Defense the difference as Neshaminy tops Abington in District 1-6A semifinals

BENSALEM >> It all started with a defensive play.

Neshaminy senior Brooke Mullin swatted a 3-point attempt by Abington’s Miranda Liebtag, grabbed the ball and sent an outlet pass about 90 feet down the court. Eventually, it found its way out to Allison Harvey for a wide-open three that hit nothing but net and put Neshaminy up 13 points.

In the third meeting between the teams this season, but easily the one with the most at stake, Neshaminy’s defense was the edge as the No. 2 ‘Skins edged No. 3 Abington 44-28 in the District 1-6A semifinals Wednesday night.

“Last time, they got us in their press, we started dribbling and they would trap us,” Mullin said. “So in practice we went over passing the ball quickly and not taking a lot of dribbles. We did a great job all-around and the defense was amazing tonight.”

The first quarter belonged to Abington, or more accurately, it belonged to Kassondra Brown. She scored nine points and assisted the team’s other basket as the Ghosts went up 11-8 after the first eight minutes. As well as things went in the first, the next three quarters became a different story.

Neshaminy (24-3) changed up a couple of defensive looks on Wednesday, chiefly sticking Harvey on Brown and letting their help defense collapse on Abington’s entry passes. Brown only took two shots after the first quarter.

“We weren’t playing aggressive enough offensively or defensively,” Abington coach Dan Marsh said. “We were playing not to lose as opposed to playing to win. There was a short spurt in the third quarter where we started to get that back but they did a really good job of not letting us dictate that pace and it hurt us.”

Neshaminy took control in the second quarter, using its defense to disrupt the Ghosts and point guard Kristin Curley getting the offense going. Curley scored seven straight points to start the second, her 3-pointer tying it up 13-13 and an ensuing bucket giving Neshaminy a lead at 15-13 it would never lose.

The second and third buckets of Curley’s spree kicked off a 13-1 run by Neshaminy over the final 5:56 of the first half leading to a 23-14 halftime lead.

“They’re enormous for us,” Neshaminy coach Joe Lally said of Curley’s shots. “They’re face-guarding (Harvey) so she’s not going to shoot and they’re looking to double Brooke when she spins or moves with the ball, so it gives Kristin opportunities to be aggressive.”

Abington (23-4) is used to teams collapsing in on Brown and usually, the Ghosts counter it with outside shooting. Whatever it was, the Ghosts simply couldn’t make anything from the perimeter on Wednesday to compensate for it.

While the Ghosts made two 3-pointers early in the third quarter as part of a 7-0 run to get within 23-21, their outside shooting suffered all night. Abington was just 2-of-14 from the perimeter and 9-of-31 overall from the floor.

“We weren’t able to knock shots down, we expected the help defense, it’s nothing we haven’t seen,” Marsh said. “We didn’t make shots. If they’re going to pack it in and try to take away Brown, normally our other kids can knock it down. The moment caught us and (Neshaminy) did a good job, so hat’s off to them.”

Mullin led Neshaminy with 14 points and eight rebounds while Curley added 11 and Harvey scored eight. Harvey capped the 13-1 first half run with a transition three and her three following the Mullin blocked ended an 8-0 run to open the fourth quarter.

“Locking them up on defense motivated us to be better on offense,” Mullin said. “With every stop, we didn’t want to slow down and we had the momentum going into our offense.”

Brown still led the Ghosts with 14 points and 12 rebounds, but not other Ghost had more than five points

Abington will play a seeding game on Friday then prepare for the state tournament. The team’s seniors were part of the Ghosts’ 2017 district title but they’ve yet to make a run all the way to Hershey so that now becomes the goal.

“This team has won a district championship, our ultimate goal is a state championship and this is the kind of loss you can learn from,” Marsh said. “I told them if we’re going to lose, then we want to do it our way. If someone beats us, they do it because we played our way and tonight, you have to give them credit for that.”

Neshaminy will make a historic trip to Temple on Saturday to play for the District 1 title at the Liacouras Center against No. 1 Garnet Valley, a 42-40 winner over No. 4 Spring-Ford in the other semifinal. The district’s No. 2 seed can thank its adjustments and its defense for that.

“Our tempo was higher and we were really motivated today,” Mullin said. “Not that we weren’t motivated for the other games against them, but we knocked down key shots and locked in on defense.”

Neshaminy 44, Abington 28
Neshaminy 8 15 6 15 – 44
Abington 11 3 10 4 – 28
Neshaminy: Brooke Mullin 3 8-9 14, Kristin Curley 5 0-0 11, Alexa McCoy 1 0-0 2, Kelli Kowalick 3 1-2 7, Allison Harvey 3 0-0 8, Emily Tantala 1 0-0 2. Totals: 16 9-11 44.
Abington: Tamia Wessels 1 0-0 3, Cam Lexow 1 0-0 2, Kassondra Brown 5 4-5 14, Miranda Liebtag 1 1-2 4, Khalis Whiting 1 3-6 5. Totals: 9 8-13 28.
3-pointers: N – Harvey 2, Curley; A – Wessels, Liebtag.