Abington turns up pressure, pulls away from Upper Dublin
ABINGTON >> Abington’s defense swarmed Upper Dublin for 32 minutes in Thursday’s Suburban One League Liberty Division matchup and in the second half it showed on the scoreboard.
The Ghosts forced 11 turnovers after halftime and extended a two-point lead to 21 in the fourth quarter and cruised to a 47-33 win at Abington Senior High School.
“I think we had an advantage in that they only had one ball-handler,” Abington senior Cire Worley said. “If we took the ball out of her hands and made it tough to bring the ball up, we forced them to call timeouts or almost get 10 seconds.”
Abril Bowser led Abington’s defensive pressure. The senior guard challenged Upper Dublin’s guards the entire length of the floor and played a key role in limiting the Cardinals to just two points – compared to eight turnovers – in the third quarter.
“Me personally I love defense,” Bowser said. “Whatever I have to do to get the ball for my team, for me, I go for it. My defense is my specialty. That’s what I focus on more than offense.
“I have a big heart, that’s what everybody says. It’s just my heart. I go out there and do what I have to do to get the ball.”
“We knew that (Upper Dublin coach Morgan Funsten) doesn’t go to his bench a lot,” Abington coach Dan Marsh said. “The first quarter was our pace, that’s what we want to do. Second quarter we thought was a little bit their pace. Third quarter, we have to come in and shut them down. I think we held them to two points. We did really step up our pressure and our chaos a little bit, turned them over. I think defense was definitely the key in that third quarter.”
While the Ghosts (9-1, 5-0 SOL Liberty) held Upper Dublin to just one field goal in the third quarter, Worley and Maya Johnson each scored four points and Piper McGinley added two to turn a 22-20 lead at halftime to 32-22 after three.
The run grew to 23-4 in the fourth quarter when Abington led by 21 points, 45-24. McGinley hit three three-pointers and scored 11 of her 13 points in the final frame.
“In the second half we have to lock up,” Bowser said. “We came out slow, lackadaisical. In the second half I felt like we picked up the intensity.”
The Cardinals (4-3, 3-2 SOL Liberty) turned the ball over nine times in the first half, but still managed 20 points to keep it a two-point game. Brighid Brady and Megan Ngo each scored five points in the first quarter to help UD build a 15-14 lead.
“(Abington) is so quick,” Funsten said. “They do such a good job pressuring and as the game goes on they can wear you down. It’s pretty much what happened, I thought. In the first half we were able to keep it close. Then I thought their pressure got to us after halftime.”
Worley scored all eight of Abington’s points in the second quarter. She went 3-for-4 from the free-throw line, hit a three-pointer and finished a layup to put the Ghosts ahead, 22-20, at the break.
Worley led Abington with 16 points while McGinley added 13 and Johnson had eight.
Colleen Besachio and Ngo led the Cardinals with nine points apiece. Besachio also grabbed 13 rebounds.
The win puts Abington in the driver’s seat in the SOL Liberty Division. The Ghosts are 5-0 after playing every team in the league once.
“We’re feeling really good,” Bowser said. “We’ve had a great start. We’re trying to look for a great ending.”
Abington 47, Upper Dublin 33
Upper Dublin 15 5 2 11 – 33
Abington 14 8 10 15 – 47
UD: Brighid Brady 2 0-0 5, Alaina Sanders 0 0-0 0, Kaylee Fitzkee 0 2-2 2, Megan Ngo 3 2-2 9, Lilli Kleiman 1 0-0 2, Kaitlyn Zacharia 0 0-0 0, Colleen Besachio 4 0-0 9, Nora Brady 2 0-0 6. Total 12 4-4 33.
AB: Cire Worley 4 6-8 16, Abril Bowser 3 1-2 7, Maya Johnson 4 0-0 8, Mikiaya Durham 1 0-0 3, Jordan Reynolds 0 0-0 0, Piper McGinley 5 0-0 13, Sarah Oleary 0 0-0 0, Maura Day 0 0-0 0, Carly Slavin 0 0-0 0, Florance Ajunwa 0 0-0 0. Total 17 7-10 47.
3-point goals: UD: Brighid Brady, Megan Ngo, Nora Brady 2, Colleen Besachio. AB: Cire Worley 2, Mikiaya Durham, Piper McGinley 3.
