North Penn clamps down late to edge Souderton
FRANCONIA >> North Penn needed Alaina Mullaly’s offense for three quarters but her defense for the fourth.
Two nights after losing a fourth quarter lead to Pennridge in an eventual loss, the Knights bounced back with a stout defensive fourth quarter Thursday night at Souderton. With North Penn defenders covering every possible move Souderton wanted to make, the Indians went quiet at the most inopportune time.
Behind Mullaly’s 10 points and lockdown defense late, North Penn edged Souderton 37-34 to start the second half of SOL Continental competition.
“We were aware of their outside shooters so I was making sure to close out strong and get a hand up to not let them get that shot off,” Mullaly, a senior guard, said. “We tried to take Mikaela (Reese) out of the middle so she couldn’t get any strong post moves and I think our defense is what got us the game in the end.”
Mullaly splashed a three to open the scoring and had five points in the opening quarter, but the Knights would find themselves down after eight minutes. Souderton had three offensive rebounds in the opening quarter, getting points off all of them and led 12-9.
In a slow-paced game between two well-honed defensive teams, every point mattered and while the Indians never led by much, they did lead most of the first half. A pair of 3-pointers by Jordan Zimmerman helped keep the Indians in front late in the third quarter but Carley Adams scored to tie the game going into the final frame.
For Souderton (9-5, 3-4 conference), it was another example of a halftime lead not holding up, a problem coach Lynn Carroll hoped wouldn’t be plaguing her team at this point of the season.
“We shot 28 percent from the field and 53 percent from the line and you’re not going to beat a good team that way,” Carroll said. “I thought we defended extremely well but on a few occasions, we had a little bit of a lapse in focus and anytime that happened, (North Penn) capitalized which again, good teams do.
“We can’t afford to have those mental lapses. I was looking forward to talking after the game about how much progress we’ve made and that we’re able to beat teams like this but we’re not there yet.”
Alli Lindsay buried a three to start the fourth, putting North Penn (9-4, 4-3) in front for the rest of the night. Rachel Dunn, who gave the Knights a terrific spark off the bench both defensively and on the glass, hit a shot to extend the lead to five before senior Val McGriff put North Penn ahead 35-28 with 2:24 to play.
McGriff, Dunn and Adams all took turns guarding Reese and every time the Souderton center caught the ball low, there were at least two North Penn defenders hovering in her vicinity.
Mullaly, who only attempted one shot in the final quarter, spent her time shadowing Zimmerman and not giving the Souderton guard enough space to even think about a shot. The senior’s offense came off her teammates’ screens and getting her shot in the air quick before a defender could close, so she used that to fuel her defense and try to deny Souderton’s shooters the same advantages.
“This was a win we needed to get our record back up as well as our energy and motivation for the rest of the season,” Mullaly said. “We don’t like fighting back from behind, so getting a lead and playing in front is something we’re stronger with and maintaining it was something we did well in the fourth quarter.”
North Penn’s lone breakdown defensively in the fourth allowed Souderton’s Casey Harter to dart into the lane for a layup and cut the lead to 35-32 with 1:37 left.
Souderton scored once more, when Reese finally got a shot to drop inside with 12 seconds left, but it had taken nearly 50 seconds off the clock for the possession to yield a result. That was a battle North Penn was fine with at that point and something the Indians will have to continue to work on as they navigate a challenging remaining slate of games.
“We should be there at this point in the season, too many times we’re up at halftime and end up losing the game,” Carroll said. “That’s what we talked about, it’s a group effort and we all need to take a look and figure out what we have to do to stop feeling this way.
“North Penn hit shots down the stretch, we didn’t; it was one of those nights. It’s frustrating, the girls are frustrated and we all want to be further along at this point.”
Knights coach Jen Carangi didn’t hesitate to say her team’s effort wasn’t good enough in the first half, but she liked the way her players responded in the second half. Fittingly, McGriff wrestled down a rebound off a missed North Penn foul shot to seal the game, denying Souderton any chance of putting up a desperation heave.
“The girls just executed so well,” Carangi said. “Taking away the three point shot and our interior players forcing them to get the ball back outside, we knew what they wanted to do and we could go out and stop it. They were very disappointed after Tuesday but I told them the nice thing about basketball is, you wait a couple days and you get another chance to play.”
NORTH PENN 37, SOUDERTON 34
NORTH PENN 9 9 10 9 – 37
SOUDERTON 12 9 7 6 – 34
NP: Alli Lindsay 2 1-3 6, Alaina Mullaly 4 0-0 10, Carley Adams 3 0-0 6, Val McGriff 2 3-5 7, Rachel Dunn 2 0-0 4, Imani Plaza 1 0-0 2, Laynie Doran 1 0-0 2. Totals: 15 4-8 37.
S: Jordan Zimmerman 2 0-1 6, Olivia Schneider 0 5-8 5, Casey Harter 3 0-0 6, Hannah Alderfer 3 0-0 6, Mikaela Reese 2 2-4 6, Hayley Fenchel 2 1-2 5. Totals: 12 8-15 34.
3-pointers: NP – Mullaly 2, Lindsay; S – Zimmerman 2.
