Jenkintown turns up the heat, rallies past previously-unbeaten Harrisburg Christian in PIAA-1A quarterfinals
HARRISBURG >> Down 8-0 in the opening moments and trailing by as many as 13 points in the first quarter, the Jenkintown girls basketball team did not feel pressure.
Instead, they produced it.
The Drakes turned up the heat on defense, picking off passes and swarming the ball handler while racking up 16 takeaways in the first half against Harrisburg Christian.
“We knew pressuring them on the outside was gonna prevent them from getting the ball in,” said Jenkintown’s Carly Mulvaney. “That was really our goal.”
That strategy allowed the District One Champion Drakes to cut the previously-unbeaten Knights down to size.
Harrisburg Christian’s size advantage loomed large early, but the Jenkintown defense controlled things the rest of the way, keying a 43-36 comeback victory in the PIAA-1A Quarterfinals Saturday.
The win sends the Drakes (17-1) to Tuesday’s semis, and a home game against Northumberland.
“We’re so excited. We waited a whole year for this,” said Mulvaney, a senior, speaking of last year’s shutdown cancelling the rest of the postseason when the Drakes were in the state quarters. “We were really hoping to make it far this year.”
Jenkintown has now advanced to the states semis four straight times (2017, ’18, ’19), including a state title in 2018.
“We knew we just needed to lock down on our defense and we needed to start making a couple shots,” said Mulvaney, a freshman on the state title squad. “Once we got a little flow offensively, that really helped us.”
Mulvaney scored a game-high 20 points for the Drakes, including 10 in the first half as Jenkintown began to find traction.
“These kids, they’ve been through it,” Drakes coach Jim Romano said of his squad. “They’ve been through it. They understand. They don’t get rattled.”
Knights Get Out Fast >> Harrisburg Christian School jumped out to an 8-0 lead early and was ahead by as many as 13 in the opening quarter.
The Knights’ Merit Innocent battled inside for 10 first-quarter points.
Taking advantage of their size, Harrisburg (18-1) gained control behind Innocent (15 points) and Andjela Pavicevic, who had six points in the first half.
Ellie Gesswein hit a three and Jovana Lucic weaved her way in for two, helping to build the advantage to 19-6 at the end of one.
“We’ve been hearing for the last three or four weeks about their three girls that were 6-foot-3, 6-2 and 6-1,” Romano said. “We decided that we have to own the paint.”
Jenkintown made its move.
The Drakes got in the passing lanes and swarmed the ball handlers, converting takeaways into easy layups.
Mulvaney, Katie McGrath and Molly Walsh all scored in transition to help bring the Drakes within 23-19 at the half.
Pulling Ahead >> Jenkintown continued to clog up the Knights’ attack in the third quarter.
Cady Westkaemper, Walsh and Lauren Brockwell all hit jumpers for the Drakes, who were moving the ball and finding the open spot.
Jenkintown nudged ahead for the first time, 24-23, on a free throw by Walsh, and then moved further in front when Walsh and Brockwell each hit shots, making it 29-25 heading into the fourth.
A weaving layup by McGrath (10 pts) stretched the lead to six, and a layup by Mulvaney made it 35-30 Drakes with three minutes to play.
Jenkintown did miss the front end of a one-and-one three straight times, but McGrath’s pair fell through with 1:25 to play, making it a comfortable 37-30 advantage.
“This is what I look forward to every year,” Mulvaney said of Jenkintown’s deep state-playoff runs. “Just playing with all of my friends, this is the highlight of my high school career.”
PIAA-A Quarterfinals
Jenkintown 43, Harrisburg Christian 36
(1-1) Jenkintown 6 13 10 14 – 43
(3-1) Harrisburg Christian 19 4 2 11 – 36
Jenkintown: Carly Mulvaney 7 6-9 20; Lauren Brockwell 2 0-2 6; Molly Walsh 2 1-2 5; Cady Westkaemper 1 0-1 2; Katie McGrath 3 4-6 10. Totals 15 11-20 43.
Harrisburg: Merit Innocent 7 1-2 15; Hannah Costa 1 0-0 2; Ellie Gesswein 2 0-0 5; Jovana Lucic 1 0-0 2; Andjela Pavicevic 5 0-0 12; Leah Thrush 0 0-1 0. Totals 16 1-3 36.
3-pointers: J-Brockwell 2; H-Gesswein, Pavicevic 2.
