Harter scores 27, Souderton holds off North Penn for 3rd straight win

FRANCONIA >> It seemed every time North Penn inched a bit closer in the third quarter Friday night, Casey Harter provided the response for the Souderton girls basketball team.

“It was a close game, North Penn’s a good team so it was pretty intense,” Harter said. “And it was close so I knew I had to step up and hit those shots.”

After her six points helped the host Indians take a 25-19 lead into halftime, Harter got it going in the third, collecting 13 points as the Indians extended their advantage to as large as a dozen after the senior Northwestern commit’s three-point play late in the quarter.

“My teammates really helped, Erin (Bohmueller) and Brooke (Fenchel) made some really nice passes to me going long or backdoor so that kind of gets me going,” Harter said. “Hitting shots, I missed most of my shots in the first half but they’ll go in eventually.”

The Knights pulled to within six early in the fourth but Souderton answered with a 9-2 run to go up 13 and from there its lead never left double digits. Harter, meanwhile finished with a game-high 27 points, 21 coming in the second half as the Indians pulled away for a 64-52 SOL Colonial Division victory.

“Casey just hit big shot after big shot,” Souderton coach Lynn Carroll said. “Found a way to get to the rim, made stops defensively. She did the things that big-time players do and she’s a big-time player.”

Mikayla McGillian paced the Indians’ offense early, recording 10 of her 16 points in the first half, including eight in the second quarter. The senior forward’s basket had Souderton (4-1, 3-0 division) up 23-14 before North Penn’s Caleigh Sperling ripped off five straight points to have the Knights down four.

A putback by McGillian, however, made it a six-point game after the first 16 minutes.

“She’s playing her best basketball, she’s playing with so much confidence,” said Carroll of McGillian. “She is hitting tough shots, she’s playing smart, kicking the ball out when she doesn’t have it. It’s going to be a challenge for every team we play to figure out how to defend us in the low post.”

Sperling went for 13 points in the second quarter and ended with a team-best 20 points for the Knights (3-3, 2-1), who had a two-game win streak snapped. Plaugher added all 16 of her points after halftime.

“I think realizing nothing was really working in the first quarter and just starting to drive and make some moves, see if I could get something started,” Sperling said.

Friday’s win was the third straight for Souderton since falling to Abington at home 39-38 in the Jim Church Classic final Dec. 3.

The Indians, who sit alone in first in the SOL Colonial, have road games at Central Bucks West Tuesday and Central Buck East Thursday before capping 2022 by heading to Florida for the Tampa Bay Christmas Invitational Dec. 28-31.

“We’re excited,” Harter said. “We’re looking forward to it. Keep working hard in practice and we know those are going to be two tough games next week and we’re trying to close out this couple weeks with wins until we go to Tampa.”

North Penn has three games next week – division matchups with Central Bucks South (away Tuesday) and CB East (home Thursday) then Friday visits Lansdale Catholic.

“We were pretty glad that we were able to stick with them for the first three quarter,” Sperling said. “We still have a few things we need to work on but I think by next time around we’ll be able to compete a bit closer.”

A Harter 3-pointer had Souderton leading 33-23 in the third. Plaugher made two free throws at 3:54 but Harter connected on a jumper then Grace McDonough scored inside, putting the Indians up 37-25.

Cameron Crowley’s trey cut North Penn’s deficit to 39-31 only for Harter to respond with a three of her own.

“We talked during halftime about the extra pass and finding the open teammate and making them play defense longer and that was definitely the key,” Harter said. “I think the third quarter we really did that and we kind of found the open person, kept moving the ball around until we got the good shot.”

A Crowley jumper had the Knights down nine but Harter rebounded her own miss, scored and drew the foul – converting the three-point play with 25.9 seconds left in the quarter for a 45-33 Indians lead.

“She’s scoring in every way,” said Carroll of Harter. “She’s hitting threes, she’s attacking, her teammates are finding her on cuts, she’s just playing great for us right now.”

Plaugher drained a 3-pointer to make it 45-36 entering the fourth then hit again from behind the arc to pull North Penn to within 45-39. But baskets from Harter then McGillian pushed Souderton’s advantage to 10.

After a Plaugher bucket inside, Bohmueller proceeded to score the next five – her 3-pointing putting the Indians up 54-41.

Olivia Stone’s trey had the Knights trailing 58-48 but Souderton collected the next six, a pair at the line from Harter making it 64-48 with 1:47 remaining.

Souderton led 10-4 at the end of the first quarter and went up eight twice in the second quarter before the Knights chopped the margin to 16-12 on Sperling’s 3-pointer.

The Indians scored seven of the next nine to lead 23-14 after a McGillian basket. Sperling hit two free throws at 1:36 then followed with a 3-pointer to have North Penn back within four but two for McGillian gave Souderton a 25-19 edge at halftime.

Souderton 64, North Penn 52
North Penn 4 15 17 16 – 52
Souderton 10 15 20 19 – 64
North Penn: Caleigh Sperling 7 3-4 20; Abby Plaugher 5 4-4 16; Cameron Crowley 4 0-0 9; Olivia Stone 3 0-0 7; Totals 19 7-8 52.
Souderton: Casey Harter 11 3-3 27; Mikayla McGillian 8 0-0 16; Teya McConnaha 3 3-4 9; Erin Bohmueller 2 0-1 5; Brooke Fenchel 2 0-0 5; Grace McDonough 1 0-0 2; Totals 27 6-8 64.
3-pointers: NP-Sperling 3, Plaugher 2, Crowley, Stone; S- Harter 2, Bohmueller, Fenchel.