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PIAA 6A: Abington toughs it out against Springfield (Delco.)

03/15/2023, 1:15am EDT
By Andrew Robinson

Andrew Robinson (@ADrobinson3)

WHITEMARSH – It doesn’t have to be pretty, and this one sure wasn’t.

There wasn’t much that resembled a basketball game, save for a made jumper here or there and maybe a good pass that led to it, some of it by design, plenty of it not. Springfield (Delco.) knew it was up against it down a key starter, but the Cougars will always fight and fight is just what they did.

Abington learned it’s got some fight in it too, the Ghosts rallying to start the fourth quarter and outlasting the Cougars 40-35 in a slugfest of a PIAA 6A second round game at Plymouth Whitemarsh on Tuesday.

“Win and survive,” Abington senior Cire Worley said. “It don’t matter how it looks as long as we get the win. A point, a half of a point, as long as we keep pushing.”

Abington's Cire Worley drives the lane while Springfield (Delco.)'s Anabel Kreydt defends. (Photo: Mark Jordan/CoBL)

Worley, as she so often has been in a brilliant career at Abington, came through late to make sure that career lasts at least a few more days. Held in check - often in a literal sense - for most of the game thanks to Springfield’s defensive focus, Worley got moving in the fourth quarter with 10 of her 15 points to lead Abington out of the mud and to the state quarterfinals.

The program’s all-time leading scored netted five straight points to open the fourth and erase a four-point Cougars lead and it was her three on a third-chance look off a completely busted play with 2:27 left that put Abington in position to close out a game that not many there to watch were commenting positively on.

All that mattered to Worley was that her team was on the winning side of it.

“In the third quarter, we let some baskets go that we shouldn’t have let go,” Worley said. “We cracked down on boxing out and letting those easy baskets go. They weren’t scoring because they were better, they were scoring because we were being lazy, not boxing out or doing the small things. I think we took pride in that in the fourth quarter.”

Four minutes into the game, it didn’t look like it was going to be a game. Worley had three assists, all on threes, then added a free throw as Abington jetted out to a 10-0 lead that prompted Springfield coach Ky McNichol to call a timeout and throw out her starting game plan.

Her team didn’t have Mia Valerio, the senior point guard and defensive catalyst unfortunately still out due to an injury she picked up in the district tournament, but it had its trademark fight. Scrapping their zone for a triangle-and-two, the Cougars went about slowing up the game and slowly clawing their way back in. Springfield closed within 10-6 after a quarter and as Abington’s quick start bottomed out into an 0-of-11 stretch, even took a lead when Cora Fattori sank a midrange jumper with 2:52 left in the half.

“It’s not always pretty but we find a way to battle,” said McNichol, who was very emotional at the end of the game. “They punched hard in the first quarter, first two minutes of the game, it’s 10-0 and our kids didn’t give up and they fought hard. We went to Plan B, Plan A did not work, and you could not have asked for better fight from these kids.”

McNichol’s emotion stemmed from the fact she had to say goodbye to a senior class that has meant an incalculable amount — not only to the program, with two District I 5A titles and a Central League title — but to her as a coach. While the group was able to at least salvage a few laughs together before exiting the locker room together a final time, losing a class that includes captains Valerio, Lexi Aaron and Anabel Kreydt along with fellow seniors Taylor Hunyet, Kaitlyn Kearney and Sophia Ward is not something that just gets replaced.


Cora Fattori (above) scored 10 points in a starting role for the Cougars. (Photo: Mark Jordan/CoBL)

“A very special class,” McNichol said. “And not just because of what they accomplished on a basketball court but because of the kind of people they are.”

Hunyet had one of her best games in a Springfield uniform, the senior going a perfect 3-of-3 from long range in the third quarter as the Cougars not only once again came back, but took a 27-23 lead to the fourth.

Fattori, a junior pressed into starting service, embodied the Springfield mantra fully in a strong outing. The guard not only led the Cougars with 10 points, she added six rebounds and two assists all after rolling her ankle in the first quarter and only needing a few plays off to have it taped and get back on the floor.

“Cora Fattori kept us in the game offensively,” McNichol said. “She did her job and played with a ton of confidence tonight, definitely a great thing to see for next year.”

Abington coach Dan Marsh couldn’t quite pin what had his team so out of sorts, although he did credit Springfield for making the game a slog. It was a game that Abington has struggled to win in the past, a determined opponent that wasn’t going to cede anything easy forcing the Ghosts to dig down and battle.

“That’s the one good thing we can take out of this, that we were able to preserve through such an ugly game,” Marsh said. “I’m proud of our kids. It wasn’t pretty, a very, very physical game and we struggled with it.

“We did not do the things that we normally do and they made us pay for it.”

Having already come back from 10-0 down and having erased another Abington lead in the third, Springfield entered the fourth quarter in front but by no means comfortable. Coupled with foul trouble across the board, it was set to be a grueling finish for the Cougars.

“Four points was no cushion to feel good about, not with our foul trouble and a lot of time left in the game,” McNichol said.

To that end, Abington drew a foul eight seconds into the quarter that put Worley at the line and the Ghosts in the bonus the rest of the night. After hitting both, a turnover led to Worley slicing in for a go-ahead and-one layup just 25 seconds into the frame.

Springfield briefly regained the lead on a Fattori bucket but a hoop by Maya Johnson, her only score of the night, put Abington back in the lead for good on the next possession. Knowing that Springfield had several players in foul trouble and that the Cougars were being physical in their defense of Worley, Marsh had his team set screens for her to emphasize the contact.


Piper McGinley (above) scored eight points and make big plays down the stretch for the Ghosts. (Photo: Mark Jordan/CoBL)

Still, all that managed was a 33-31 lead with a bit more than two-and-a-half minutes left when everything fell apart then fell into place for Abington. A chaotic possession, starting with an airball and saved by Piper McGinley saving the ball from going out of bounds, saw another miss, another offensive rebound and finally, Abington finding Worley in a rare gap of open space that gave the senior time to knock down a three for a five-point edge.

“I wouldn’t say we don’t like physical play but when we get riled up, not good things happen,” Worley said. “When we get riled up, it turns our emotions. We got emotions on our team, we got a lot going on.

“We just need that one spark, it doesn’t matter who it’s coming from, just as long as we get it from somebody. Just one thing can turn it all around for us.”

Abington moves on to the quarterfinals and a matchup with Archbishop Carroll. Back in December, the Ghosts dropped a 48-44 contest to the Patriots, both teams coming off a game the day before.

It doesn’t have to be pretty, but the Ghosts know it has to be better than they played on Tuesday if they want to find a way to the state semifinals.

“We got the beginning and the end,” Worley said. “The middle is where we lose focus and kind of get lazy. We have to keep the same energy throughout.

“We come out hard but we can’t keep it up all game. We got it at the beginning, then we take a break and we get it again. We have to find that steady pace.”

~~~

By Quarter
Abington:    10  |   6   |   7   |  17  ||  40
Springfield:  6   |   9   |  12  |   8   ||  35

Scoring
A: Cire Worley 15, Piper McGinley 8, Jordyn Reynolds 7, Abril Bowser 6, Maya Johnson 2

S: Cora Fattori 10, Taylor Hunyet 9, Alyssa Estep 4, Kaitlyn Kearney 3, Lexi Aaron 3, Anabel Kreydt 2

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


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