Abington Friends knocks off Penn Charter in PAISAA quarterfinals

PHILADELPHIA >> Three minutes into Saturday’s PAISAA quarterfinal matchup with William Penn Charter School, it wasn’t looking good for Abington Friends School.

The Kangaroos trailed the Quakers 17-4 and seemingly could nOt get anything going on offense. But Abington Friends stabilized and cut the deficit to four points heading into halftime.

“I was feeling like we just dug ourselves a really big hole in a pretty big game and its against a good team and its going to be hard to get out of,” Abington Friends coach Jeff Bond said. “I give the kids a lot of credit. You can role over down 17-4 and the kids didn’t.”

A little before the halfway point in the third quarter, the Roos took their first lead of the game and never lost control from there. Abington Friends directed the flow of the game in the second half as it knocked off second-seeded Penn Charter 43-36.

Heading into the fourth quarter, the game was tied at 25. Penn Charter scored the first points of the quarter and capped a 6-0 run dating back to the end of the third, but it would stand as the last time the Quakers led in the game. But it was not PC’s last run.

Between the 5:02 and 3:23 mark in the fourth, Penn Charter hit the Roos with a 7-0 run to tied the game at 34. Abington Friends then proceeded to close the game out on a 10-2 run.

“When we were up seven and they tied it back up, I got a little nervous then,” Bond said. “What we said at halftime was I felt good about being in that locker room even though we were down four because we came back from down 17-4. If we play like that we’re going to come out a head in this one.”

The story of the game for Abington Friends was its defense. It kept the Kangaroos in the game when they fell down early and it closed the game out down the stretch when they needed stops.

Sophomore guard Cheryl Remolde was tasked with the unenviable job of guarding Penn Charter’s top scoring option Hannah Fox. Fox entered Saturday’s game with 1,808 career points, but thanks in large part to Remolde’s defense, Fox added just five points to that total.

“Cheryl Remolde did a great job on Hannah Fox,” Bond said. “We gave a challenge to Cheryl and she’s a tough kid and she rose to it.”

Abington Friends now moves on to the semifinals of the PAISAA tournament where it will meet Mercersburg Academy Friday. Mercersburg is coming fresh off an upset victory over Friends Central School.