North Penn handles Central Bucks East in District 1-6A playback
TOWAMENCIN >> No. 10 North Penn used a pair of dominant stretches to beat No. 11 Central Bucks East, 58-41, in a District 1-6A playback matchup Wednesday night at North Penn High School.
The Knights used a 14-0 run that stretched from the middle of the first quarter to the beginning of the second to turn a 4-3 deficit into a 17-4 lead.
“I feel like it really started on defense,” North Penn head coach Jen Carangi said. “The last time we played them at the end of the first quarter it was 21-20. I looked over at one point tonight and said it’s a whole different ball game. We really emphasized defense and focusing on just trying to shut down the shooters and obviously (Emily) Chmiel inside, limiting her. She’s such a good player and she crashes the boards, which is tremendous. You’re not going to completely shut her out, but I feel like if we can limit her points – I thought we did a nice job of doing that.”
“Stops on defense really helped us,” senior forward Val McGriff added. “It gave us the momentum to do well on offense. That really helped us a lot.”
The first-half advantage grew to 19 points, 30-11, before the Lady Patriots found their stride. East scored eight straight points to make it a 30-19 game, but a Carly Adams basket at the halftime buzzer extended the North Penn lead to 13 points at the break.
Alli Lindsay led the Knights with 12 of her game-high 21 points in the first half. Alaina Mullaly had six at intermission and McGriff five.
Adams’ basket started an 11-0 Knights run that went into the third quarter and resulted in a 41-19 lead. The advantage hovered around 20 points the rest of the way until the final buzzer sounded, 58-41.
MOTIVATION >> Both teams entered Wednesday’s game already having secured state playoff berths. Their next two games would determine where they would finish between the fifth or eighth seed in the district.
Finishing as high as they can and playing good basketball going into states were enough to have North Penn motivated against its Suburban One League Continental Conference rivals.
“It’s important heading into states to still be playing a high level of basketball,” Carangi said. “Obviously these games there is going to be a winner and there is going to be a loser, but to be able to win these final two games going into states just puts us in a better frame of mind in terms of getting ready to play those first games.”
“We want to get the easiest road down through states,” McGriff, who scored 12 points, added. “We’re just trying to make sure we win these games so we can make it easier on ourselves down the road. It’s definitely worth getting these (wins) right now.”
It was also the last home game for North Penn’s senior class.
“You want to make every moment count as a senior,” McGriff said. “I’m really grateful and blessed to even be here. I’m really happy about that.”
UP NEXT >> North Penn will face No. 8 Upper Dublin Friday night for fifth place in District 1. Central Bucks East will face No. 5 Methacton Saturday for seventh place.
North Penn 58, Central Bucks East 41
Central Bucks East 4 15 9 13 – 41
North Penn 12 20 20 6 – 58
Central Bucks East: Wilga 2 1-2 5, Salvati 3 0-0 7, Chmiel 8 3-6 19, Barry 0 0-0 0, DeAngelis 1 3-3 5, Duffy 0 0-0 0, Finnan 1 0-0 3, Burns 1 0-0 2. Total 16 7-11 41.
North Penn: Doran 1 0-0 2, Plaugher 0 0-0 0, Lindsay 9 0-1 21, Dunn 2 0-0 4, Plaza 0 0-0 0, Mullaly 2 2-4 6, Early 1 4-4 7, Adams 1 4-4 6, McGriff 5 1-1 12. Total 21 11-14 58.
3-point goals: CBE: Salvati, Finnan. NP: Lindsay 3, Early, McGriff.
