City of Basketball Love

Jake Adams (@jakeadams520)
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Cardinal O’Hara girls basketball wants to be playing its best basketball in February.

With a day to go before the calendar flips to February, the Lions are a little closer to that goal.

O’Hara picked up its third straight win Tuesday night, 45-37 at Archbishop Carroll. Senior La Salle commit Joanie Quinn led the way with 12 points in her third game back after breaking her hand in December. 

Quinn’s presence gets the Lions (15-2, 5-1 Philadelphia Catholic League) that much closer to peak form. She brings heightened intensity and speed in practice, coach Chrissie Doogan said over the phone, and that translates to games. The point guard played nearly every minute of Tuesday’s game.

“She had a real good game, and she’s just your senior leader point guard you want on the floor,” Doogan said.

Greta Miller had eight points, including a couple key 3-pointers, Brigidanne Donohue had 10 points and Carly Coleman added seven points and Molly had four. Brooke Wilson led the Patriots (10-8, 5-2) with 10 points.

“Five of [Miller’s] eight were in the third quarter. She just sparked a run,” Doogan said. “She went for a steal and then Joanie Quinn got a steal.”

O’Hara is trying to win its third PIAA Class 5A championship in four years after falling short a season ago. Getting back on top of the PCL tournament title is also a goal; the Lions trail only Archbishop Wood (14-5, 8-0) in the standings.

Doogan said her team needs to be more consistent down the stretch — “We can light the gym on fire from 3 one night, and then we can go 0-for the gym,” she said — but they “hang our hat” on a defense that has been smothering all season, allowing just 37.8 points a game.

“I told our team back in December I didn’t know how tough we were gonna be, but I think these girls are tough,” Doogan said.

Next up is a road title against Archbishop Ryan on Thursday before three games in a row back at home.

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Methacton gets sweet revenge in blowout of Spring-Ford

There's a tale of two halves, and then there's the saga of two games.

Twenty-five days after being trounced by 31 points at the hands of Spring-Ford, Methacton boys basketball returned the favor Tuesday night with a 71-49 blowout win on the road. The win drew the Warriors within a game of the Rams at the top of the PAC Liberty Division standings.

It was a balanced offensive effort by the Warriors (14-6, 7-2). Sal Iemmello led the way with 15 points, Alex Hermann chipped in 12 and Christian Matos added 11. The Rams (16-5, 8-1) got a team-high 11 points from E.J. Campbell, while Tommy Kelly and Jacob Nguyen each had 10. 

It's just the second loss for Spring-Ford since Dec. 19.

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Haverford School throws another wrench in wild Inter-Ac race

Freshman Silas Graham scored 20 points, junior KJ Carson added 17 and junior forwards Leo and Jacob Becker boosted the Fords in a 75-52 win over Springside-Chestnut Hill Academy, which entered the day in first place in the Inter-Ac standings.

Haverford's win, which gave coach Bernie Rogers the most wins in program history, gave the Fords their third league win in their last four games after an 0-2 start. Haverford is now one of four teams within one game of first place in the Inter-Ac.

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Bensalem girls break 15-game losing streak against Pennsbury

Despite a 23-point night from Falcons' senior Sofia Vituci, Bensalem edged Pennsbury 44-40 in SOL Patriot action. It's the Owls' first win over their league rival since 2016.

Mikayla Donahue (13), Amber Howard (11), Peyton Miller (10) and Talia DiMichele (9) shared the scoring duties for Bensalem, which scored just five points in the first quarter. The Owls took control with a 17-11 third quarter.

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North Penn boys rally past Souderton to keep district hopes alive

North Penn rallied from an 11-point deficit to take down Souderton 53-50 in game between two teams that are on the district bubble. The Knights, who came into the night at No. 26 in the District 1-6A power rankings, closed the game on a 22-8 run to pick up the win.

Senior Tre Simpson, who spent his junior year "daydreaming, night dreaming about being in the playoffs and making an impact” finished with 15 points and 12 rebounds in the win.

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Phoenixville boys beat Pottstown for first Frontier title

Phoenixville swept the season series against Pottstown with a 55-40 road win on Tuesday night behind 20 points from sophomore Dawson Brown, whose father Howard once starred for the Trojans.

Brown and the Phantoms closed the game on a 16-2 run to open up a game that was within one point with six and a half to play. The victory gave Phoenixville its first Frontier Division championship since the Pioneer Athletic Conference went to two division in 2016-17.

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Coatesville boys win heavyweight Ches-Mont battle over Henderson

Two of the top teams in the Ches-Mont League and the District 1 Class 6A classification squared off on Tuesday.

Behind balanced scoring, mixed in with a pinch of effective pressure, while playing without its starting big man, Coatesville avenged its one league loss with a rather easy 61-44 victory over the Warriors, who rank No. 2 in the District 1-6A power rankings after Tuesday's loss.

The Raiders had four of their five starters reach double figures, led by 5-foot-11 junior guard Amon Fowlkes’ 12 points, with 11 each from Dior Kennedy and Marquis Peoples, and 10 from Zuri Harris.

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Upper Dublin boys, girls closing in on division titles

The Upper Dublin boys earned a 61-58 win over Abington to improve to 12-1 in Suburban One League play lead on the SOL Liberty with three games to play, oh-so-close to their first outright conference title in 22 years. Brady Fogle had 20 points in the win.

UD's girls had a much easier time dispatching Abington, riding freshman Tamia Clark’s 28-point night to a 63-47 win. The Cardinals' girls are also two games up in the division with three league contests left on their schedule.

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