Faith Christian survives furious Jenkintown rally to win BAL final

BENSALEM — With 6:20 left in the fourth quarter, the Faith Christian girls basketball team looked like it was in good shape.

Then, Jenkintown went crazy for the next four minutes. Teetering and on the ropes, the Lions never fell.

In the end, Faith outlasted Jenkintown’s massive surge and pulled out a 52-46 win in the Bicentennial Athletic League final Monday at Holy Ghost Prep.

Trailing by 46-27 with 6:20 left, the Drakes ripped off a 15-0 run to get within 46-44 and later 49-46 before they ran out of energy.

“Jenkintown came with everything they had,’ Faith coach David Forker said. “We were not trying to just run our the clock. We were trying to keep scoring, especially when a team does full-court pressure, if you try to take the air out of the ball, you have to beat them and score. If they’re selling out 90 feet away from the basket you’ve got to beat them on this side and we were not doing that.’

It is cliche to say a team left everything it had on a playing surface, but the Drakes really did pour all the energy they had into their comeback bid. Senior Emma Dorshimer played every minute and scored 28 points with 14 rebounds, all but willing her team back into what looked like a done deal.

“It was a great game that we could have very easily buried our heads and said on to the next game,’ Jenkintown coach Jim Romano said. “They hung in there, made it a one-possession game and it’s shame a couple of their shots didn’t drop at the end. Give the girls credit for hanging in there, but we wouldn’t expect anything different from these girls.’