Helm steers Abington to District 1-6A 2nd round win over CB West with 4th quarter flurry
ABINGTON >> Something had clearly sparked Jaida Helm in the fourth quarter.
Helm played with a purpose in the final eight minutes of Wednesday’s District 1 6A second round match-up with No. 12 Central Bucks West and her No. 5 Abington team needed every bit of it. A slow start by Abington and a tough-minded, battle-ready effort from the Bucks had kept things close for three quarters and with a state playoff bid at stake, the Ghosts needed a closer.
Helm closed strong, scoring nine of her 21 points in the final frame as No. 5 Abington took down No. 12 West 62-47.
So what was it that got Helm going?
“They started making a run,” Helm said. “I knew we needed to go on a run back and finish the game and get onto the next one.”
With the junior leading the way, Abington did just that. Helm led the way with a 21-point, 12-rebound double-double and added five steals, an impressive mark that’s becoming par for the course for the 5-foot-11 wing but she turned things up in the fourth quarter. Really, it started late in the third when West cut Abington’s lead to four before Helm hit a pair of free throws to end the frame.
Over the final eight minutes, Helm put in nine points, ripped down seven rebounds and added an assist, steal and block that included an and-one in the middle of a 9-0 run that restored the Ghosts’ lead back to double-digits. It was a big turnaround for Helm from earlier in the third, when she picked up her third foul and asked to come out of the game to cool off and get herself back on track.
“She kept communicating they were being physical and I basically told her you need to suck it up and play, no more, just play and she did,” Abington coach Dan Marsh said. “She’s working to mature her emotional game so that it doesn’t dictate the way that she plays.
“Jaida is Jaida, we’re never going to take that away from her but I tell her she walks the line of positive and negative with her emotions and we have to find a way of keeping it on the positive. She did a good job tonight communicating when she was feeling it go negative, which allowed us to get her out, get a rest and get her back in.”
Back on Feb. 5, Abington ran all over West in a 71-43 win. The Bucks were much more ready for Abington’s full-court defense on Wednesday and having just come off an emotional last-second win over Council Rock South in the opening round of districts, had a little more juice to start the game than Abington did.
The Ghosts did look rusty and were playing with junior Cire Worley for the first time in two weeks, but West was also ready to compete and led 11-10 after a quarter thanks to a three from senior Emily Spratt.
“We had an idea how they were going to play, seeing them definitely helped, but it came down to our girls were ready,” West coach Zach Sibel said. “When you play against a team that plays the way they do, you just have to give yourself a chance and keep fighting. We made some shots and went through some spells where we didn’t make shots but that’s high school basketball for you. I’m proud of the way we fought.”
Spratt, the Jefferson recruit, played strong leading her team with 19 points, nine rebounds and four steals and looked much more assertive than in the first game, as did guard Tai Henkels who had 11 points and two steals for West.
Marsh felt the Bucks dictated the game early on and it took a quarter for his team to play itself out of the sluggish start.
“We needed to get back on the court,” Marsh said. “Our rust showed but we needed to get back out and play basketball. West, they’re gamers, they play hard. We weren’t really pressuring, we were playing them straight-up and we really don’t want to play that game. We had to fluster them a little more and get after them and we eventually started to do that.”
Hitting shots also helps and the Ghosts did that plenty en route to a 21-point second quarter. Worley, who had 17 in her return and Abril Bowser each connected on a pair of 3-pointers while Helm had five points including a traditional three-point play to spark the Abington offense to a 31-22 halftime lead.
Despite getting into a bit of foul trouble, Helm also helped keep Abington afloat in a tough third quarter offensively. The junior had half the team’s 10 points in the frame as West’s toughness and energy helped the visitors whittle the lead down before Helm’s free throws extended it back to two-possession break heading to the final stanza.
“I knew I had to be dominant in the paint for us to be successful,” Helm said. “It was easier than if I was taking outside shots, it kept the defense honest so I felt like getting shots in the paint was key to the win.”
West’s season isn’t over. The Bucks will host No. 13 Upper Dublin in a win-or-go-home playback game on Saturday with the winner getting a state playoff bid thanks to District 1 receiving 12 berths in the 6A bracket this season.
Sibel wants it for Spratt, the team’s lone senior but wants it just as much for the rest of his players.
“We still get a chance and I’m not ready for this to be over and I’m not ready to stop coaching this group,” Sibel said. “I’m certainly not ready for Emily Spratt to be on her way out and I was happy to see all eye contact from them, the head nods and you’re reassured that’s the group you’ve got, one that wants to fight, and that’s what we’re going to do.”
Abington will travel to No. 4 Pennsbury, a 36-30 winner over Upper Dublin, in a compelling quarterfinal pitting two of the SOL’s top teams against each other for a spot in the final four.
At some point, there will be a moment where Helm has to deal with some frustration. How she handles it could go a long way to determining who comes out on top.
“It’s something I’ve worked on, making my frustration into a positive instead of a negative,” Helm said. “When I let it be a negative, that’s when I hurt my team instead of helping them.”
ABINGTON 10 21 10 21 – 62
CB WEST 11 11 13 12 – 47
A: Cire Worley 5 4-7 17, Abril Bowser 4 2-2 13, Jaida Helm 7 7-8 21, Maya Johnson 1 0-0 2, Dani Brusha 1 0-0 3, Piper McGinley 1 2-2 4, Lila Stonehouse 1 0-0 2, Tara Hughes 0 0-2 0. Totals: 20 15-21 62
CBW: Tai Henkels 4 0-0 11, Emily Spratt 6 6-9 19, Ava Longo 3 0-0 6, Alexis Castro 3 2-4 8, Nia Perry 1 0-0 3. Totals: 17 8-13 47
3-pointers: A – Worley 3, Bowser 3, Brusha; CBW – Henkels 3, Spratt, Perry
