Springfield’s comeback bid falls short against battle-tested CB East
SPRINGFIELD >> Suburban One Continental teams claimed three of the top ten seeds in the District One Class AAAA tournament. Central Bucks East, seeded 24th, was not among them.
Ninth-seeded Springfield found out just how good basketball is in Bucks County the hard way. The Cougars lost, 45-33, Saturday in the first round, ending a terrific turnaround season at 18-6.
CB East, meanwhile, advances to face No. 8 Central Bucks South, which beat Haverford, 68-35, in Wednesday’s second round.
The Cougars were outscored 19-5 in the second quarter and found themselves down 22-9 at the half. They fought back to get within three with 2:48 left after a Maggie O’Connell trey. But CB East quickly answered with a three-point play from Briana Talbot. Springfield never scored again.
“Give them credit, they’re a good team, well coached,” Springfield coach Ky McNichol said. “They are not a (typical) 24th seed. They play in a tough league, they’re a good team.”
The Patriots (13-10) shot 8-for-12 from the field in the second quarter and hit three 3-pointers. The game quickly opened up after an ugly, 4-3 first quarter, and Springfield wasn’t quite ready for it.
A young team primarily experiencing postseason basketball for the first time was, perhaps, a bit timid during the opening 16 minutes.
“It’s the first time Springfield’s been here — we start two freshmen,” McNichol said. “We were tentative in the first half. We just decided to come out, regroup in the second half and play Springfield basketball: (Do) what we’ve done all season long, not play with too much pressure.”
The Cougars played more like themselves in the second half, but in the third quarter, CB East had answers. It capitalized on second-chance points and held an 11-point advantage entering the fourth quarter.
There, Madison D’Ambrosio hit two key 3-pointers to chip into the lead. O’Connell hit two big triples of her own — including a strike to make it a 36-33 game with under three minutes left.
But that’s when CB East put its foot down. Talbot’s quick answer pushed the lead back to six. Springfield turned the ball over on its next possession. The Patriots hit all six of their free throws in the waning minutes to ice it. They were prepared for this kind of pressure.
“We play in a really tough conference, we play with three teams that were in the Top 10 in Districts — North Penn, CB West, CB South are all in our conference — so I tell the girls all the time, it’s like you’re playing in the ACC,” CB East coach Liz Potash said. “We actually breathed a sigh of relief getting out of the conference.”
D’Ambrosio, in her final high school game, led Springfield with 15 points. O’Connell contributed 10.
Only Kyra Scaliti was in double figures for CB East with 15. Talbot and Bridget Birkhead added nine points apiece, and Grace Stewart chipped in eight.
The Cougars return a bulk of their roster and figure to only get better from here. Losing a game like this, coming just one defensive stop from a chance to tie, was not easy. But the improvements from last season are evident. That will carry them into the offseason.
“They can’t let today take away from the season that they’ve had because we were 6-15 last year, we had a rebuilding year,” McNichol said. “Kids put their heart and soul into this game every single day, gave all they have. I’m extremely proud of them, extremely proud of their efforts. We just fell a little short today.”
