North Penn wins 8th straight, holds off CB South

TOWAMENCIN >> Irisa Ye’s smothering defense as well as a tremendous rebounding effort by North Penn keyed a 47-36 victory over rival Central Bucks South Thursday night, as the Maidens won their eighth straight and improved to a perfect 8-0 in the Suburban One League Continental Conference.

“We had to shut down Jordan,” Ye said of Titan senior guard Jordan Vitelli, “because she’s their best shooter and their best player. And then we had to make sure we were helping out, covering every girl and talking — communicating so that everyone knew who they had.

“That was the big thing — communicating and shutting down Jordan.”

Ye, blanketing Vitelli, shut out South’s senior guard the first three quarters, during which North Penn would build a 34-26 advantage.

“I thought Irisa did a really nice job on Jordan, and I thought we did a really nice job of defensive rebounding,” said Maidens coach Maggie deMarteleire, whose team improved to 12-2 on the season. “They had a lot of offensive rebounds against us the first time (in a 58-46 NP victory), and I thought we really improved on that.”

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After South tightened the margin to 36-31 early in the fourth, a baseline jumper by Ye would stretch the Maiden lead back to seven.

Vitelli, scoring all of her five points in the fourth, would drive for two, making it a 38-33 game, but Ye answered at the other end, taking it to the basket to give NP a 40-33 cushion.

After a basket by South, the Maidens effectively worked the ball around for a long offensive sequence, draining the clock down to 2:41 remaining, and then Mikaela Giuliani sank one of two free throws to put North Penn up 41-35.

After another defensive stop by the Maidens, a pair of free throws by Sam Carangi iced the game with 1:16 to go, making it 43-35.

Ye and Giuliani each finished with 10 points for the Maidens, while Dunn was the only Titan to reach double figures, finishing with 11 for South (10-4, 6-2 conference).

“I thought we played really good defense,” deMarteleire said. “We started out trying to mix up our defenses but (Taylor) Dunn made a couple shots on us so we decided just to go to straight-up man.

“Now, turnovers, we have to fix.”

A three pointer by North Penn’s Mia Melchior finished off a frantic first quarter for both teams, as the Maidens emerged with a 12-8 lead.

Both squads battled through a series of turnovers in the opening eight minutes, but threes by Carangi, Jess Huber and Melchior helped keep the Maidens in front.

North Penn began to gain a firm control in the second quarter. Huber scored in transition to bolster the lead to 16-10, and moments later Carangi set up Bri Hewlett underneath the basket for an easy two and an eight-point Maiden advantage.

Ye stepped in front of a Titan pass and quickly dished to Carangi, as the margin grew to double digits.

Just before the half, a three by Huber would put NP up 27-18 before a basket by South’s Tricia DeCesare made it a seven-point game at the break.

“We cut down on our turnovers, because in the first quarter, we were too light with the ball and throwing it all over the place,” Ye said. “We slowed it down a little, made better decisions, and rebounded — rebounding was a huge thing. I think that’s what got us the game.

“It’s all about hard work — we gotta keep the practice up. We’re not stopping.”

Both teams will head to the SOL Challenge this weekend.