Penn Wood’s Andrews feted, then focuses on overtime win

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LANSDOWNE >> Carle Andrews couldn’t stop smiling when Penn Wood athletic director Rap Curry introduced her to the home crowd before the Patriots’ Del Val League opener with Interboro Tuesday night.

The senior guard scored her 1,000th point last week in a victory over Chester School of the Arts. This was Penn Wood’s first opportunity to properly honor Andrews, who became the 14th basketball player in school history to accomplish the feat.

“To be honest, it feels good,” Andrews said hours later, “but we have a lot of work to do in the rest of the season. I’m not really worried about it. After it’s all done, I’ll look back on it but right now I have to worry about our season.”

The Patriots’ season hadn’t started well. In preparing for the Del Val League portion of their schedule, Penn Wood won two of its first nine games.

“We had to get this win,” Andrews said.

Penn Wood found itself in a battle with Interboro, which entered Tuesday’s action winners of three in a row. A double-digit lead in the fourth quarter dissipated and the Patriots needed overtime to earn a 50-46 victory.

Sophomore big Jada Hutt led the charge in the extra session, scoring six of Penn Wood’s eight points.

“It feels good,” said Hutt, who finished with nine points and had four of her team-high 10 rebounds in overtime. “I am glad to help out the team.”

Andrews had another big scoring night, dropping in a game-high 22 points. However, she was kicking herself after bricking two free throws late in regulation which enabled the Bucs (4-6, 0-1) to get even.

“I got real down on myself because I knew if I would have made those, we would’ve won,” said Andrews, who registered team highs in points, rebounds (10), assists (six) and steals (five). “But my teammates, especially these two (Hutt and Saleia Matthews), picked me up.”

Matthews, a senior combo guard, made a field goal in overtime to give the Patriots (3-7, 1-0) a four-point advantage, moments after Hutt’s putback off an Andrews miss gave Penn Wood the lead for good.

“I feel like I made some bad decisions in the fourth quarter, when I was inbounding the ball and I gave the ball away,” said Matthews, who had 10 points, two assists and a pair of steals. “I knew I had to pick it up.”

In overtime, Amanda Floyd gave the Bucs the first lead but three turnovers proved costly. Penn Wood, which overcame an 11-for-22 performance at the free-throw line, stepped on the gas and never looked back.

“We said, going into overtime, that we all really needed to step up and have everyone do their part,” Andrews said. “We had to stick together as team.”

While holding the lead for most of the second half, the Patriots stopped playing their uptempo style, notably in the final minutes when they tried their best to play keepaway with the surging Bucs, who shot 8-for-12 at the foul line and scored 20 points in the final regulation stanza.

“We really emphasized smart decisions, to really think before just making a play on your own,” Matthews said.

Floyd and Hailey Wittorf, both juniors, engineered Interboro’s comeback with help from freshman guard Keri Barnett, who sank two free throws with 3.2 seconds left to tie things up. Floyd had eight of her 15 points and Wittorf tallied seven of her team-high 21 points. Wittorf also delivered in OT, scoring six points and going 4-for-4 at the charity stripe.

“I think we just came out flat in the first quarter and that hurt us,” said Wittorf, who shot 8 of 12 from the floor. “I knew when I got (to the free-throw line in overtime), I had to block everything out and say to myself, ‘I’m good.’”

Marta Walewska grabbed a game-high 18 rebounds for Interboro.

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Matt Smith

Matt Smith
Matt Smith is a sports writer with the Delaware County Daily Times. To contact him, email msmith@delcotimes.com or follow him on Twitter @DTMattSmith.

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