Downingtown East uses early surge to blast Shanahan

DOWNINGTOWN – Bishop Shanahan coach Jim Powers has a message for the other three teams that make it into the Ches-Mont Girls Basketball Tournament this weekend.

“It’s going to be difficult for somebody in this league to beat (Downingtown East),” he said. “I don’t know if anybody can.”

Nobody’s been able to do it yet, and on Tuesday the Cougars went on the road and absolutely blasted Powers’ squad, 57-37, in Ches-Mont National action. Shanahan entered the day needing a win to bolster its postseason hopes, but East (11-0 in the division, 15-6 overall) showed more urgency, especially in a lopsided first half.

“I thought the difference was our defensive execution and intensity,” said Cougars’ head coach Tom Schurtz. “It was spectacular in the first half. That turned the tide for us.”

With one regular season game to be played, the Eagles fall to 7-4 in the C-M National and will have to beat West Chester Henderson (8-3) on Thursday to have any chance of earning the lone playoff berth. West Chester East finished at 8-4.  

“It’s plain and simple – we didn’t show up,” Powers said on Tuesday. “This was a big disappointment.

“But we had to win Thursday regardless, even if we won today. I don’t know how much it all changes. I don’t know what the tie-breakers are. For us it’s just win first and then we will figure it out.”

The Eagles (14-7 overall) connected on their first three shots of the game, and then quickly became buried in an avalanche-like 25-2 scoring surge by East. The Cougars forced eight turnovers in the second quarter alone, and 20 overall.

“Honestly, I’m not surprised,” said junior guard Caroline Brennan. “We came out strong and we just had that feeling tonight.”

The Cougars scored the final nine points of the first quarter and then the first 11 of the second, with Lauren Kent and Brennan leading the way with eight and seven points, respectively.

“We got the game to the speed we were comfortable with playing at,” Schurtz said. “And when we get out into the open court and we are playing defense, we can play.

“If we can consistently make it difficult for our opponent’s to score, we have the ability to score from multiple spots. Our guards are starting to come into their own.”

At the half, Shanahan had committed more turnovers (11) than field goals (6) and found itself down 34-13.

“We couldn’t make a shot,” Powers said. “We just folded against (East’s) press, we threw it all over the floor. We panicked. Stuff that we did earlier this season that we thought we had gotten away from showed its ugly head tonight.”

Brennan led a balanced attack with 13 points, but was also a star on defense. Matched up against Shanahan’s leading scorer, Brennan held Kathryn Greenhut scoreless. In her previous league outing, the senior poured in a career-high 28.

“Brennan is an absolute great defender,” Schurtz said.

“Kathryn is a great player, so it makes me feel good,” Brennan said. “Even if she beat me I knew my teammates had my back.”

Bella Smuda chipped in with 12 points and nine boards, and Kent added 10 points for East.

“When you have a great player like Bella, you’ve got to be able to balance out her getting the touches she needs along with finding ways to get everybody else going,” Schurtz said. “I think we are just now starting to learn how to strike that balance.”

Giana DiMarco paced the Eagles with 10 points. The rest of the starters, however, combined to score just eight.

“East played a great game,” Powers said.

“To beat them you have to take care of the ball and finish when you have your opportunities. And you have to work hard because they work hard. They will out-work you, and I think they did that tonight.”

Downingtown East 57, Bishop Shanahan 37
DOWNINGTOWN EAST – Denning 3 0-0 6; Person 1 0-0 2; McFillin 2 0-0 5; Kent 3 3-3 10; Brennan 4 4-5 13; Ford 0 2-2 2; Smuda 6 0-0 12; Geary 3 0-0 7. Totals 22 9-10 57.
BISHOP SHANAHAN – Brown 2 2-2 6; DiMarco 4 0-0 10; Forgione 2 0-1 6; Donahue 1 0-0 4; McHugh 1 0-0 2; Petruno 1 0-0 2; Wankmiller 1 0-0 3; Oswald 1 2-2 4. Totals 14 4-5 37.
Downingtown East 6 7 11 13 — 37
Bishop Shanahan 13 21 10 13 — 57
Three-point goals: DiMarco 2, Forgione 2, Wankmiller, McFillin, Kent, Brennan, Geary.