North Penn outlasts Central Bucks East

TOWAMENCIN >> After scoring 20 points in the first half against Central Bucks East Monday night, North Penn scored 20 points in the third quarter.

The Knights quickly erased their six-point halftime deficit, took a six-point lead into the fourth quarter and ended the game with 7-0 run to close out a 54-48 Suburban One League Colonial Division win at North Penn High School.

“We just came together as a team and talked about how we’re constantly in these close games in the second half and towards the end of the game,” North Penn coach Brianna Cullen said of the halftime message. “We have to learn from our past mistakes and our past games and take a step forward today.”

Caleigh Sperling scored 10 of her game-high 21 points in the third quarter for North Penn (3-6, 2-4 SOL Colonial). The sophomore converted a three-point play to give her side a lead, 28-26, shortly after halftime.

The Knights scored the first 10 points of the second half to turn a 26-20 deficit into a 30-26 lead. Abby Plaugher and Kelly Donnelly each hit three-pointers in the third to send the game to the fourth with North Penn ahead, 40-34.

North Penn took its largest lead of the night — eight points — twice in the fourth quarter. Olivia Stone made it 43-35 with a three-pointer with 7:25 remaining and a Plaugher layup made it 45-37 with 5:20 to go.

Central Bucks East’s Anna Barry responded with one of the biggest shots of the night. She dribbled around a screen and, when the defender went under the pick, launched a three-pointer. She made the basket and was fouled. The free throw got the Patriots (3-6, 2-4 SOL Colonial) within four, 45-41.

East’s Shayne LeRay hit a three the next trip down the floor and Erin LeRay converted a layup to put the Patriots ahead, 46-45, with 3:13 remaining.

“We had a talk in the locker room with our coach,” Plaugher said, “and she just told us today we are going to win. After that, I feel like (the CB East 9-0 run) may have brought us down a bit, but nothing was going to stop us from winning. We just kept playing hard even though we were down and came out with the win.”

Sperling gave North Penn a one-point lead with a layup, but East’s Kendall Gregor took it back 30 seconds later. She missed a free throw to keep it a one-point East lead, 48-47, with 96 seconds left.

Plaugher put the Knights ahead for good. She scored through contact and made her free throw to make it a 50-48 game.

“Once you get a big play like that on offense,” she said, “it obviously translates to defense. Liv Stone got a really good diving play on the floor, then Cam (Crowley) got a good play, she got fouled and made her free throws. When you get those big plays on offense it translates to defense as well.”

The momentum from the three-point play resulted in four defensive stops down the stretch, including a Stone block, while Plaugher and Crowley went a combined 5-for-5 from the free-throw line to close out the 54-48 win.

“At the end of the fourth quarter we just decided that we were going to win this game,” Plaugher said. “We’re going to drive to the basket, we’re going to get those buckets and we just played hard. We played really well all together as a group.”

“All those jitters from games before taught us a lesson,” Cullen said. “We showed some composure, kept it together. East is a very good team and they have some very good shooters. I think we took our gameplan, put it into action and translated it into winning.

“We practice free throws every day. It’s nice to see it come into play in a game.”

Plaugher finished with 15 points and 13 rebounds for a double-double. She had seven of her points in the fourth quarter.

Gregor led the Patriots with 18 points and Barry added 12.

East jumped out to a 13-5 lead in the first eight minutes. Elise Duffy had six points in the first quarter while Gregor added five.

North Penn trimmed its deficit to two, 20-18, in the second quarter, but Barry and Gregor responded with back-to-back threes to extend the East lead to eight, 26-18. The Knights scored the final basket of the half to send the SOL Colonial rivals to the locker room with East ahead, 26-20.

North Penn 54, Central Bucks East 48
Central Bucks East 13 13 8 14 – 48
North Penn 5 15 20 14 – 54
Central Bucks East: Barry 4 1-1 12, Curran 1 1-2 3, Duffy 3 2-2 8, Gregor 5 5-9 18, E LeRay 2 0-0 4, S LeRay 1 0-0 3, Ralph 0 0-0 0, Van Dongeren 0 0-0 0. Total 16 9-14 48.
North Penn: Sperling 7 5-5 21, Plaugher 5 4-5 15, Stone 3 1-2 8, Donnelly 1 0-0 3, Crowley 1 2-2 4, Mikulski 1 1-2 3, Sparango 0 0-0 0. Total 18 13-16 54.
3-point goals: CBE: Barry 3, Gregor 3, S Leray. NP: Sperling 2, Plaugher, Stone, Donnelly.