Defense, free throws send Souderton past Perkiomen Valley into District 1-6A semis

SOUDERTON >> The Souderton girls basketball team showed its offensive might on the way to an early lead against Perkiomen Valley during Saturday’s District 1-6A quarterfinal.

But in the game’s final minutes, District 1’s second-seed needed to rely on its defensive prowess to close out the seventh-seeded Vikings.

Led by the early scoring of junior Casey Harter (14 points) and Teya McConnaha (12 points) and a number of big defensive plays late, Souderton held on for a 47-41 win over Perkiomen Valley to advance to advance to the District 1 semifinals for the first time since a championship run in 2018.

“We’re definitely a defensive team, and I think that at the end of the game we always stay together, play together and we can come up with the win because of how we get stops on defense,” Harter said.

“It’s really exciting for our team because we’ve all been really excited for the end of the season, we’ve worked so hard,” she added. “Now that we’re here it’s just so good to know that we can keep going with a chance to play in the final at Temple.”

.@SoudertonGBB’s Casey Harter and Teya Mcconaha had big nights as Souderton held off Perkiomen Valley on Saturday to advance to dirst District 1 semifinal since 2018. pic.twitter.com/e7sKIJmj8P

— Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue) February 26, 2022

 

Souderton will face reigning champion Spring-Ford at home on Wednesday’s after the 11th-seeded Rams picked up a 40-30 victory over 14th-seeded Garnet Valley.

Perkiomen Valley, led by 110 points from freshman Quinn Boettinger and nine from freshman Julia Smith, will host the Jags in a seeding game disappointed but also confident.

“The Methacton games, the Spring-Ford games, the Neshaminy game and this game just tell our girls they can play with anybody,” Perkiomen Valley coach John Russo said. “They’re a really fun group to coach and really fun to watch and give max effort. That team (Soduerton) is just really good.”

McConnaha had nine in the first quarter to put Souderton up 17-6 after eight minutes, and a  three by Brooke Fenchel (seven points) to start the second had the Indians ahead by 14, looking ready to cruise.

The Vikings settled in though, particularly on the defensive end, to cut the advantage down to two before Harter, who had eight in the second quarter, led a Souderton 6-0 run to go up 30-22 at halftime.

“If you follow us, that’s how we play,” Russo said. “We get down early in these big games and then we settle in, battle back. I think it has to do with so many freshmen and the seniors never getting to this point until they’re seniors.

“Getting through that nerves and equating to their court and they’re very good on defense, and then we just settle in because we see things that can help them as coaches and we see things on the court that they tell us that can help us figure things out too to attack them a little differently.”

Perk Valley trailed by double digits once again in the third quarter before Julia Smith knocked down the first of her three triples to close the gap to 38-30 heading to the fourth.

Souderton scored the next bucket before an 11-1 Perk Valley run highlighted by a pair of Smith threes knotted the game at 41-41 with 2:10 to play.

“It was very nice to see Julia catch fire,” Russo said.

Harter got to the line with 1:10 to play to give Souderton a 43-41 lead. After a potential-go ahead three by PV rimmed out, junior Erin Bomueller (eight points) knocked down another pair with 51.3 seconds left.

Freshman Grace McDonough knocked down two more fouls shots with 35.7 seconds to go, capping a 6-for-6 showing from the line down the stretch to put the game out of reach.

“Foul shots really came in clutch at the end,” McConnaha said. “We really have been working on them a lot and we’re really dependent on them sometimes, so it was good that we made all of them.”

The importance of free throws was also noted by the other side.

“We got behind on foul shots,” Russo said. “If we make those foul shots, and we’re ahead when the fouling starts, we hold on and win that game. But when you’re behind a good team late in the game and you have to foul them, the gap separates and you end up on the side we’re on.”

The three by Smith was PV’s last basket of the game as the Souderton defense held strong for the final two minutes and change. Mikayla McGillan and McDonough both had blocks during the closing stretch.

A steal by Bohmueller on the Vikings’ final possession allowed her team to dribble down the final seconds before celebrating the win.

“If we don’t play good defense, we’re not going to have a good game,” McConnaha said. “That’s how we see the game.”

District 1-6A quarterfinal

Souderton 47, Perkiomen Valley 41

Highlights: Julia Smith completed a double-digit comeback for the seventh-seeded Vikings when she hit her third three of the game to tie the score 41-41 with 2:10 left, but second-seeded Souderton held PV scoreless for the rest of the game to pick up the District 1-6A quarterfinal win.

Quinn Boettinger had 10 for PV, and Julia Smith added nine in the loss for the Vikings, who will play two games for state seeding starting with Garnet Valley on Wednesday.

Perk Valley: Bacani 1 0-0 2, Beattie 1 3-4 5, Smith 3 0-2 9, L. Stein 2 1-1 5, E. Miley 0 7-8 7, G. Miley 1 0-4 3, Boettinger 3 4-4 10, Totals 11 15-23 41.

Souderton: Fenchel 2 2-2 7, Bohmueller 2 3-4 8, McGillan 1 2-2 4, Harter 4 6-9 14, McDonough 1 0-0 2, McConnaha 3 5-6 12, Totals 13 18-23 47.

Souderton 17 13 8 9-47
Perk Valley 6 16 8 11-41

3-point goals: PV – Smith 3, G. Miley; S – Fenchel, Bohmueller, McConnaha.