Jenkintown stuns Phil-Mont Christian in District 1-A semis

CHELTENHAM >> With 13 seconds left, freshman Mia Kolb stepped to the free-throw line with a chance to put young Jenkintown into the lead.

“That was scary. I was thinking, ‘there’s so much pressure on me right now but then I just calmed myself down and just tried to make the foul shot for my team,'” Kolb said.

The first one did not fall but the second fell clean through, sending the Jenkintown crowd into a frenzy.

Kolb would again make one of two free throws with nine seconds to go, giving the Drakes a two-point lead, and Jenkintown held on for one final defensive stop at the end to lock down a 44-42 win over top-seeded Phil-Mont Christian, sending No. 4 Jenkintown to the District One Class A Final Saturday against No. 2 Delco Christian.

“It’s been such a tremendous rivalry with Phil-Mont the last four years,” said Drakes coach James Romano, whose team went 2-2 this year against their rival. “They’re a very good team. It’s a battle between the height that they have and excellent post players against our girls, who are just pure speed and hustle. And they can shoot the ball a little bit.

“Every game against them, the girls just played so hard and it was nice to see them come up on the winning side tonight.”

Jenkintown, making up for a lack of height — their tallest player at 5-8 — pressed the entire game and forced the Falcons into too many turnovers and some costly miscues, the biggest coming with 13 seconds to go.

Jenkintown’s trap resulted in Phil-Mont — pressured into a corner — trying to call timeout, but with the Falcons having no timeouts remaining, a technical foul was called, sending Kolb to the line.

After she made one of two to put Jenkintown in front, the Drakes were also awarded possession, and with Phil-Mont guarding everyone closely, the Falcons were able to deflect the inbounds pass and Kolb chased it down all the way back on their end of the court, and was fouled with nine seconds left.

“Kinda scary,” the young guard said.

But Jenkintown kept showing remarkable poise for a team made up almost entirely of freshmen and sophomores and Kolb again made one of two shots to make it 44-42.

Phil-Mont still had a chance.

Tracey Goodman inbounded to Kayla Griffin who sent it up court to Keyen Green. Jenkintown, with fouls to give, fouled Green with four seconds to go.

Goodman then tried to send it to Green underneath the basket but Natalie Kolb broke it up, knocking it out of bounds with just two seconds left.

Again, the plan was to get the ball to Green down low, but Green would miss the front end of a one and one and Jenkintown drew a jump ball on the rebound with a second left and was awarded possession, clinching the victory.

“I love playing with this team,” said Mia Kolb, who scored a team-high 14 points, including a pair of threes, and helped Jenkintown get out to a 17-8 lead early. “We all know where we are on the court at all times and it’s a lot of fun playing with them. I can’t wait to move on.”

The defending district champs came on strong late in the third and into the fourth, propelled by Green’s relentless inside play and game-high 29 points.

Phil-Mont tied the contest at 42 apiece with 1:10 to go on another drive by Green, but it would be the Drakes that would push into the lead, ending a stellar season for the Falcons.

“We did everything we could, got the game tied actually, and put ourselves in a great place,” Falcons coach Bill DeHeer said. “Jenkintown’s a very good team. And those freshmen don’t play like they’re freshmen. It’s pretty amazing.”