Harter scores 25, Souderton pulls away to beat Garnet Valley in District 1-6A 2nd round

FRANCONIA >> An eight-day layoff resulted in a sluggish start for the Souderton girls basketball team in Wednesday night’s District 1-6A second round contest with Garnet Valley.

Casey Harter, however, provided the Indians some stability as the senior guard’s 13 points – nine in the second quarter – allowed the host No. 4 seed to go into halftime up 24-20 on a No. 20 Jaguars squad aiming to upset its second straight Suburban One League Colonial Division side.

“It’s a close game and it’s better to have a lead going into the halftime,” Harter said. “The shots were falling for me today but my teammates were able to find me so it was good.”

Souderton finally found their stride on both ends of the court after the break. Harter scored the first five points in a 9-0 run in the third that pushed the Indians’ advantage into double digits while Souderton held Garnet Valley to just 11 points in the second half as it pulled away to clinch a PIAA tournament berth with a 53-31 victory.

“Just coming off of the break and we just weren’t ready to play right away, which we have to be,” Harter said. “Which is something we can work on but in the second half we definitely picked it up.”

Harter finished with a game-high 25 points, the Northwestern commit also handing out four assist and guarding Garnet Valley’s six-foot sophomore Hayley Adamski to help Souderton (22-4) advance to the quarterfinals to host No. 5 Spring Ford – a 64-45 winner over No 21 North Penn – 1 p.m. Saturday. The Rams topped the Indians in last year’s district semifinals 36-24.

“She was just a steady presence from start to finish,” said Souderton coach Lynn Carroll of Harter. “What she shot from the floor, she shot incredibly well and you try to take away the drive and she hits a pull-up jumper. She hit a couple threes in transition. Just playing a very high level while defending the other team’s best player for 30 minutes. It’s remarkable what she’s able to do night-in and night-out.”

Kylie Mulholland paced Garnet Valley with 13 points while Adamski had 12 points. The Jaguars host North Penn Saturday in the first round of ninth-place playbacks – winner clinching one of District 1’s 12 PIAA berths with the loser having its season end.

“They’re a very good team and they wore us down,” said Garnet Valley coach Joe Woods of Souderton. “They’re a very good team, they got real good shooters, they’re big and strong inside, they started really taking advantage of our lack of height and they did a better job getting it inside and scoring and then we got in a little bit of foul trouble. They were making the free throws and they wore us down.”

“We had a pretty good first half, we hung with ‘em. So I’m proud of our girls and everything and we’ll live to play another day.”

Erin Bohmueller added 10 points and three assists for Souderton while Teya McConnaha collected eight points, nine rebounds, three steals and a pair of blocks as the Indians earned a spot in states for the second straight season and the sixth time in the last seven years.

“I’m not sure if our girls understand how big of a deal it is and how special it is to qualify for states at any point let alone three times for the seniors, three times in their career,” Carroll said. “And it’s always, the goal is to get to the state tournament and it takes a lot along the way year round to get to that point and this is a group that’s willing to do what they need to do to get it done.

“And it doesn’t start on game day, it’s six days a week, it’s the offseason, it’s everything. And they earned it, they deserved it. I’m happy for them and very proud of what they’ve been able to do so far.”

Adamski scored 10 points in the first half but picked up her third foul early in the third and with her on the bench the Jaguars’ offense struggled and went on to post  only four points in the quarter.

“It was tough to get into rhythm and maybe we got a little tired, maybe,” Woods said. “And they were clamping down on Haylie for sure. It was just, they’re a good team, they wore us down. Give them a lot of credit.”

A Mulholland basket had the Jaguars down 26-22 but Harter made two free throws at 5:48 then drained a transition 3-pointer to put the Indians up 31-22. McConnaha and Grace McDonough each went 2-for-2 at the line, extending the lead to 35-22 with 1:29 left in the third.

“I think we were more focused on offense and defense,” Harter said. “We weren’t playing as a team on defense which is something that we really have to do and I think we all were just focused on the same page in the second half and we all brought it together.”

An Adamski two snapped the Big Red run but Bohmueller got down the lane for a bucket to make it 37-24 heading to the fourth.

Last Friday, Garnet Valley rallied from a 14-point deficit in the third quarter for a 45-42 win over No. 13 Pennridge, which took second in the SOL Colonial. But Souderton, the division’s champ, stamped out any chances of a comeback quickly in the final quarter.

The Indians scored the fourth’s first four points on a Harter basket then two Bohmueller free throws at 6:01. Harter’s 3-point play at 4:36 extended Souderton’s lead to 44-26.

“We watched that whole game and we knew that that’s what they can do and that’s how they beat Pennridge,” Harter said. “So that’s kind of also something that we had to focus on, especially during halftime and that’s how we came out strong in the second half cause we didn’t want that to happen to us.”

Mia Zebley’s jumper made it 44-28 but the Jaguars could not get any closer Souderton’s largest lead came at the final margin after the Indians tallied the final two baskets.

“Our defense was just very, very good,” Carroll said. “Our help defense, Grace and Casey, the way that they defended in the second half against those two kids (Adamski and Mulholland) was really good. Any shots they did make were tough ones.

“And then offensively, continuing to try to get a good look down the court, we had some unforced turnovers in the first quarter, took care of the ball better. Casey was great offensively, scoring at all three levels, in every type of way. It was really 16 minutes of good basketball in the second half.”

Souderton never trailed after scoring the game’s first four points but could not begin to shake Garnet Valley until the third. Adamski’s basket had the Jaguars within 8-6 before a Bohmueller 3-pointer gave the Indians an 11-6 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Adamski opened the second quarter with a three. Two free throws by Souderton’s Brooke Fenchel at 7:28 made it 13-9 but Mulholland scored back-to-back buckets to pull Garnet Valley level at 13. Harter, however, collected the next five points, her triple giving the Indians an 18-13 edge.

Souderton led 24-17 after a Harter basket off an offensive rebound before Mulholland connected on a three to cut the Jaguars’ deficit to 24-20 at intermission.

District 1-6A Second Round
(4) Souderton 53, (20) Garnet Valley 31
Garnet Valley 6 14 4 7 – 31
Souderton 11 13 13 16 – 53
Garnet Valley: Kylie Mulholland 6 0-0 13; Haylie Adamski 5 1-2 12; Mia Zebley 1 1-2 3; Katie Dwyer 1 0-0 2; Savannah Saunders 0 1-2 1; Totals 13 3-6 31.
Souderton: Casey Harter 10 3-3 25; Erin Bohmueller 3 3-4 10; Brooke Fenchel 0 2-2 2; Mikayla McGillian 1 0-0 2; Teya McConnaha 3 2-4 8; Grace McDonough 2 2-2 6; Totals 19 12-17 53.
3-pointers: GV-Adamski, Mulholland; S-Harter 2, Bohmueller.