Hole too big for Neshaminy girls basketball to climb out of against Abington
Neshaminy senior Emily Alexis, left, takes the ball to the basket guarded by Abington sophomore Britney James (2) in girls basketball action Jan. 19, 2017 on the Lady Skins’ home court. (Steve Sherman – 21st-Century Media)
LANGHORNE – Try as they might, the Neshaminy girls just dug themselves too big a hole to climb out of Thursday night on their home court against Abington.
Trailing by 11 at the half, the Lady Skins whittled the Ghosts’ lead down to a single point in the waning moments of the third period only to see the visitors pull away with a 73-65 triumph.
“That was our first mistake – letting them get ahead like that,” said Neshaminy senior Devon Storms. “We didn’t come out as hard as them and I can’t say we wanted it as much as them.
“In the second half, we finally realized, ‘snap, let’s go, it’s game time, we’re down.’ The third quarter, we came back but they just kept hitting shots.”
The Ghosts got out to a 15-5 lead with five consecutive jumpers to wrap up a 10-0 run at the end of the first period, then, when it mattered most in the fourth quarter, made 11 of 15 free throws. Abington junior point guard Britney James and senior Liz O’Leary combined on all 24 points in the final frame for the Ghosts.
“I don’t think they could handle our size tonight,” said O’Leary. “And we took advantage and we used it well in parts of the first half and throughout the whole game.”
When Abington wasn’t canning shots from the perimeter, the Ghosts were beating the Skins up under the offensive boards. All five field goals poured into the basket by O’Leary in the fourth quarter were layups.
“We definitely have some good shooters – Sam Brusha, Jordyn Allen, Britney (James) will knock down the three. Really, anybody can knock it down from outside so that’s an advantage for us. If teams go out there then me and Kassondra (Brown) can work it inside and if they come in, we can go back out.”
“It’s really nice.”
According to Storms, Neshaminy could have played better, defensively, in this one.
“I think we played their big girls good until they started dishing the ball into (O’Leary),” added Storms. “We were going for the steal instead of just playing the right defense on her and that was a mistake.”
The win deadlocks both sides at 11-4 overall and 6-2 in the Suburban One League (SOL) National Conference. For Abington, it also avenges and earlier season loss the Skins pasted on the Ghosts in overtime.
“This was a really big game for us,” said O’Leary. “We wanted to come in here and win.”
“We wanted to come in here and show them what we can do. We’re not the team we played last time.
“We’re a lot better than that.”
Still, in the second half playing catchup, Neshaminy freshman Kristin Curley and sophomore Meghan Ansell did everything they could to get the Skins back into the game.
Curley – who led the Skins’ scoring effort with 21 points – hit for 11 of those points in the third period and 17 in the second half. Ansell scored 13 of her 14 points in the second half including a 3-pointer in the final frame.
Ansell’s classmate Allison Harvey hit all of her points from behind the arc including three treys she canned in the second period. Her final trey in the third quarter is what drew Neshaminy within a point with 30 seconds left in the third quarter.
Abington got a much needed putback basket by sophomore Camryn Lexow as the third quarter came to a close and O’Leary added a pair of foul shots to put the Ghosts up 51-46 in the opening moments of the final frame.
The Skins answered when sophomore Brooke Mullin hit a pair of putback baskets to draw the home team within a point, 51-50 two minutes into the fourth quarter. While Abington missed on their next shot, Neshaminy let go of the rebound and when the Ghosts got it back, James hit a 3-pointer to extend the visitors’ lead to four.
Three consecutive layups by O’leary put Abington on top, 60-50 with less than three minutes remaining in the contest. Still, the Skins refused to quit.
After a charging call negated a layup by James, Neshaminy senior Emily Alexis went coast to coast with a basket and a steal by Storms led to a driving layup by Curley that drew the Skins back within four.
But with less than two minutes remaining, time was not on Neshaminy’s side. O’Leary hit a putback then added a layup and Just like that, the Ghosts were on top by eight.
On this night, it was a case of too little, too late on the side of the Skins.
“We don’t like to lose and once we look at the scoreboard and we’re down 15 or 20, we snap into it and we just play our game,” explained Storms.
“But that’s our problem. Sometimes, we don’t snap into it and play our game until we realize that we’re down.”
For Abington, the win marks its fifth straight and fourth consecutive in the SOL National Conference. For Neshaminy, the loss is their second this week as the Skins dropped a non-league battle to CB West at Philadelphia University on Sunday.
Neshaminy rebounded nicely however with a 56-28 triumph Tuesday, Jan. 17 at SOL National Conference rival Bensalem.
Contact Steve Sherman at ssherman@21st-Centurymedia.com or @BucksLocalSport on Twitter
Abington 73, Neshaminy 65
(Jan. 18 at Neshaminy)
Abington 15 21 13 24 – 73
Neshaminy 5 20 21 19 – 65
ABINGTON (11-4) — Britney James 4 6-8 15, Camryn Lexow 2 0-0 4, Tamia Wessels 2 2-2 7, Kassondra Brown 4 0-0 8, Jordyn Allen 1 0-0 3, Sam Brusha 3 3-3 10, Liz O’Leary 9 8-12 26; TOTALS — 25 19-23 73.
NESHAMINY (11-4) — Emily Tantala 0 0-0 0, Emily Alexis 2 0-0 4, Olivia Scotti 0 0-0 0, Brooke Mullin 3 2-2 8, Kristin Curley 8 3-6 21, Meghan Ansell 5 3-4 14, Devon Storms 3 0-4 6, Allison Harvey 4 0-0 12; TOTALS — 25 8-16 65.
3-POINT GOALS: A — James, Wessels, Allen, Brusha; N — Curley 2, Ansell, Harvey 4.
