Ross-Barnes helps Abington Friends hold off Penn Charter
ABINGTON >> Zaniyyah Ross-Barnes was in just the right spot to hit a big shot for her team.
The Abington Friends School junior forward was already on her way to a career day but her teammates needed even more from her. Ross-Barnes spent the whole offseason refining her game so she could step up at those times and Tuesday gave her the perfect chance. Her corner 3-pointer with 2:06 left in the third quarter gave AFS the lead for good.
Behind a 30-point effort from Ross-Barnes, the Kangaroos held off a resilient Penn Charter team for a 66-61 victory at the brand new Berman Athletic Center.
“I just tried to let the game come to me,” Ross-Barnes said. “I just wanted to go out and play and that’s all I did. I think it helped start everything and gave the team some energy.”
There’s a lot of experience on the Abington Friends roster, with seniors Paige Mott and Kendall Hodges starting lineup mainstays since their freshman year. However, a mix of injuries and transfers robbed the ‘Roos of some of their depth and they’re leaning more on players like Ross-Barnes to reach their goal of Friends School League and PAISAA titles.
PC also brings plenty of experience back to the court this winter and the Quakers were looking to start their season off with a quality win. After taking a 5-0 lead, Penn Charter found itself down 21-15 at the quarter break after Ross-Barnes just went off.
The junior scored 16 of her 30 points in the first quarter, missing her first shot but making her next five plus four foul shots in the frame.
“Every day, I was getting in the gym and working on shots I knew I would be shooting in a game,” Ross-Barnes said. “I think that really worked out, especially with the shots I was getting today.”
It’s hard to keep that pace up for an entire game, but whatever Ross-Barnes lost in volume of scoring, she made up for in importance the rest of the way. Scoring is only one part of the game though and the forward, who stands about 6-feet tall, stuffed the stat sheet.
She was the Kangaroos’ best rebounder with 13 boards, had five blocks and deflected a ton of passes that teammates turned into steals. It was her complete effort that most caught the eye of longtime AFS coach Jeff Bond.
“She’s a kid who got a lot better from last season to this season and she really owns that experience,” Bond said. “She went out and did it for herself, not because people were telling her but because she wanted to. I only had to tell her to attack and she did but I was most proud of how she played on defense, deflected balls, got rebounds and when things got hard, she stuck with it.”
Penn Charter used its full-court press to get back in the game. The Quakers forced a ton of errant passes and many of them ended up as AFS turnovers that helped fuel a PC comeback in the second quarter.
Carmen Williams, Kait Carter and Aleah Snead generated a 7-0 run to get within a bucket. Penn Charter out-scored the Kangaroos 6-1 over the final 1:50 of the half, taking a 34-33 lead into the break.
At the break, the Kangaroos didn’t get panicked or upset. Ross-Barnes said they were able to step back, calm down and figure out what they needed to do on both ends of the floor. Offensively, it was just a matter of taking better care of the ball and being more decisive while on defense, they had to work together.
“What we did well was talking to each other,” Ross-Barnes said. “We stayed together, stayed in our help defense and helped each other when we needed to.”
Carter dished a couple early assists in the third quarter and sophomore center Bella Toomey scored five straight to put Penn Charter up 44-39 with 4:21 left in the frame.
Mott, who sat much of the first half with foul trouble, then scored an inside hoop off a Hodges pass and the ‘Roos were off and running. Bond trusts his players to work through some things on the floor and he too didn’t panic when they went down.
The Mott hoop started an 11-0 run over a two-minute span that saw Hodges tie the game on a three assisted by Ross-Barnes before Mott found the junior in the right corner.
“That’s the shot I work on every day,” Ross-Barnes said. “I can shoot from anywhere but I have that one hot spot where I feel like it’s always going in.”
Ty’Lah Washington finished the run with a three, putting AFS up 50-44. The freshman point guard was terrific in the second half, scoring 13 of her 19 points after the break..
Washington, who also had five assists, doesn’t lack for confidence and Ross-Barnes said they want the freshman to shoot the ball even if she misses. The freshman made an impressive drive, finishing through contact early in the fourth for a 53-48 lead.
“We thought we could have some advantages this season with her pushing the ball and looking to find people,” Bond said. “We feel like she’s a tough cover in the full cover in the full court and it worked well for us today.”
Penn Charter absorbed the run then clawed the lead all the way down to a single point. Snead, who led the Quakers with 16, hit a midrange jumper, then finished in the lane drawing a whistle. Her free throw didn’t go down, but PC trailed 55-54 with 4:31 to play.
Washington responded with a trey and after another hoop by Snead, found Abby Camarou and Ross-Barnes for scores to make it 62-56. Again, PC made a charge with Carter (15 points) hitting a corner triple and Williams (15 points) finishing a drive to get within one.
To no surprise, the Kangaroos went back to Ross-Barnes, who came through again with 43 seconds left.
“At halftime, we just said we had to stay together,” Bond said. “We have to trust in each other, stay together and follow the lead of our veterans. We really compete, we don’t have a ton of kids but they’re all competitors and any one of them can step up and carry us. Today, it was Zaniyyah.”
Penn Charter missed a tying 3-pointer with 12 seconds left and Ross-Barnes finished off the win with two free throws.
AFS will take part in the FSL-Inter-Ac challenge at Shipley over the weekend, starting with a Friday game against Germantown Academy. The teams played a classic in the PAISAA semifinals last year with GA winning by a point at the buzzer.
“We’re looking forward to it, we’ve got a little bit of a thing with them after they beat us by a point last year,” Ross-Barnes said. “We definitely want to go out there and try to give it back to them.”
ABINGTON FRIENDS SCHOOL 21 12 20 13 – 66
PENN CHARTER 15 19 14 13 – 61
AFS: Zaniyyah Ross Barnes 10 7-7 30, Kendall Hodges 2 1-2 7, Ty’Lah Washington 6 3-5 19, Paige Mott 2 2-3 6, Abby Camarou 2 0-1 4. Nonscoring: Kyleigh Fitzpatrick, Phoebe Mixon. Totals: 22 13-18 66
PC: Kait Carter 6 1-4 15, Carmen Williams 6 1-3 15, Kelsey Bess 2 0-0 6, Aleah Snead 7 2-4 16, Kaitlyn Hnatkowsky 1 0-1 2, Bella Toomey 3 1-1 7. Nonscoring: Hayley Hunt, India Barnes. Totals: 25 4-13 61
3-pointers: AFS – Washington 4, Ross-Barnes 3, Hodges 2; PC – Bess 2, Carter 2, Williams 2
