City of Basketball Love

Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)
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EAST FALLS — The Penn Charter girls basketball team had an abundance of options come crunch time last season. 

There were Inter-Ac MVP Aleah Snead (St. Joe’s), seniors Bella Toomey (Fairleigh Dickinson) and Gracie Shoup (Ohio State lacrosse), along with sophomore Kaylinn Bethea, and eighth-grader Ryan Carter hit plenty of big shots in her first season.

With last year’s leaders gone, Carter, now a freshman, and Bethea, a junior, have been the ones the Quakers turn to this season when times get tough. They were up for the challenge Tuesday in a 50-43 Inter-Ac win over Notre Dame. 

Carter scored 21 and Bethea added 18 as the duo combined for 19 of their team’s 21 fourth-quarter points in the victory.

“They’re confident to take those shots,” Penn Charter coach Joe Maguire said. “I think that’s something that we as a coaching staff kind of are OK with them not calling a timeout, not drawing a play, just calling a simple set that we run. We think in a lot of these games they’re the best two kids on the court. We think that they’re gonna make the right play, and when they’re making the right play for themselves and their teammates, they’re really, really tough to guard.”

The Inter-Ac has belonged to Penn Charter for the past two seasons, the Quakers breaking up a dominant run by Germantown Academy with back-to-back outright titles. Last year, they went undefeated in the league, extending their league win streak to 18 before Notre Dame ended the run in the teams’ first meeting Jan. 5. For the first time in a long time, it looked like the league didn’t necessarily run through the Quakers. 

“This year I feel like we're under-looked, especially since we lost Bella and Aleah and Gracie," Bethea said. "They’re like, ‘Oh well. They don’t really have anybody. Just two players and if you stop those two.’ But I think our freshmen and sophomores have been helping out a lot.”

Penn Charter’s win over GA last week made it a three-way tie in the league the first time through the schedule. The loser of Tuesday’s game knew it would take some outside help to grab a league title.

Penn Charter (10-8, 5-1 Inter-Ac) led 25-18 at halftime, but the Irish tied the game 29-29 by the end of third quarter with a terrific defensive effort. Freshman guard Riley Davis scored 18 and freshman forward Grace Nasr scored 11 for Notre Dame (16-5, 4-2).

Nasr scored the first bucket of the fourth quarter to give Notre Dame its first lead of the game. Bethea answered with a 3-pointer. Carter added five more in a row to make it an 8-0 run, and suddenly the Quakers were back in control, up 37-31 with six minutes and change remaining.

“They play really well together, they really understand one another and the way they can bring it on the defensive side,” Maguire said of Carter and Bethea. “If your best two kids are going to buy in on the defensive side, everybody else has to buy in, too.”

The Quakers grew the lead as large as seven in the fourth, but another run by ND closed the gap to two, 42-40. Their defense carried them down the stretch with three straight stops to go along with free throws from Bethea, senior Ashlie Johnson and Carter.

Penn Charter started its season 1-6 and since then have won nine of 11, including six in a row starting with a victory over Catholic League power Archbishop Wood on Jan. 7.

Tuesday’s win was an important step forward in trying to grab a third straight league crown.

Bethea and Carter have come up big during the run, like in Tuesday's win. Johnson is a vet. Others like sophomore Marleigh Jackson and freshmen Laila Carter and Mia DiBenedetto are figuring things out. Maguire highlighted the importance of Liv Vieira embracing her role off the bench.

“They’re all ready for these moments, and I think they saw everybody kind of doubting us, a lot of people thinking that we’re down this year,” Maguire said.

The Quakers have Baldwin on Wednesday, Agnes Irwin on Friday and Springside Chestnut Hill Academy on Jan. 30. If they take care of business, a Feb. 9 matchup with Germantown Academy could be a de facto league championship game for the Quakers. Penn Charter won the first meeting on the road, 61-58.

“I always tell my teammates, wherever your feet are, that’s where your mind has to be,” Bethea said. “We’re not on the GA floor right now.”

“We have to focus on Agnes Irwin. We have to focus on Baldwin, and as soon as Feb. 9 comes I feel like we’ll all be in the mindset to play GA.”

By Quarter

Notre Dame:    11  |  7  |  11  |  14  ||  43

Penn Charter:  17  |  8  |   4   |  21  ||  50

Scoring

Notre Dame: Riley Davis 18, Grace Nasr 11, Lizzie Halligan 6, Alex Gillin 3, Catie Kelly 3, Chloe Knox 2.

Penn Charter: Ryan Carter 21, Kaylinn Bethea 18, Ashlie Johnson 7, Marleigh Jackson 5.