City of Basketball Love

Andrew Robinson (@ADrobinson3)
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PHILADELPHIA — Lola Ibarrondo and Neshaminy girls basketball couldn’t stop getting stops.

From the moment the senior stuck a go-ahead 3-pointer late in the third quarter to the final horn, it was almost all one-way traffic offensively in Tuesday night’s Suburban One League Tournament championship.

A month ago, Ibarrondo wouldn’t have pegged her team as the one getting stop after stop, much less against a team like Upper Dublin.
Ibarrondo turned in a strong second half, the defense was stout and Neshaminy took down the top-seeded Cardinals 35-22 at Holy Family to win its first SOL championship.

“It was our defense, no doubt. We’ve all bought in defensively,” Ibarrondo said. “We struggled with defense at the beginning of January, we were thinking about going back to zone because our man wasn’t looking good.

“We had a talk, everyone bought in and since then, obviously, we made it here.”

Neshaminy girls basketball celebrates after winning the Suburban One League Tournament championship on Tuesday against Upper Dublin. (Photo: Mark Jordan/CoBL)

Playing on her future home court at Holy Family, she admitted there were some nerves to shake off early on. Ibarrando got herself going by leaning on her defense, much of it coming against her future Holy Family teammate Amy Ngo.

Her 3, which came with 1:39 left in the third, kicked off a 15-2 game-closing run for the SOL Patriot Division champions. Neshaminy allowed just two points over the final 10:30 of regulation and limited Upper Dublin to just 3-of-17 shooting in the second half.

That, coupled with the team’s ability to extend offensive possessions either through an offensive rebound or just moving the ball and running clock, seemed to make the deficit feel even bigger.

“In the second quarter, we allowed them to pick up momentum and get the shots they wanted,” Neshaminy senior Reese Zemitis said. “We came in at halftime and said we just had to focus on who can do what and really lock down. Defense is a lot about attitude and committing to playing it well.”

Zemitis has put together an excellent year defensively as anchor, Ibarrondo and Alena Cofield always bring it on that end and senior Ava Irizarry has worked hard on her assignments. Cofield only scored two points, but the junior guard had a major impact on the game with her offensive rebounding, grabbing six of her team’s misses to help extend Neshaminy possessions.

Ibarrondo handled her nerves early by letting Zemitis get things rolling. The former provided the assist on all four makes by Zemitis as Neshaminy jumped out to a 13-6 lead.

Zemitis, the program’s all-time leading scorer and a Bucknell recruit, was the only player in double figures, scoring 16 points and getting a double-double with 13 rebounds. She also made things difficult for UD freshman Tamia Clark, who returned after missing the team’s last game with an ankle issue, and added to the defensive effort with three blocks and two steals.

“We all talked about what we could do tonight and we got it done, it’s a great accomplishment for sure,” Zemitis said. “We’re happy and we’re going to enjoy this, but we keep saying to each other the job’s not finished.”

Upper Dublin missed its point guard, sophomore Megan Ngo, who is still awaiting test results after injuring her knee in Friday’s quarterfinal round. Her older sister, Amy, did her best to shoulder a lot of the creating, distributing and defending Megan was responsible for.

Cardinals coach Morgan Funsten knew it would be a lot to ask of his team to try to muster the same emotional drive it had Friday night and again Saturday in the immediate aftermath of the injury one more time.

“Unfortunately, I’ve been in this spot several times with teams and seen them be able to do it for one game. I challenged our team if they could be the first one to consistently play with that emotion,” Funsten said. “I’m so glad we get some time off here before the district playoffs to try and re-establish roles. We’ve had one practice and three games in the last five days, so we’re still trying to catch up in the wake of Megan’s injury.”

Amy Ngo led the SOL Liberty Division champions with nine points, but none after halftime. She did have the assist, a terrific pass on a rope, to freshman Bridget DiMartile that tied the score 20-20 with 2:33 left in the third.

Funsten hoped his team could get a stop before the end of the quarter and either take a lead or at worst settle for a tie going into the final eight minutes. Instead, Ibarrondo authored a game-changing stretch that saw her hit the go-ahead 3 then steal the ball from Ngo for a layup before the third ended and start the fourth with an and-one layup.

“First half, yeah, I was definitely a little off, but the second half I was more focused on defense,” Ibarrondo said. “My defense ignited my offense, that’s what I believe. Shots weren’t falling for me, so I got it done on the other end of the floor.”

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Holy Family sees the future

The venue for Tuesday’s title game presented a special opportunity for Ibarrondo and Amy Ngo.

The two seniors are both signed with Holy Family, and while there are scenarios in which they could clash again in the next few weeks, their likely next meeting on the court will be as teammates. Their future teammates were there too, the Tigers sitting in a group a couple rows up to watch the two guards go at it.

Ibarrondo and Ngo, along with Council Rock South senior Cam Gregory, make it an all-local recruiting class for HFU.

They spent much of the game directly matched up against one another. “It definitely will be” better playing together next season, Ngo said. 

“It was nerve-wracking. Going into it I was definitely feeling very jittery, but after the first quarter was over I settled down a little bit and was really into it,” Ibarrondo said. “It was very cool to play on the court I’m going to call home next year and to do it against Amy.”

Saturday, after beating CB East in her semifinal, Ngo said she wanted to see Neshaminy win the other semifinal to set up a matchup between them. Ibarrondo said she and Ngo exchanged a couple texts once the matchup was set.

“It was such a cool experience,” Ngo said. “I know we didn’t come out on top, but it was something really special and to get to go against Lola made it even better.”

They do some things differently on the court, but the two seniors share a competitive nature, which made them recruiting focal points for Tigers coach Bernadette Laukaitis.

“She’s a threat from pretty much anywhere on the court,” Ibarrondo said of Ngo. “I know she has range but she can get inside, honestly, I knew I just had to keep my hands high and just stop the drive. I think I did a pretty good job when I was on her.”

“I think that’s a lot of what we’ll do next year too, just push each other,” Ngo said. “We’re very different — it’s different defending someone like her opposed to me, so I think it was a good matchup.”

By Quarter

Neshaminy: 13 | 4 | 9 | 9 || 35

Upper Dublin: 6 | 9 | 5 | 2 || 22

Scoring

Neshaminy: Reese Zemitis 16, Lola Ibarrondo 9, Ashlyn Duffy 3, Grace Weyler 2, Alena Cofield 2

Upper Dublin: Amy Ngo 9, Bridget DiMartile 6, Tamia Clark 5, Brighid Brady 2