City of Basketball Love

Justin Procope (@1procope)
––

For the last decade, Imhotep reaching the Philadelphia Public League girls title game has been inevitable. 

As the Panthers trailed for the majority of their semifinal matchup with Freire Charter, an 11th straight trip felt like anything but on Wednesday evening at Bobby Morgan Arena.

A second-half comeback spearheaded by junior Kayla Thompson kept Imhotep’s title game streak alive.

Thompson, a 5-foot-7 guard, finished with a team-high 12 points, none bigger than the six she scored in the fourth quarter in a 40-34 semifinal victory, sending the Panthers to face reigning champ Audenried in the championship game on Saturday at the Liacouras Center.

“It feels great,” Thompson said. “With the collaboration of my team and with us competing and working together, it feels great to know that we're back with another chance of winning another public championship. It's all about the experience and just staying humbled and focused.”

After scoring the first bucket of the game, Imhotep played from behind the rest of the contest until a steal and an easy layup from Thompson with 2:54 left in the fourth finally tied the game while seemingly robbing Freire of all confidence and momentum. 

Her defensive activity provided a spark for a team in search of any rhythm it could find. 

“She’s just relentless,” eighth-year head coach David Hargrove said. “She's like every other kid, she'll make some mistakes here or there, but she's relentless in her effort. That's a great feeling to know you got  a kid playing with that type of energy. So as she applies that energy to the game, I feel like good things are going to happen.”

Following behind Thompson was junior Sabria Mann with nine points. Mann’s three with two minutes to go gave Imhotep its first lead since the first quarter. Also doing their part were junior Anise Geiger and sophomore Geren Hawthorne, who both finished with eight. 

It was clear from tip-off the Panthers were going to have to grind if they wanted to come out with the win. Freire answered the first basket of the game with an 8-0 run and held  the Panthers to just four first-quarter points. 

The story continued in the second period with Freire using its zone to clog the lane and deny entry passes into the talented post players of Imhotep. Whenever the Panthers were able to make a pass to the inside, they were instantly swarmed by four gray jerseys. 

After trailing 21-14 heading into the break, the Panthers decided to fight fire with fire. They came out in the third quarter looking to test the ball handlers of Freire with full court pressure. The result was a chippy, scrappy contest the rest of the way. Led by Bridgeport commit Kylah Hargrove and junior guard Destiny Davis in the backcourt, the Dragons entered the fourth with a slender 29-26 lead. 

“They did a great job taking away our inside game,” Hargrove said. “That's really how we like to play inside out. … So then forcing our guards to make plays from the perimeter, we just kept preaching to them these are the areas you need to make the play. We just have to be confident, attack it, share the ball, and let's knock down the shot.”

The fourth quarter was more of the same, with charges and hard fouls the theme of the period. The momentum seemed to switch for Imhotep when an and-1 layup from Freire junior Anesah Cruz that could have put the Dragons up seven was ruled a charge. It was not long after Thompson scored back-to-back fast break layups that would turn the tide for the Panthers.

“Our message was to come out and hustle, hustle for everything,” Thompson said. “Everything's a competition. That was our hustle. Every rebound, we hustle. On every steal, get the ball with two hands. Look up the floor. That was our mindset, to hustle and get every possession that we can.”

The win marks their eleventh straight trip to the championship game and sets up a title clash with Audenried High School, who they lost to in last season’s final game. The Rockets boast the reigning league MVP in Shayla Smith and have enjoyed a dominant season, going undefeated in league play, but were tested by Imhotep in their matchup earlier this season before pulling out a 61-56 victory. 

Hargrove knows his team will have to make adjustments if they want to take down the new power that is, but he’s confident the lessons learned from a hard-fought victory like this will pay dividends come Saturday.

“Being in a game like today is going to prepare us, because we know that going into Saturday, one, we know what we have to do to prepare mentally within on Thursday and Friday,” Hargrove said. “When we get to that moment on Saturday, we know,  like Kayla just said earlier, we know that we can look in our circle, look at look each other in the eye, know that we as a group, we say ‘US’, that we have enough to get it done because we've been tested.”

By Quarter 

Imhotep Charter: 4 | 10 | 12 | 14

Freire Charter: 10 | 9 | 10 | 5

Scoring

Imhotep Charter: Kayla Thompson 12, Sabria Mann 9, Anise Geiger 8, Geren Hawthorne 8, Calista Gaymon 3

Freire Charter: Destiny David 12, Kylah Hargrove 11, Wyianna Bronson 4, Anesah Cruz 3, Makhaya Dawkins 2

~~~

Audenried holds off Mastery North

Reigning Public League champions Audenried flipped a switch after a first-half scare.

The Rockets fell behind by 15 points in the first  half of Wednesday’s Public League semifinal against Mastery North before responding for 79-54 victory and booking their place in the title game Saturday at the Liacouras Center.

Audenried looked nothing like the dominant team it's been all season with poor shot selection and lethargic defense the theme of their first half. The Pumas took advantage, leaking out for easy baskets to race out to a shocking 30-15 lead early in the second quarter. 

Then Audenried woke up. 

The Rockets brought an avalanche in the second half led by sophomore Heaven Reese, who scored the first eleven points of the second half before finishing with 20 on the night. After Reese’s solo run it was time for the reigning league MVP Shayla Smith to take over. The program's all-time leading scorer went off for 17 in the second half to complete a 30-point, 10-rebound performance.

Thanks to a suffocating full court press from the champs, Audenried rattled off a 34-5 run spanning two quarters to turn a double digit-deficit into a 17-point lead midway through the third. The lead would eventually get as high as 28, as the Rockets cruised to a victory. 

Without the easy buckets they were getting early in the game, the Puma’s offense slowed to a screeching halt, only managing 19 second half points. 

The Rockets will defend their crown against the Imhotep Panthers, who they defeated in last year’s title game and again just a few weeks ago in a rare close game for Audenried this season, finishing 61-56.

~~~

Public League Girls

Semifinals (Wed., Feb. 21 at the USciences)
Audenried 77, Mastery North 52
Imhotep Charter 40, Freire Charter 34

Championship (Sat., Feb. 24, 1 p.m. at Liacouras Center)
Audenried vs. Imhotep Charter