Abington’s Cire Worley scores 35 in District 1-6A playback win over Conestoga

ABINGTON >> Cire Worley is the Abington girls basketball program’s all-time leading scorer and she had one of the best offensive nights of her career in her second-to-last game in her home gym.

The Ghosts senior forward scored 35 points in a 61-49 District 1-6A playback win over Conestoga Wednesday evening at Abington Senior High School.

“Overall, just getting to the basket,” Worley, who finished three points shy of matching her career-high, credited for her big night. “They were in an open zone. I think they were playing zone and leaving the paint open. For me, it was just getting into the lane.”

Worley was consistently dominant throughout the game. She score nine points in the first and second quarters, 10 in the third and seven in the fourth.

“She is such an efficient scorer,” Abington coach Dan Marsh said. “That was a quiet 35, but she probably only missed two or three shots. She’s such an efficient scorer and she scores at every level. The threes to midrange and then we can even post her up or get into the basket. She’s a difficult guard. When she’s locked in like that it makes us really good. It’s fun to watch.”

The University of Massachusetts Lowell commit hit a pair of three-pointers and most of her other 13 baskets were around the rim. Two of her baskets were scored through contact and she converted the free throws for three-point plays.

“(Worley’s) pretty shifty,” Conestoga coach AJ Thompson said. “She can shoot it from the outside so you have to guard her up tight so she doesn’t get threes off, but then she can obviously take you off the bounce. She did a nice job of that tonight. We knew that she was a problem, but they’ve got guards on the outside that can shoot also. You can’t key on her all the time.”

The outside shooters that kept the Pioneer defense honest were Abril Bowser and Jordyn Reynolds. They each hit two three-pointers and finished with eight points apiece.

Worley exited the game with 92 seconds left in the third quarter and a 19-point lead, 51-32. Conestoga scored the final four points of the quarter and the first six points of the fourth for a 10-0 run to cut their deficit to single digits, 51-42.

“I was a little upset with our mental lapses defensively once we got a big lead,” Marsh said. “We were up 20 and let them back in the game. I said in the state playoffs, you have to bury teams and put them away so they don’t have an opportunity. It’s funny because we talked at halftime about how we can come out and really let them know the game is over and we did, but then we relaxed a little bit and they came back.”

Worley answered with Abington’s next six points. She euro-stepped through traffic to stop the 10-0 run and crossed over her defender to get a clear path to the rim for back-to-back baskets to make it 55-42. After the Pioneers scored five straight points to get within eight, Worley took advantage of a Piper McGinley screen to get to the paint and make it 57-47 with 3:19 remaining.

On the defensive end, Worley grabbed a key steal when it was 57-49 with 1:40 left to keep Abington in control.

The win sends No. 6 Abington to the ninth-place game against No. 9 Unionville, a 49-48 winner over Garnet Valley, Friday. No. 10 Conestoga will face No. 20 Garnet Valley in the 11th-place game Friday. Its the final prep for both teams before the PIAA-6A state playoffs next weekend.

Abington jumped out to a big lead and maintained a comfortable advantage the rest of the way. The Ghosts started the game with a 7-1 run and closed the first quarter with a 10-1 burst to lead 17-6.

Abington won the second and third quarters by one point each and Conestoga won the fourth by a point.

“If we just didn’t dig ourselves a hole in the first half, it’s a much closer game, ” Thompson said, “but I thought our kids fought hard. Worley is obviously a great player and is playing Division I basketball for a reason.”

Ryann Jennings led the Pioneers with 15 points. Ruth Lanouette added 12 and Marisa Francione had 11.

Abington 61, Conestoga 49

Conestoga 6 16 16 11 – 49

Abington 17 17 17 10 – 61

Conestoga: Marisa Francione 3 5-6 11, Ryann Jennings 6 0-0 15, Janie Preston 2 1-2 5, Katrina Valencia 1 0-0 2, Isabella Valencia 2 0-0 4, Maggie Neary 0 0-0 0, Ruth Lanouette 5 2-2 12. Total 19 8-10 49.

Abington: Cire Worley 15 3-5 35, Maya Johnson 1 3-4 5, Abril Bowser 2 2-2 8, Jordyn Reynolds 3 0-0 8, Piper McGinley 0 0-0 0, Harper McGinley 0 0-0 0, Mikiaya Durham 0 0-0 0, Sarah Oleary 2 1-1 5, Maura Day 0 0-0 0, Carley Slavin 0 0-0 0, Florance Ajunwa 0 0-0 0. Total 23 9-12 61.

3-point goals: C: Ryann Jennings 3. A: Cire Worley 2, Abril Bowser 2, Jordyn Reynolds 2.