Neshaminy hands Pennridge another close defeat

EAST ROCKHILL >> Sometimes, the margin is the width of a couple fingertips.

With 3.8 seconds on the clock and down two points, Pennridge had a chance to inbound the basketball and at least an attempt a shot to win or tie if the pass in was successful. The entry pass was just a bit too far for the intended recipient, glancing off a couple fingertips and right to Neshaminy’s Lola Ibarrondo, who grasp the game-clinching steal and ran out those final few seconds.

A very competitive game went Neshaminy’s way after the visitors staved off a late Rams surge to pick up the 47-45 win Friday night in their SOL crossover game.

“I feel like our schedule’s been pretty tough, it seems like we’re playing a lot of the tougher teams and I know everybody else plays them too but we’re kind of running right into the top of their conference,” Pennridge coach Mike Elton said. “We had Pennsbury and then them. Battling through our conference is tough enough and then we’re playing their top teams right off the bat.”

Elton won’t use it as an excuse, but the Rams also haven’t played a second this season with their projected starting point guard in senior Grace Roscia, sidelined by an injury.

Friday was also the fourth time Pennridge (7-7, 2-5 SOL Colonial) lost by four or fewer points this season. On top of their SOL wanderings, the Rams have also played a nonleague game with a Perk Valley side sitting near the top of the District 1 6A power rankings and lost in a holiday tournament to District 3 power Delone Catholic, so there have been a lot of tests.

“We have to do a little better with the game plan,” Elton said. “We let a couple things happen there, you give them credit at the end, we brought the intensity and fought back into the game but again, you’re like one timeout away from being able to draw something up on that last play to try and get a shot.”

Thanks to the SOL crossover games counting toward the conference standings and Pennsbury’s loss to Souderton on Thursday, the win moved Neshaminy into a tie atop the SOL Patriot table. It was a fifth straight win for the visitors, who have just two seniors on their roster and have been playing well under first-year coach John Gallagher, who spent the last five years as an assistant at St. Basil Academy.

Neshaminy, powered by some good ball movement, used a 12-2 run in the latter half of the third quarter to break up what had been a back-and-forth game to that point. Pennridge would get the last hoop of the quarter but a 6-0 Neshaminy run to open the fourth gave the SOL Patriot side a 43-33 lead with 6:34 to play.

“We’re working really well together and running our offense well, which is getting open looks for each other,” Neshaminy junior Taylor Gurysh said. “We’re getting good shots off that and just good looks in general.”

Gurysh had a really strong game, scoring 16 points on 8-of-12 shooting and did it without even attempting a shot in the first quarter.

The offense is good, but Neshaminy sophomore Reese Zemitis thinks her team’s defense hasn’t gotten enough credit. Pennridge’s 45 points tied the season-high in allowed points by a Neshaminy opponent and Zemitis said it’s all due to a much more communicative effort on the defensive end.

“Our biggest thing is our defensive effort,” Zemitis, who scored 13 points said. “If we can stop people on the defensive end, that’s when we know we’re doing pretty well.”

Almost from the opening tip, the teams traded scores in an entertaining first half. Zemitis found Gurysh for a basket with nine seconds left that allowed Neshaminy to take a 23-23 deadlock to the intermission.

Two 3-pointers on successive possessions put the Rams up 29-25 early in the third, but Neshaminy would buckle down on defense and started facilitating on offense with a Zemitis three assisted by Taylor putting the visitors back in front 32-29. The sophomore also capped the 6-0 fourth quarter run to give her team a 10-point lead but things would get quite interesting from there.

“Patience was a factor for us, when we slowed it down, we got to run our offense and that got us looks,” Gurysh said. “We got away from it a little bit at the end but our defense was able to come through and get some stops.”

Katie Yoder, who had been limited thanks to some good defense by Neshaminy’s Maya Lewis, got going in the fourth and sparked the Rams to a comeback effort. The junior led Pennridge with 15, getting eight of them in the final quarter including a three with five seconds left that put her team in position to even have that last opportunity in the first place.

Again it was defense, this time Pennridge’s speeding up Neshaminy and turning a few steals into layups, that spurred an offensive run as the Rams got within 43-40 and then the final 47-45 margin in the final 2:40 of play.

“I look at it as they’re still growing,” Elton said. “We still need to find some rhythm on offense. We’re still a little on the young side with some of these players. It was a good game, I’m glad we got back at the end there, we’ll keep plugging away.

“I keep telling them they’re this close, they’re a good team but everybody knows they’re a good team so we get game-planned for a little more than we have in the past. They’ll get it, they’ll find it.”

NESHAMINY 13 10 14 10 – 47

PENNRIDGE 12 11 10 12 – 45

N: Taylor Gurysh 8 0-0 16, Mimi Smith 4 2-2 11, Lola Ibarrondo 2 3-4 7, Reese Zemitis 5 0-1 13, Maya Lewis 0 0-1 0. Totals: 19 5-8 47

P: Anna Croyle 3 1-1 8, Katie Yoder 6 1-2 15, Ava Fantaskey 1 0-0 3, Emma Pyne 2 0-0 8, Ryan Hodder 2 0-0 4, Ella Brown 3 0-0 7. Totals: 18 2-5 45

3-pointers: N – Zemitis 3, Smith; P – Pyne 2, Yoder 2, Croyle, Fantaskey, Brown