse Cole had 16 to lead the Rovers.

Central York plays District 12 champion Cardinal O’Hara, a 42-39 victor over Spring-Ford, in the quarterfinals Friday.

By Quarter
Upper Dublin: 10  |  6 |  7  |  3  ||  26
Cedar Cliff: 13  |   7   |   13   |  6  ||  39

Shooting
Upper Dublin: 10-36 FG (4-17 3PT), 2-3 FT
Cedar Cliff: 17-46 FG (3-13 3PT), 2-10 FT

Scoring
Upper Dublin: Brady 9, M. Ngo 7, A. Ngo 5, Sanders 3, Besachio 2

Cedar Cliff: Buie 11, Jones 10, Sansom 6, Ferraro 5, Frey 4, Weyant 3.

Rebounds
Upper Dublin: Besachio 7, Brady 6, A. Ngo 3, M. Ngo 3, Sanders 2. Total: 21.
Cedar Cliff: Jones 14, Buie 6, Weyant 4, Ferraro 4, Sansom 3, Frey 2. Total: 33. 

Assists
Upper Dublin: Besachio 2, M. Ngo 1, Brady 1. Total: 4.
Cedar Cliff: Jones 3, Buie 1, Ferraro 1, Sansom 1. Total: 6.

Turnovers
Upper Dublin: 8.
Cedar Cliff: 4.

~~~

Girls 6A
(3-1) Cedar Cliff 39, (1-6) Upper Dublin 26
(7-2) Upper St. Clair 42, (1-4) Pennsbury 31
(1-9) Abington 40, (1-8) Springfield-Delco 35
(12-1) Cardinal O’Hara 42, (1-3) Spring-Ford 39
(12-3) Archbishop Carroll 41, (1-1) Perkiomen Valley 38 (OT)

Boys 5A
(1-1) Radnor 75, (12-3) West Philadelphia 61
(12-2) Archbishop Ryan 59, (1-5) West Chester East 46
(12-1) Imhotep Charter 68, (3-5) Muhlenberg 32

Boys 4A
(3-5) Eastern York 75, (12-2) Overbrook 54
(11-1) Allentown Central Catholic 49, (12-3) Cardinal O’Hara 46
(12-1) Neumann-Goretti 74, (11-2) Bethlehem Catholic 49

Girls 3A
(4-1) Mt. Carmel Area 48, (12-2) West Catholic 38
(3-1) Lancaster Catholic 64, (1-1) New Hope-Solebury 54

Girls 2A
(1-1) Faith Christian 35, (4-1) South Williamsport 28
(1-2) Sacred Heart Acad. 42, (4-2) Line Mountain 40

Boys 1A
(1-1) Chester Charter 56, (4-2) Northumberland Christian 38
(3-1) Linville Hill 50, (12-1) City School 42
(1-2) Phil-Mont Christian 57, (3-5) Mount Calvary Christian 46