Jenkintown rides hot start past Springfield-Montco
JENKINTOWN >> The way the Jenkintown’s girls basketball team started its game Monday night, it seemed like it was running on several days’ worth of energy.
As it turns out, the Drakes were doing just that. They were running off about a week’s worth of pent up energy and it was just what they needed. Fueled by a ferocious defensive effort in the first quarter, the Drakes got off to a great start.
From there, they played consistently and picked up a 52-36 win over Springfield-Montco in a semifinal of the Robert Hopf Memorial Basketball Tournament.
“We came fired up,” Drakes coach Jim Romano said. “Our last game was a loss to Phil-Mont here, a close one, then we spent a week not playing a game. We were biting at the bit to get out on the floor and play a game. They came up large in the first quarter.”
Jenkintown (8-1, 4-1 BAL Constitution) came out in its trademark press and immediately started causing havoc for the Spartans. Springfield (3-5, 2-2 SOL American) turned the ball over 11 times in the opening quarter, though it took a while for Jenkintown to capitalize. The Drakes were getting steals and to the hoop, but they weren’t finishing.
Then, sophomore Amelia Mulvaney heated up, scoring eight of a 13-0 Jenkintown run that ran the lead up to 16-1 with 2:12 to go. Mulvaney was all over the place, her last basket coming after she swiped an inbound pass under the Springfield basket.
“All I have to do sometimes is roll out the ball with this group,” Romano said. “They’re a lot of fun to coach. The energy is unbelievable, they are all over the place and that’s what youth will do.”
Jenkintown is remarkably young this year, but especially right now. Senior Morrin McSherry is coming back from a knee injury and Romano expects her back in the next week or two.
As usual, the Drakes aren’t big, but what they do have is plenty of interchangeable athletes. The five starters are all between 5-foot-5 and 5-foot-7 and play a similar style. Their ability to mix and match spots makes Jenkintown’s press that more deadly.
“They can all handle the ball and that’s definitely a plus,” Romano said. “Every one of them can play every position. It’s going to be really hard to single out one player and say that’s the one to stop.”
Springfield got a buzzer-beater from Molly Dugan to end the first quarter down 16-3. The junior guard provided almost all of the Spartans offense in the first half as they tried to claw back from the ragged start. Maura Ryan had the only other field goal for Springfield in the first half, rebounding and putting back a missed free throw by Dugan.
Romano said Dugan and Ryan were the two players he was most concerned with after the teams’ prior meeting in Springfield’s tip-off tournament. Ryan posted six points, five rebounds and four blocks while Dugan never gave up on the game, posting 15 points, 13 rebounds, two assists, three steals and two blocks.
Jenkintown was paced by Mulvaney, who dropped in 18 points with five steals.
“She had a tough game against Phil-Mont and when she’s not scoring, and Caroline Arena’s not scoring and we lose to Phil-Mont by three, that’s a pretty good sign,” Romano said. “She’s working hard in practice. Amelia, she’s unbelievable really, she just keeps working so hard. In our drills, she’s always the first one done and just keeps working.”
A bucket by Emily Gianpietro cut the lead to 34-23 with 3:48 left in the third, but Jenkintown went on a 5-0 run to push the lead then after another hoop by Gianpietro, Mulvaney scored four in a row to end the quarter.
Jenkintown will face Upper Moreland, a 30-26 winner over Sacred Heart, for the tournament title Tuesday while Springfield will play in the consolation game.
