Walbrandt leads Souderton Area past North Penn

FRANCONIA >> A stifling second-half defense and a whole lot of Megan Walbrandt unlocked the door to Souderton Area’s 12th straight victory on Thursday night.
Walbrandt scored all of Big Red’s 11 third-quarter points, pointing Big Red towards a 50-29 win over rival North Penn.
“At one point, I turned to my assistant coaches and said ‘look, we just need to keep running plays to get her looks,’” said Souderton coach Lynn Carroll, who has her team at 13-1 on the season. “She was making good decisions when she wasn’t open — she was finding somebody else that was open.
“And she kind of took over the game for us offensively in the third quarter.”
Walbrandt scored a game-high 16 points to help Souderton pull away from a 22-18 halftime lead an on its way to a regular-season sweep of the Knights. Big Red also raised its Suburban One League Continental Conference record to a perfect 7-0.
“Playing (conference) teams a second time around now, it feels good to get this one, especially against North Penn. It’s always an emotional game,” said Walbrandt.
Walbrandt scored on a drive, a three pointer, and on a breakaway layup as part of her third-quarter burst.
“My teammates just found me open,” the senior guard said. “We just kept working for that good shot. It feels good when you’re shooting well — it makes everything easier. The credit goes to my teammates, finding the open player.”
Souderton’s 11-0 third-quarter run — all baskets by Walbrandt — provided a 33-18 lead. Souderton shut out North Penn in the quarter until Carley Adams (11 pts) drained a three with 45 seconds to go, making it a 12-point game entering the fourth.
“We really wanted to buckle down and win the game, and we know that the third quarter is the turning point of every game,” Walbrandt said. “We talked at halftime about how we need to box out — North Penn was getting a lot of second-chance points on offense.
“We just really worked on boxing out and communicating better, and that’s really what got the job done.”
Mikaela Reese scored nine points inside for Souderton, Megan O’Donnell added eight and Megan Bealer seven.
Souderton jumped out to an 11-2 lead early, threes by Bealer and O’Donnell helping to power the way.
North Penn came right back though, a 6-0 run getting the Knights close. Alli Lindsay and Adams were settling in nicely for NP.
Another Souderton surge pushed the Big Red advantage to 16-8 before a buzzer-beating three by the Knights’ Cayla Sharkey drew North Penn (6-7, 3-4 conference) closer. Big Red led 16-11 after one.
Souderton led the entire second quarter but the Knights did not let the Indians pull away. Walbrandt drove hard to the hoop to widen the margin to 20-16 and Olivia Schneider and Erica Stephens each provided points off the bench.
But continued production from Lindsay and Sharkey, as well as reserve Alayna Faison, kept the Knights in contention, down 22-18 at the break.
However, the third quarter tilted control to Big Red. Souderton’s lead grew to 15 in the fourth when O’Donnell fed Olivia Schneider to finish off a fast break.
“Every mistake we made, they capitalized on,” Knights coach Jen Carangi said. “I’m frustrated for the girls because they work so hard and they give so much effort. But at some point, we’re gonna have to get over the inexperience.”