Abington Friends falls to Mercersburg Academy in PAISAA semis

Philadelphia — Regardless of the result Friday night, Abington Friends girls basketball had accomplished a whole lot in the 2015-16 season.
The Kangaroos reached the Friends League title game, narrowly losing to Friends Central, and found themselves in the semifinals of the PAISAA tournament, neither of which are anything to scoff at.
That semifinal appearance Friday came on the heels of a 21-7 record to that point—the school’s best ever.
Even still, AFS wanted more, but it wasn’t meant to be. With their eyes set on a title-game matchup against Shipley, the Kangaroos faltered late in their season-ending 54-43 loss to Mercersburg Academy.
“We battled,” said AFS coach Jeff Bond. “They’re a good, fast, athletic team.”
Tori Yoder led a balanced scoring effort from the Blue Storm with 15, while Isiuwa Oghagbon, Sarah Lyman, and Joana Santos scored 12, 12, and 11, respectively.
“We knew they were good players,” Bond said, “But we really keyed in on trying to stop Molly Taylor.”
They did—Taylor scored just four—but it came at the expense of giving four other players enough good looks to notch double figures.
“Their other players stepped up,” Bond said. “That’s a sign of a good team.”
The final score doesn’t really do the game justice—AFS jumped out to an early 10-5 lead, and stayed close to Mercersburg throughout (at one point the Abington Friends deficit was just one in the third), but the Kangaroos couldn’t push themselves quite over the hump.

Alexa Middleton led Abington Friends with 13, and Casey Remolde scored 10.
“We got down and kept on battling,” Bond said. “I think that says a lot about our character.”
Yoder’s work in the fourth pushed the lead into the high single digits, and when Santos knocked down a pair from the charity stripe midway to push the lead to 11, most of the gym knew that the game was just about done.
“It’s been a challenge, in some ways,” Bond said, of the season. “We lost some tough games early—this might have been our highest margin of loss—but it’s been a really positive season too. We got some good leadership out of Asia Turner, and had our bench full with younger kids.
The Kangaroos graduate just two: Turner, and Middleton. Tough pieces to replace, sure, but not altogether impossible.
“We think the future is bright. We took a step forward this year,” he went on. “Next year we’ve got to take the next step. We don’t want to just get there—we’ve got to win.
“We’ll be working so that we’re not sitting here, crying in the locker room because the season’s over. We want to be like them,” he said, pointing at the Mercersburg locker room. “They’re excited—and we want to be in that position next year.
“That said, “we can’t assume that’s going to happen,” Bond said. “But I think we have girls that will be up to the challenge.”