Plymouth Whitemarsh earns District 1-6A’s third seed with win over Spring-Ford

WHITEMARSH >> No. 1 Plymouth Whitemarsh beat No. 3 Spring-Ford in the District 1-6A third-place game, 56-42, Friday night at Plymouth Whitemarsh High School.

The Colonials closed the first half on a 10-0 run to take a 25-19 lead into the break.

Gabby Cooper gave PW its first lead of the game when she missed a free throw trailing 19-18, grabbed the rebound and laid it in for a 20-19 advantage with three minute remaining in the second quarter. She hit two more free throws and drained a three-pointer to end the first half.

“I missed the free throw,” Cooper said. “I saw the opportunity to get the rebound and just put it back in. That sparked everything else.”

“Gabby Cooper is an instant energy,” PW head coach Dan Dougherty said. “She’s like 5-hour Energy. She’s fantastic. The whole team is. They all play so hard.”

PW came out with the same energy in the third quarter. Anna McTamney and Abby Sharpe each made baskets to extend the run to 14 straight points and the lead to 10, 29-19. Sharpe scored 10 of her game-high 17 points in the third to help PW build a 43-29 advantage after 24 minutes.

Spring-Ford opened the fourth with a 5-0 run to get within nine, 43-34, but that’s as close as the Rams would get. PW responded with an 8-0 run and S-F’s leading scorer Lucy Olsen fouled out while trailing 49-34 with 4:28 to play.

Plymouth Whitemarsh went 11-for-18 from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter to maintain a comfortable lead and close out the Rams, 56-42. It is PW’s first win over Spring-Ford, according to Dougherty.

McTamney, Kaitlyn Flanagan and Jordyn Thomas each scored nine points for PW while Cooper added eight.

Olsen led the Rams with 14 points and added three assists, six rebounds and four blocks. Alyssa Yuan also scored in double figures with 11 points.

Spring-Ford jumped out to a 7-0 lead to start the game. PW battled to within one twice, 7-6 and 9-8, before the first quarter ended with the Rams ahead, 15-11.

In the second quarter, the Rams managed just four points.

“In the first quarter we made some shots,” S-F head coach Mickey McDaniel said. “Then we just didn’t make shots. We had really good looks all night. The shots just didn’t fall for us. That happens. Sometimes it’s easy. You win a game you say, ‘How’d you win that?’ We made shots. Tonight we didn’t make them and (PW) did.”

SCOUT TEAM >> All season Plymouth Whitemarsh coaches and players have stressed the importance of the scout team.

While the starters did a majority of the scoring, the scout team saw playing time during the first half and again at the end of the 56-42 win.

“Sometimes people ask, ‘How are you able to play so fast?’” Dougherty said, recognizing the contributions of Deja Evans, Ally Zolty, Fiona Gooneratne and Leah Kaye. “Well, because we have six kids in practice that practice that fast even though they don’t get in the game very much. ‘Coop’ and Flanagan and Abby Sharpe and Anna McTamney, boy do they fly up and down the floor. We have kids in practice that fly up and down the floor with them, which makes them better at it. It doesn’t make the speed too much for them.”

“(The playing time) is well earned,” Cooper added. “They know all the other teams’ plays, which helps us better-prepare for our opponent. It’s really helpful. They got their deserved minutes.”

FOUL TROUBLE >> Spring-Ford struggled with fouls Friday night. Three starters – Olsen, Abbey Boyer and Emily Tiffan – fouled out of the game and they sent the Colonials to the free-throw line 10 times in the fourth quarter. PW went 11-for-18.

“I never have any issues with officials,” McDaniel said. “They have a tough job out there, believe me. They’re not missing shots. They’re not turning the ball over or whatever it may be. We were aggressive and we had some aggressive fouls and then we really turned the aggression back up and we got some more fouls. It was just one of those nights.”

UP NEXT >> Both teams will play in the PIAA-6A state tournament beginning next Friday.

Plymouth Whitemarsh will face District 11 fourth seed Pocono Mountain West.

Spring-Ford will face District 11 third seed Parkland.

“Now we’re at the end of another mini-season,” McDaniel said. “Now we start another mini-season that you hope runs five games. Our goal is to go five games. We’ll get back at it Monday and get working for next Friday.”

Plymouth Whitemarsh 56, Spring-Ford 42

Spring-Ford 15 4 10 13 – 42

Plymouth Whitemarsh 11 14 18 13 – 56

SF: Boyer 1 0-0 3, Olsen 5 2-4 14, Yuan 4 3-3 11, Tiffan 1 1-2 4, Alessandroni 0 0-0 0, Sullivan 1 0-0 2, Maloney 0 0-0 0, Hudak 0 1-2 1, Scogna 0 0-0 0, Lee 1 0-2 2, Engle 0 0-0 0, Rutkowski 1 0-1 2, Coyne 0 0-0 0, Pizzi 1 0-0 3. Total 15 7-14 42.

PW: Sharpe 6 3-3 17, Thomas 3 2-4 9, Flanagan 0 9-12 9, Cooper 2 3-6 8, McTamney 4 1-3 9, Evans 1 0-3 2, Zolty 0 0-0 0, Gooneratne 0 0-0 0, LB McGrorty 0 0-0 0, Felgoise 0 0-0 0, Kaye 0 0-2 2, C McGrorty 0 0-0 0. Total 16 20-33 56.

3-point goals: SF: Boyer, Olsen 2, Pizzi. PW: Sharpe 2, Thomas, Cooper.