Jenkintown leans on defense to top TCA

JENKINTOWN >> Jenkintown girls’ basketball coach Jim Romano has been around long enough to know what it takes to win a playoff game.
Offense is typically harder to come by in February, so if a team defends well and makes its foul shots, it will have a chance. Romano’s current crop of Drakes is young, but they do know how to play defense. It took a while, but they started hitting some foul shots too.
The result was another playoff win for the veteran coach in a 45-21 win over The Christian Academy (TCA) in the first round of the District I Class A tournament Saturday night.
“I told the girls that we didn’t have anything on (TCA) other than their scores,” Romano said. “We felt the first quarter and maybe even the whole first half would be used to feel our way through this, go in at halftime, discuss it and get back out there.”
The Drakes haven’t played since they were outed from the BAL tournament. so a little rust was to be expected. Neither team could do much of anything on offense in the first quarter, with Jenkintown settling for some outside shots.
TCA, in its first year as a PIAA school, didn’t have a player score more than four points, but they did manage a 4-4 tie after one period. The Crusaders weren’t able to keep that up in the second quarter once Jenkintown figured out the officials had their whistles ready to use.
Overall, the game was physical with a lot of fouls, so many that TCA had to have the officials check the book to confirm personal foul counts in the second half.
The Drakes used that by attacking the hole and getting to the line. The problem was making them early on, as Jenkintown was just 4-of-14 from the stripe in the first half.
“At this time of year as everybody knows, it comes down to defense and foul shooting,” Romano said. “Fortunately for us, we had enough foul shots to make it work. Our nature is to take the outside shots then figure it out and get the ball inside. It worked out for us that we had enough time.”
The Drakes used that 16-3 second quarter to keep TCA well at bay through the second half, stepping up the production on the foul line enough to make sure the Crusaders never put a run together.
Jenkintown’s defense was very stingy the whole night, and TCA’s 24 turnovers didn’t help. The Drakes scored 16 points in the second, keyed by their two reserves, Natalie Kolb and Caroline Arena.
Arena tied Mia Kolb for the team lead with 10 points while Natalie Kolb hit the team’s only 3-pointer. Overall, Jenkintown had good balance, with Jen Kremp chipping in eight points and five rebounds while Amelia Mulvaney had seven points and six rebounds. Mia Kolb also led the team in boards with eight while senior Morrin McSherry had four points and five rebounds.
“We have seven starters,” Romano said. “In the league, Amelia was first team, Mia was second and we had five honorable mentions. You could put all these kids names in a hat, pull them out and they’re going to get the job done.”
It was a tough road for TCA, but it did have seven players score and Grace Gormley had four points, seven rebounds and a couple of assists plus a solid defensive play to force a steal.
Jenkintown advances to the semifinals Wednesday at Cheltenham where it will meet top seed Phil-Mont Christian Academy. The Drakes are 1-2 against the Falcons this year, beating Phil-Mont in overtime in Springfield Twp’s tip-off tournament, then losing twice in BAL play.
“(Phil-Mont’s) a very good team, and we’re just glad we won and have the opportunity to play them again,” Romano said.