City of Basketball Love

Andrew Robinson (@ADrobinson3)
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GLENSIDE — Needing a spark on the defensive end, Penn Charter turned to a freshman.

Quakers coach Joe Maguire appreciates what a multi-sport athlete can do, he has several every year, so it wasn’t a reach that he and his staff would look to one to shore up the defense. Mia DiBenedetto plays three sports at PC, her main one is lacrosse but she’s shown she can get it done in basketball too.

The freshman’s insertion into the starting lineup last week has quickly paid dividends, including Sunday’s 50-38 win over Gwynedd Mercy Academy at the Hoops for Hope Classic.

“I knew I had to do what I do best, which is defense,” DiBenedetto said. “I knew I had to work hard to keep what I got. It was really exciting to hear I was moving up, but I also couldn’t do it without my teammates.”

The 5-foot-5 guard essentially got thrown into it last week against defending PIAA 5A state champion Archbishop Wood. Going up against a team that runs an offense based on movement and passing is difficult for experienced players, but it was a challenge DiBenedetto was eager to take on.

She hasn’t left the first five since, with Sunday marking her third straight start. That’s still a bit new to the freshman.

“The plays were hard to know right away, I’d watch before I’d go in so I was used to doing that,” DiBenedetto said. “I had to really jump into that and make sure I knew the plays. That’s where my teammates would really help me, they’d tell me where to go and that was the best, having them there.”

The Quakers’ offense wasn’t sharp early, having its own struggles against the Monarchs numerous  defenses plus uncharacteristically cold starts from Ryan Carter and Kaylinn Bethea. While DiBenedetto is out there to defend, she brought some offense on Sunday with nine points, including six in the opening quarter.

Carter and Bethea, as they do, got going in the second half and PC won the third quarter 20-8 with DiBenedetto chipping in a three-point make. DiBenedetto was 3-for-5 from the field, hitting two threes and converting a traditional three-point play for the Quakers’ first score, the Quakers also crediting her for four rebounds and four assists with a pair of steals.

“I never used to shoot,” the freshman said. “I got all the support from my teammates and coaches to shoot it because it doesn’t matter if you miss, as long as you think you’ll get the next one.”

In the fall, DiBenedetto plays soccer, then moves to basketball for the winter and goes back outdoors in the spring. PC’s had tremendous success with lacrosse players in recent years bringing good defense to the court with them.

DiBenedetto, who plays as a defender on the lacrosse field, believes the disciplines of her main sport just seem to translate well to defending in basketball.

“That’s where my strong suit is, I try to take my footwork and moving for defense from there,” DiBenedetto said. “You have to be able to stay up, but not lean over them or reach or anything. It’s basically the same thing, you just have a stick in lacrosse, but your footwork and body positioning has to be the same.”

Carter finished with 16 points, nine of them coming in the third, to go with five rebounds and three steals while Bethea had 12 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and three steals. Marleigh Jackson added 10 points to round the starting five’s scoring at 47 of the 50 points.

The other three came from the other DiBenedetto on the roster. Mia got to assist her sister Ava, a junior, on a fourth quarter three.

“I think we’ve done it one other time, but it was pretty nice being able to do that,” Mia said.

PC’s three games with DiBenedetto in the starting five have all been wins including a victory over Wood and Sunday’s win over the top-seeded team in the District 1 5A power rankings. The Quakers have a big week coming up, including the first of their two meetings with Inter-Ac archrival Germantown Academy on Thursday.

She may be a lacrosse player first and she may only be a freshman, but as Penn Charter looks to stay in the thick of the Inter-Ac race, it’ll be asking Mia DiBenedetto to keep doing her thing on the defensive end.”

“They put me out there to guard someone a certain way and that boosts me up because they trust me to guard this girl who is really good,” DiBenedetto said. “

By Quarter

PENN CHARTER 9 | 7 | 20 | 14 || 50

GWYNEDD MERCY ACADEMY 10 | 11 | 8 | 9 || 38

Scoring

PC: Ryan Carter 16, Kaylinn Bethea 12, Marleigh Jackson 10, Mia DiBenedetto 9, Ava DiBenedetto 3

GMA: Bailey Balkir 9, Emilia Coleman 8, Ali Kaltenbacher 7, Brooke Evans 7, Cara Lapp 6, Meg McDonnell 1

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Villa Maria Academy 49, Souderton 38

The Hurricanes capped off the night with a win over a youthful Souderton team led by their mainstays.

Sophia Tray, Carly Catania and Emma O’Hare all hit double figures to pace VMA. It wasn’t the AACA power’s best game, the defense just a half-step slow and the offense getting slogged down in some cases, but the Hurricanes found a way to win anyway.

Catania tallied a game-high 17, the New Hampshire pledge adding seven rebounds and three steals. Tray posted 15 points and five boards with O’Hare adding 11.

Souderton, which hasn’t seen the results in its win-loss record, still looks like a different team from a month and a half ago. It’s not surprising with someone like Brooke Fenchel as a leader, the team’s lone senior scoring 10 of her 15 points in the fourth quarter while adding six rebounds and three blocks.

VMA led 20-15 at the half, then found a burst of energy in the third quarter. The Hurricanes held Souderton to just six points, all at the foul line, while scoring 13 to extend the lead out to 12 going to the fourth.

Tray, a sophomore guard, helped close things out with six points in the fourth quarter and O’Hare added five to keep Souderton at bay despite Fenchel catching fire.

By Quarter

VILLA MARIA ACADEMY 14 | 20 | 13 | 15 || 48

SOUDERTON 8 | 15 | 6 | 18 || 13

Scoring
VMA: Sophia Tray 15, Emma O’Hare 14, Carly Catania 13, Liz Sharp 2, Abby Ferry 2

S: Brooke Fenchel 15, Jacquelyn Bermel 6, Kiera Fadden 4, Emily Dick 4, Madison Bealer 3, Julia Purvy 3, Olivia Herron 2, Alaina Picard 2