McTamney, Plymouth Whitemarsh snap losing streak against Abington
ABINGTON >> Anna McTamney didn’t even try to hide how much Friday’s game meant to her.
The Plymouth Whitemarsh junior, a team captain and three-year starter, had never beaten Abington in her career. It was a dubious mark she shared with her teammates and coaches and while this is a different Ghosts roster than years past, McTamney wasn’t any less eager to snap that streak.
Paced by McTamney’s relentless energy, the Colonials led wire-to-wire as they downed Abington 84-52 in an SOL American girls basketball game to start the new year.
“My freshman year, we lost twice against them and last year we lost twice, so we were all hyping each other up and knew we had to win this one,” McTamney said. “Energy is key and having it on offense and defense is very important to us, so we just knew we had to come out strong.”
McTamney led PW (10-0, 4-0 conference) with 19 points but it was her overall energy that seemed to resonate even more. The junior was the first one to any teammate who drew a whistle on a drive, pumped her arm nearly every made basket by a teammate and was right in the mix on a relentless team-wide rebounding effort.
Even Abington coach Dan Marsh noted it was the type of game tailor-made for McTamney to thrive with a lot of chances to crash the glass and his team not putting up the same kind of effort to get the rebounds. PW had a large rebound advantage, with McTamney chipping in a team-best 13 of them plus an assist and three steals.
“Anna is one of the toughest kids I’ve ever coached, she’s so intense and so focused, sometimes almost to a fault,” PW coach Dan Dougherty said. “I often joke that I could watch that kid practice all day. She’s so intense but she is also an absolute leader and the other kids feed off her energy and her toughness.”
Friday’s game marked the second lopsided defeat for the Ghosts (4-5, 2-2) in their last three games after falling to Maryland’s McDonough before topping Council Rock North at a tournament in Wildwood over the holiday break. Sophomore Khalis Whiting is the only starter back from last year’s SOL champion and state playoff team and Abington is relying on a large group of freshmen and sophomores.
“It’s frustrating because this is the kind of stuff we know we have to get better at,” Marsh said. “We know we’re not a big team so we have to box out and they destroyed us there. We told them coming in the No. 1 thing was to box out because that’s how that team scores.
“It’s another hard lesson learned. I told (Dougherty) before the game, ‘we’re probably not ready to play you guys,’ and it was true. We have a lot to do, we have talent but the team defense is just not there yet.”
Cire Worley helped keep Abington afloat in the first quarter with seven points as the Ghosts trailed 16-9. Abington had no answer for PW in the second quarter however as sophomore Kaitlyn Flanagan scored nine and Abby Sharpe added seven while the Colonials scored 24 and took a 41-21 lead to the half.
Amanda Jackson led the Ghosts with 18 points, hitting six 3-pointers including a halfcourt buzzer-beater to end the first half while Worley had 13 points and Whiting finished with nine, all in the second half after fouls limited her impact before intermission.
McTamney went 3-for-3 in the third quarter for six points while freshman Erin Daley controlled the inside game with nine points as the Colonials didn’t have a letdown and built their lead to 71-40. Marsh felt like his team was able to get to the rim with regularity but didn’t finish enough, often with PW rebounding and quickly pushing the other way.
“That team is a pretty good outside shooting team but they made most of their shots from five feet and in,” Marsh said. “It’s not translating consistently enough. If we want to play at this level like we’re hoping to be by February, then we have to continue to try and get better and it starts with team defense.”
PW had a solid holiday break, winning the IAABO Cup in its bracket of the Diamond State Classic in Delaware. McTamney felt the championship game in Delaware helped prepare for Abington’s pressuring defense and before the game, she and her teammates stressed taking matters into their own hands by handling that pressure.
Part of the reason Dougherty put his team in the Diamond State Classic was to prepare it for the postseason but also test the players’ maturity level. He noted late in the season, games don’t get moved, the opponent is less familiar and it’s usually up to a team’s players to push through.
McTamney sensed that as well and given the chance Friday, tried to use her drives to set an example.
“I did want to do that,” McTamney said. “It was very important to go to the rim and if we didn’t make it, find a way to get to the foul line or get a rebound. This was probably our best game yet, but we knew we had to finish and win this game.”
Flanagan finished with 16 points and four steals while Daley had 13 points, seven rebounds and three assists. Gabby Cooper just missed a double-double, tallying nine points and nine boards with eight on the offensive end and Sharpe chalked up 12 points.
It was just one win in what PW is hoping becomes a long season, but it was one the Colonials couldn’t deny was a morale builder.
“As coaches, we’ve never beat them and the loss in the (2017) District championship still haunts us,” Dougherty said. “I give a lot of credit to assistant coach TJ DeLucia, he did a great job of scouting them and knew a lot of their tendencies and I thought the girls defensively, forced Abington into some tough shots.”
“We’re just working really well together,” McTamney said. “We can pass, we can shoot, we can finish and it’s really important to have that teamwork be part of it. We’ve all just clicked, we work well and get along on the floor together.”
PLYMOUTH WHITEMASRH 84, ABINGTON 52
PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH 16 24 30 13 – 84
ABINGTON 9 12 19 12 – 52
Plymouth Whitemarsh: Kaitlyn Flanagan 5 6-8 16, Erin Daley 6 1-3 13, Gabby Cooper 4 1-2 9, Anna McTamney 8 2-4 19, Jordyn Thomas 2 1-3 5, Abby Sharpe 5 1-1 12, Deja Evans 3 1-2 7, Chloe McGrorty 1 0-0 3. Totals: 34 13-23 84.
Abington: Cire Worley 4 4-6 13, Krysten Brown 0 1-2 1, Jada Helm 4 0-2 8, Amanda Jackson 6 0-0 18, Khalis Whiting 2 5-6 9, Krysten Bowser 1 0-0 3. Totals: 17 10-16 52.
3-pointers: PW – McTamney, McGrorty, Sharpe; A – Jackson 6, Worley, Bowser.
