City of Basketball Love

Matt Allibone (@Bad2theAllibone)

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Fiona Reckner wasn’t oblivious to the constant stomps and screams that came from the home crowd in the waning minutes of the fourth quarter Tuesday night. 

She just wasn’t bothered by them. 

Council Rock South’s senior star stepped to the free throw line with her team holding a two-point lead against Pennsbury with less than two minutes to play. After struggling with inconsistency for much of the evening, the Hawks were on the verge of firmly stealing momentum from the underdog Falcons. 

Pennsbury fans of all ages pounded the bleachers with their feet in an attempt to throw Reckner off her game. She calmly drained her first shot. 

Then she drained the next. The message had been sent. 

“I can hear them but it doesn’t bother me,” she said. “I like to zone things out. If anything it fires me up.” 

Reckner nailed one more clutch free throw down the stretch as Council Rock South held off Pennsbury, 41-35, on the road Tuesday. The Falcons (18-3, 9-1) clinched the Suburban One League Patriot Division title with the win — their first league title since 2014. 

Reckner led Council Rock South with 16 points. She scored eight in the fourth quarter, including the winning bucket on a drive to the lane with 2:58 to play. 

“She’s been an incredible player to coach this year,” first-year Council Rock South head coach Stephen Polinsky said. “I wish I had her the three years prior. She’s a leader. She wanted this really bad, it was something we talked about. And she stepped up tonight.”

Council Rock South will host a game in the first round of the SOL Tournament Friday. Pennsbury (14-8, 7-3) will still likely make the tournament. The seedings will be finalized Wednesday. 

The Hawks beat Pennsbury by nine points in their first matchup on Jan. 7, and they led by four after a low-scoring first quarter Tuesday. But they struggled to pull ahead against a determined Falcons squad and went into halftime tied. 

Pennsbury opened the third quarter on a 6-0 run. Council Rock South answered with a pair of 3-pointers from Maria Freeman and Kathryn O’Kane, but the Falcons maintained a slim lead for most of the quarter. 

Alyssa Thomas hit a layup at the buzzer to give Pennsbury a 31-27 lead heading to the fourth. 

“We were playing a little too vanilla,” Polinsky said. “We played a little more aggressively off the ball in the fourth quarter. That changed the complexion of the game.” 

Reckner nailed a 3-pointer to cut Council Rock South’s deficit to one with just under five minutes to play. Pennsbury’s Ava Jordan hit a bucket to extend the Falcons lead to three, but the Hawks' Emerson Gunther tied the game with her own 3-pointer moments later. 

That set up Reckner’s heroics down the stretch. The Hawks went 11-of-16 from the free throw line overall and 6-for-10 in the final quarter. 

Council Rock South outscored Pennsbury 13-4 in the fourth quarter. 

“This journey was meant to happen,” Polinsky said. “I really think we did a good job sticking to the script. I knew coaching against (Pennsbury’s) Frank (Sciola) was not going to be easy. They could’ve won that game, but we toughed it out.” 

The Hawks will now enter the playoffs on a 16-game winning streak. 

Reckner said she and her teammates were well-aware of the program’s title drought entering this season. Many of them have played together for years and made it their mission to end their careers with a championship. 

While it was a transition with Polinsky taking over for Jesse Krasna shortly before the season, many of the Hawks previously had a relationship with the new coach from AAU.

“You could tell that he watched our film before the season,” Reckner said. “He took our strengths and applied them to his game. At first it was an adjustment, but we have a lot of trust in him. And you can tell he has a lot of trust in us.” 

The exited the locker room Tuesday to a chorus of cheers from their fans and celebrated with photos at midcourt. 

But their mission isn’t finished. Council Rock South came one win from the state playoffs last season, and they’d like to go further this year. 

“This feels amazing,” Reckner said. “I absolutely love being on a winning streak. I can’t even think about this (senior year) coming to an end.” 

By quarter 

Council Rock South 9-9-9-14-41

Pennsbury 5-13-13-4-35 

Scoring

Council Rock South: Reckner 16, Hetler 7, O’Kane 6, Gunther 5, S. Freeman 3, M. Freeman 3, Metrick 1

Pennsbury: Burns 11, Jordan 10, Haws 9, Thomas 3, Panaro 2