Abington returns to form, tops Spring-Ford in District 1-6A third place game

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ABINGTON >> The Abington girls’ basketball team had to set some things straight.

After what they judged a disappointing effort in a semifinal loss to Neshaminy in the District I 6A semifinals on Wednesday, the Galloping Ghosts had a team meeting on Thursday to come back together. While it’s the game no team wants to find itself in, the No. 3 Ghosts knew there was a big opportunity in front of them Friday night against No. 4 Spring-Ford in the district’s third-place game.

So, with the air cleared and their final goal stated, they came out and got back to playing Abington basketball.

A sizzling start offensively proved the difference as the Ghosts built a big lead and held it against the hard-charging Rams for a 74-55 win and the district’s third seed in states, giving their seniors a final victory at home.

“They were eager to shake off Wednesday, we had a great team meeting (Thursday) and they wanted to come out and get back on track,” Abington coach Dan Marsh said. “Spring-Ford, they’re so good at what they do and for us to handle it for the most part, I was proud.”

With the win, Abington (24-4) will face District 11 fourth seed Parkland in the first round of states next Friday in the western bracket. Spring-Ford (22-5) will face District 11 third seed Nazareth the same night with the site and time for both contests to be announced this weekend.

Against Neshaminy, the Ghosts had one of their worst offensive games of the season and two of their worst quarters of the year. Friday, against a stout defensive squad but one that also likes to push the ball up the floor, Abington knew it had a chance to get itself back on the right path on the offensive end.

“Everyone was honest at the meeting, we all stepped forward and took the blame,” Abington center Kassondra Brown said. “The last game, we weren’t focused, we didn’t play Abington basketball and I think we got back to that.”

Like Abington, Spring-Ford was looking to bounce back from a rough outing against No. 1 Garnet Valley in the semifinals. While the Rams were certainly motivated to win, they ran into an Abington group that had a completely different kind of fire in its effort.

The Ghosts scored the first 13 points of the game, hitting three shots from past the arc in doing so to surpass their game total against Neshaminy and put the Rams in catch-up mode. Suddenly, Spring-Ford found itself exerting a lot of energy to try and get back into the game.

“They were really hungry tonight and you could see they were clicking,” Spring-Ford coach Mickey McDaniel said. “We wanted to get out and run because that’s what we do, but they really took it up a notch in the tempo and on top of that, they were making shots. There were times where we were just on people and they were still making them.”

Brown, one of the seniors playing for the last time in her gym, had a huge game. The Rhode Island recruit totaled 22 points, 15 rebounds, three assists and five blocks, either scoring or assisting most of Abington’s most crucial baskets.

Even in a game where they gave up 55 points, Abington’s defense was solid in the first half as the Ghosts limited Rams sharpshooters Lucy Olsen and Cassie Marte. Marte did end up with a team-best 19 but she only had five at the half while Olsen was held scoreless in the first half before finishing with 13.

Still, keeping their impact to a minimum was pivotal in Abington building an early lead and maintaining it through a Spring-Ford second quarter run.

“Marsh said she likes to go around screens and shoot, so the biggest thing was going over, under or around screens depending on the situation,” Abington senior Cam Lexow, who guarded Olsen most of the game, said. “She didn’t score until the third quarter which helped us.”

Abington’s lead got all the way to 29-9 before the Rams went on a 12-3 run through the middle of the second quarter getting within 34-23 before a late trey by Miranda Liebtag sent the host team into halftime with a 14-point advantage.

Spring-Ford adjusted at halftime, Olsen and Marte started to get and knock down looks and the Rams opened the third on an 8-1 run that sliced the deficit into single-digits at 38-31. There’s an old saying in basketball that a team trying to come back is best served coming all the way back, but the Rams’ rally would fall short there.

“They did a nice job on us defensively, we weren’t getting a lot of good looks and what we have to do is execute our offense better,” McDaniel said. “We’ve done it when people have defended Lucy well, tonight we didn’t shoot as well as we can.

“We were expending a lot of energy to get back into the game. We felt really good getting it to eight and we’ve done it to people where they come back and we hit a couple threes, so I know that feeling on the other side and now we get the feeling on this side.”

Liebtag, who scored seven points, had a put-back to end the Spring-Ford run, Tamia Wessels followed with a 3-pointer and after a Rams free throw, Brown kicked out to Amanda Jackson for a corner triple and Lexow canned two foul shots to put the lead back to 16 points.

Wessels bounced back in a big way with 15 points including four 3-pointers, Khalis Whiting had 13 points and five assists and Lexow, a UVA soccer recruit, had 14 points, five rebounds and three steals for Abington.

With Abington’s boys winning their semifinal on Tuesday, Marsh felt his players put a lot of pressure on themselves to match the accomplishment and it may have affected them against Neshaminy. His biggest question on Friday was what team would come out on the floor and he got the answer he wanted.

“Our first half had a big impact on what happened in the second half,” Brown said. “We lost a lot of confidence after the last game, but it was something we talked about. If we turned the ball over, nobody worried about it, we just came back down and hit another shot.”

“Losing in the semifinals really set something off in our heads,” Lexow said. “We knew we could have won that, but now we can turn it around and use it to make a run at states.”

Spring-Ford has the unfortunate result of going into states on a two-game losing streak, but McDaniel hasn’t lost any faith in his team and knows the hunger is still there.

“We have some time to get ready, we’ll be fine,” McDaniel said. “These kids are resilient and tough. We’re starting what we call a new season, I have no concern of that, our girls will have the hunger.

“Tonight we just ran into a team that came out and stung us really hard and it took a lot for us to get back into the game.”

Abington 74, Spring-Ford 55
Abington 22 15 13 24 – 74
Spring-Ford 9 14 12 20 – 55
Abington: Tamia Wessels 4 3-4 15, Cam Lexow 3 7-8 14, Kassondra Brown 9 3-4 22, Miranda Liebtag 2 2-2 7, Khalis Whiting 3 5-10 13, Amanda Jackson 1 0-0 3. Totals: 22 20-28 74.
Spring-Ford: Lucy Olsen 5 1-2 13, Emily Tiffan 3 5-8 11, Olivia Olsen 3 0-0 6, Cassie Marte 8 0-0 19, Alyssa Yuan 1 2-4 4, Hailey Hudak 1 0-0 2. Totals: 21 7-14 55.
3-pointers: A – Wessels 4, Lexow, Brown, Liebtag, Jackson, Whiting; SF – Marte 3, L Olsen 2.

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Andrew Robinson

Andrew Robinson
Montgomery Media/Lansdale Reporter sports writer.

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