North Penn edges Neshaminy in wild PIAA AAAA quarterfinal

ROYERSFORD >> The North Penn girls basketball team only led Neshaminy for about three total minutes Friday night at Spring-Ford High School, but it led when it mattered most.

The (1-5) Lady Knights overcame a 12-point deficit and topped the Redskins, 42-41, in the PIAA Class AAAA quarterfinals.

Sophomore Bri Hewlitt gave North Penn the lead, 40-39, on a jump shot with two minutes to play – its first lead since 8-5 in the first quarter – and made two free throws a possession later to extend the advantage to three.

“We still wanted to play defense and keep our composure and stay focused,” said Jess Huber, who made a shot to get North Penn within one the possession before Hewlitt gave it the lead.

Neshaminy’s Allison Harvey made two foul shots – sandwiched between North Penn missing the front end of one-and-ones twice – to cut the (1-7) Redskins deficit to one, 42-41, with a minute to go.

North Penn’s only senior, Mikaela Giuliani, made two key defensive plays in the final 40 seconds. She drew two charges – one with 38.2 ticks remaining and the other with 15.3 – to give the Knights extra possessions to put the game away.

But they did not make it easy.

North Penn turned the ball over after both charges. After the first, Neshaminy’s Morgan Goldenbaum was fouled and missed both free throws.

After the second, the Redskins grabbed a steal with less than 10 seconds remaining and the game-winning shot attempt from the left-wing was off as the buzzer sounded.

The victory sends North Penn to the state semifinals to face (12-1) Cardinal O’Hara  — which defeated (1-6) Garnet Valley 46-44 in the second game at Spring-Ford — Tuesday at a site and time to be announced.

The Knights trailed by three, 36-33, heading into the fourth quarter, but it could have been worse. Junior Sam Carangi hit a long three – her only basket of the game – at the buzzer to cut the six-point deficit in half.

“(Neshaminy) did a tremendous job defending (Carangi),” North Penn coach Maggie deMarteleire said. “She didn’t get very many looks at the basket. She kept going further and further out and I went, ‘Oh boy, where is she going?’ … I feel like it gave us a little bit of momentum and it had to be a little deflating for them since they really had done a nice job defending her up top.”

“That was huge,” Huber said. “The momentum switched from them to us. That was a great shot.”

The first half was a true game of runs. The Redskins went on a 15-0 run – hitting five threes – to turn an 8-5 deficit into a 20-8 lead from late in the first quarter to the middle of the second.

“They were wide open,” deMarteleire said of the Redskins starting 6-for-7 from three-point range. “We weren’t closing out. And all we worked on in practice was closing out and pinching, because they’re very athletic.”

The Knights responded with a 10-0 run to cut the deficit to two, 20-18, with two minutes remaining in the second and went into the half trailing, 24-20.

Huber scored a game-high 15 points for North Penn. Giuliani added nine and Irisa Ye eight.

“I just wanted to be confident,” Huber said of her 10-point first half that kept the Knights from falling behind by even more than they did. “My teammates saw me again – they usually do. I’m just glad I was hitting shots.”

Goldenbaum led the Redskins in scoring with 13 points, Brooke Mullin had 10 and Harvey seven.