City of Basketball Love

Dan Arkans (@danarkans)
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TOWAMENCIN – Sleep is not a high priority for North Penn senior Liv Stone.

Stone is a Division I recruit for the University of Cincinnati women’s soccer team. She also doubles as a key member of the North Penn girls basketball team, for which she had 17 points and seven rebounds in a 64-39 drubbing of Central Bucks South in Suburban One League Colonial Division action Friday night.

She plays club soccer for the Philadelphia Ukrainian Nationals and is on the Fencor girls basketball club. Anything else?

“I cannot thank my parents enough. I know there are times when I had an AAU tournament at Spooky Nook and then I went to a soccer game in Maryland,” Stone said. “And then came back to Spooky Nook for more games. They were driving me all around. My parents sacrificed so much for me, so I am thankful for that.”

Stone practices three times a week with her soccer team from 8:30-10 p.m. and also plays games on the weekends. Add that to a typical 3-6 p.m. practice with the Knights' basketball team, and time is not on the senior’s side.

Stone somehow fits in homework, maybe a nap. 

Rinse and repeat.

“It’s been a lot of sacrifices,” she said. “It’s been a lot of missed hangouts with friends. It’s been a lot of hard work and tired legs and tired everything. It is so worth it because I enjoy it so much.”

Stone and her family’s sacrifice proved to be well worth it with her commitment over the summer to Cincinnati. The recruitment was fast and has proven to be a relief entering her senior year.

“Everything about Cincinnati was perfect,” Stone said. “I wanted to go to a big school. I wanted to go to the city. The coaching staff is amazing. I love what they are doing. They are new to the school, so they are rebuilding the program. It worked out. Everything was perfect.”

Stone’s decision allowed her to just focus on her athletic career and not add more stress. She is more than willing to help lead what looks to be a special season brewing at North Penn (4-1, 3-0).

“I know everyone is getting their college decisions back now and stressing about it,” Stone said. “I like to say I went through my stress already. It was a stressful process, but I am so glad it’s over.”

While some athletes might shut it down and not risk injury after committing to a Division I school, Stone wasn’t about to walk away from her senior year. She is flourishing on both ends of the court.

“It was not a hard decision at all,” Stone said. “I’ve played since I was a freshman. The coaching staff made it really flexible. They make it fun every day. I love the team. The team is so close this year. It’s so much fun. It was not hard to make the decision at all. I want to be here. I enjoy being here.”

Stone is one of three seniors in the starting lineup along with Caleigh Sperling and Kelly Donnelly. Leadership is not a problem for North Penn this season as the Knights proved after a shaky start saw them trail 9-5 against South.

NP head coach Brianna Cullen called for a matchup zone, and South struggled for most of the rest of the evening to find openings.

“We made some adjustments on the fly,” Cullen said. “I am proud of my girls for being able to do it. That’s a next-level thing we haven’t been able to do in the past. It was a little bit of a zone. It turned into a matchup. We kind of stuck with whatever is working.”

What mostly was working was Stone displaying her athleticism and defense at the top of that zone. In fact, the NP senior said her defense on the soccer field gets better during basketball season. South can attest to that after Casey Balkir led them in scoring with nine points.

“Liv makes our defense run,” Cullen said. “She is so long and fast. I know she plays defense in soccer, and I know that’s her main sport. It translates so well and makes the rest of the team operate on defense.”

The Knights also got their usual reliable effort from Sperling with 18 points, while junior point guard Cameron Crowley added 13 points and six assists.

North Penn received scoring from eight players in all, including a solid six points off the bench from Lily Brown.

“We are using the bench more than we ever have,” Cullen said. “The rotation we have is pretty solid. I would love to use more. That’s our goal, we wanna have fresh legs. We want to push the ball, so it would be nice to go to the bench.”

By Quarter

Central Bucks South: 13 | 5 | 8 | 13 || 39

North Penn: 17 | 11 | 17 | 19 || 64

Scoring

Central Bucks South: Wheeler 7; Balkir 9; Troma 9; Samayoa 7; Klein 4; McKeever 4; Granito 1.

North Penn: Crowley 13; Sperling 18; Stone 17; Donnelly 6; Mikulski 0; Williams 1; Mcgee 1; Brown 6; Smink 2.