Pennsbury stifles Abington in second half, advances to District 1-6A quarterfinals
ABINGTON >> Before Pennsbury even boarded the team bus for its district playoff game Wednesday evening, Sofia Vittuci was there in the gym, taking 200 practice shots.
Her teammates followed her lead all the way to Abington.
“She is an absolute winner,” coach Frank Sciolla said of his junior guard. “She makes free throws, she controls the tempo of the game, and she only came out for 10 seconds in the first half. Defensively, she plays with such a high basketball I.Q. A lot of times, high basketball-I.Q. kids are not necessarily athletic, and she’s both. Her leadership is non-stop.”
Vitucci left her imprint on both ends of the court and in between, and her game-high 24 points led the way to a rousing 51-39 victory over the Ghosts as Pennsbury advanced to the District 1-6A Quarterfinals for the fourth year in a row.
The 11th-seeded Falcons locked up a spot in states and will be at home on Saturday against No. 19 Upper Dublin. No. 6 Abington, led by Cire Worley’s 13 points, enters district playbacks and will try to grab one of the four remaining spots in states.
“We couldn’t get anything going offensively,” Ghosts coach Dan Marsh said of the fourth quarter. “Give credit to them defensively. (Vitucci) was very good. We just didn’t perform like we should. We’re better than this. We gotta regroup and try to come back for Saturday.”
Despite Vitucci’s 11 points in the second quarter, Abington clung to a 25-24 edge at halftime and pushed to a 30-24 advantage in the third quarter.
But that is when the game swung.
“We were really disappointed at halftime,” Sciolla said. “You must give credit to (Abington). They have a way of forcing the tempo. They really forced us into some mistakes that we don’t normally make so you have to give them credit.
“We thought we were defending them so well but then we were turning it over and immediately fouling and they were going to the foul line and scoring. We believed that if we could make them play against our defense for the night that we would be successful.”
The Falcons started getting steals, intercepted passes and disrupted Abington’s flow. The Ghosts were held scoreless in the fourth until Piper McGinley scored on a rebound with 3 minutes, 30 seconds to play.
By then, Pennsbury was in control. The Falcons jumped into the lead for good when Nevaeh Dash went hard to the hoop and completed a three-point play to make it 35-32.
Vitucci kept getting to the line in the fourth and was clutch when she got there: she calmly sank seven of eight free throws to keep extending Pennsbury’s lead.
A pair of free throws by Vitucci and another steal by Dash (15 points) widened the margin to 46-35 with two minutes to go.
The Falcons rode off into the night, having stymied one of the most dangerous offenses around.
“Cire is unique in how you have to guard her. (Abril) Bowser is such a good shooter as well,” Sciolla said. “Defensively, they can get into gaps that you have to cover. They are quicker than us but they are the only team in the district not bigger than us. So we were able to rebound and be active in that regard. And in the second half we took care of the ball really well.”
Pennsbury 51, Abington 39
Pennsbury 8 16 6 21 – 51
Abington 6 19 7 7 – 39
Pennsbury: 3 Emily Panaro 2 0-0 4, 5 Layla Matthias 0 0-2 0, 20 Maggie Burns 1 1-2 3, 21 Sofia Vitucci 8 7-8 24, 22 Oliveah Gilchrist 1 0-0 2, 23 Daniella MacDonald 1 0-0 3, 24 Nevaeh Dash 4 6-7 15. Totals 17 14-19 51.
Abington: 1 Cire Worley 3 6-8 13, 2 Maya Johnson 2 0-0 5, 4 Abril Bowser 4 0-0 12, 10 Jordan Reynolds 0 2-4 2, 11 Piper McGinley 2 3-4 7, 14 Maura Day 0 0-1 0. Totals 11 11-17 39.
3-pointers: P-Vitucci, MacDonald, Dash; A-Worley, Johnson, Bowser 4.
