O’Brien, McTamney lead Plymouth Whitemarsh in rout of Bodine

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WHITEMARSH >> The Christmas break had run its course for the Plymouth Whitemarsh girls basketball team.

“Yesterday’s practice you could kind of start to see the girls are getting a little tired of scrimmaging each other,” Colonials coach Dan Dougherty said. “So it was nice to get back on the court.”

Facing another side for the first time in a week, PW wasted little time in securing its third consecutive victory against Bodine Friday. The Colonials scored 25 straight points to surge out to a 30-4 lead early in the second quarter as they cruised past the Ambassadors 65-16 in the nightcap of the Lady Colonials Holiday Classic.

“We took three days off, which was nice. Everyone got to spend a little bit of time with their families,” Dougherty said. “We came back in, we had a really nice practice the day after Christmas and then the second day back it was really sluggish and then yesterday everyone was starting to get antsy, just antsy to play a game again.”

Bucknell commit Taylor O’Brien scored 15 points in the first quarter and finished with a game-high 21 points. Freshman Anna McTamney — making her first varsity start — added 13 points with 11 coming before halftime.

“I was nervous but then I kind of just got used to it,” McTamney said.

Plymouth Whitemarsh (6-1, 2-0 SOL American) advances to Saturday’s 4 p.m. final to face West Chester East, which defeated Harriton 44-38 in Friday’s opener. PW and East met in the Classic’s title game last season with the Colonials coming away with a 75-26 victory.

“West Chester East, we’ve played them in this tournament every year except for one, whether it’s the first game or in second game,” Dougherty said. “And they have a really talented player, (Marissa) McDonald, No. 22, that she’s someone to really be reckoned with. And the rest of their team is just really well balanced. They’re well-coached, they’re very athletic and very long. So they’ll definitely present a challenge tomorrow.”

Plymouth Whitemarsh has not had many challenges so far this season with Friday’s victory its fourth by at least 44 points. The Colonials also have a 30-point win over Wissahickon. PW’s only close contests were a 52-46 win at Pennridge Dec. 9 and its lone defeat to unbeaten Central Bucks South 58-52 Dec. 16.

“We’re getting there,” Dougherty said. “We’re still trying to get the girls to make some better shot selection. Tonight wasn’t the best night for that, but we tried, like coming out the start of the third quarter, we talked about at halftime, we don’t have many rules about shooting but we tried to tell the girls let’s focus on shot selection, like we have certain sets where the ball is supposed to get there. And I thought the third quarter, the girls executed that well.

“Some games we have coming up, starting tomorrow, the first option on the play’s not going to be there and they got to know how to continue a play, use some shot fakes, set better screens.”

Keyanna Price scored 12 points to pace Bodine, which pulled to within a point twice early in the first quarter, the last time at 5-4 after a Price foul-line jumper. But O’Brien collected the next four points, McTamney followed with back-to-back buckets as PW posted the period’s final 21 points to hold a 26-4 advantage.

McTamney and Lauren Fortescue stretched the run out to 25-0 in the second quarter before it was stopped by a Lexa Horsey-Williams putback. The Colonials proceeded to score 13 of the half’s last 15 points — the final five coming from McTamney, who started in place of the injured Bria Rivers — to lead 43-8.

“She’s played every game so far, this is her first start, but it’s different when you’re a starter and a freshman. The nerves of it all,” said Dougherty of McTamney, “But she came out strong tonight. And I think she finished with almost a double-double. So it was a good experience for her to and get that under her belt cause tomorrow’s going to be a tougher game.”

McTamney, a 5-10 freshman, says she has been trying to contribute where she can on an veteran PW team that last season reached the District 1-6A final and the PIAA quarterfinals.

“I’ve just been trying to work with the team and just be a part of it,” she said. “And score as much as I can and pass and just work well with the team.”

O’Brien knocked down the last of her three 3-pointers to make it 50-10 in the third quarter, which ended with PW up 55-10.

PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH 65, BODINE 16
Bodine  4  4  2  6 — 16
Plymouth Whitemarsh  26 17 12 10 — 65
Bodine: Keyanna Price 5 2-2 12; Jayla Cosley 1 0-0 2; Lexa Horsey-Williams 1 0-0 2; Totals 7 2-2 16.
Plymouth Whitemarsh: Taylor O’Brien 9 0-0 21; Anna McTamney 6 1-2 13; Lauren Fortescue 3 0-0 8; Ali Diamond 2 1-2 5; Issa Crawley 2 0-0 4; Jordan O’Brien 2 0-1 4; Sydney Kesselman 1 0-2 3; Haley Zygmunt 1 0-0 3; Gabby Cooper 1 0-0 2; Gia Schweitzer 0 2-2 2; Totals 27 4-9 65.
Three-pointers: PW-T. O’Brien 3, Fortescue 2, Kesselman, Zygmunt.

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Mike Cabrey

Mike Cabrey
Mike Cabrey is the Assistant Sports Editor for The Reporter and Montgomery News. Email him at mcabrey@thereporteronline.com.

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