Plymouth Whitemarsh pulls out the stops to lock up Archbishop Carroll
RADNOR >> Kaitlyn Flanagan wasn’t giving up.
Plymouth Whitemarsh’s senior point guard was step-for-step chasing Archbishop Carroll senior Grace O’Neill around on Cabrini’s court, weaving around screens, staying with O’Neill when she got the ball and meeting her AAU teammate at the apex of her shot for a clean block. It was one play in one game, nothing Flanagan and her teammates are going to overly brag about but they weren’t denying its importance either.
PW’s defense came to play and the Colonials showed their collective smarts on both ends of the floor as they locked down a good Patriots offense in a 38-29 win at Sunday’s Hoops for Hope showcase.
“Coming in, the emphasis for our team was the defense and I’m really proud of the way we played our defense today,” Flanagan said. “We pressed at times but we also showed we could score without pressing and we could defend halfcourt against a really good, guard-heavy team.”
Last weekend, the Colonials beat District 2 power Scranton Prep but Flanagan said there were a lot of deficiencies they noticed breaking that game down. With the toughest stretch of their regular season starting Sunday, and a massive game against SOL Colonial rival Abington looming on Thursday, it was the perfect time to tighten things up.
PW’s seven rotation players – guards Flanagan, Fiona Gooneratne and Angelina Balcer, wings Erin Daley and Abby Sharpe and posts Jordyn Thomas and Lainey Allen – all contributed to the defensive effort. Carroll, a terrific offensive team under coach Renie Shields, was coming in with plenty of confidence under Thursday’s comeback win over Archbishop Wood and the Colonials knew they’d need to be solid all around to get the win.
Flanagan, who is heading to Holy Cross, lauded her team’s veteran makeup for being able to do what was needed both defensively but also on offense to adjust to Carroll’s changes. PW threw pretty much everything it has, from its man press, a man-jump press, 2-2-1, 1-2-2, halfcourt and zone, at the Patriots without much of a dropoff.
“We could keep switching defenses because we have such smart players,” PW coach Dan Dougherty said. “The seven kids that play for us are elite students and can handle that mental side of things. In the fourth quarter, it was just basic fundamentals, switch, stay in a stance, don’t jump on fakes and defend without fouling.
“The colleges coaches here today I talked to, that’s one of the biggest things they love. They want kids who can defend without fouling and I thought our defense was outstanding.”
The Colonials have smarts but they also have size. Every starter save Flanagan is 5-foot-11 or taller and even the 5-foot-8 point guard has a wingspan several inches longer so getting past them is a daunting task for anyone trying to figure it out. That size also helped early with Thomas and Allen going to work against the smaller Patriot defenders as PW rolled to a 14-3 edge after the first quarter.
Carroll adjusted by playing behind the taller PW forwards, something they don’t often see but Dougherty credited the two senior posts for counter-adjusting by catching, turning and going up strong. Allen finished with a team-high 12 points while Thomas had eight and they combined for 14 rebounds with Daley chipping in six more.
Flanagan, who probably sat for less than a minute total during the game, orchestrates it all by constantly checking with the bench at any stoppage in play.
“It’s taken awhile but now that we have a veteran team of seniors and juniors, we know the calls and we’ve only gotten better at communicating it to each other,” Flanagan said. “That’s really been it, just the improved communication and maturity. I always want to be sure I know what they want before I tell everyone, so I want to check in and be sure we’re all seeing what they are.”
The Patriots, who trailed 19-10 at the half, found a little space in the third quarter by knocking down a trio of 3-pointers but PW kept answering every little glimmer of momentum with a score or a stop. PW only had one field goal in the fourth quarter, but was solid at the line and even stouter on defense with Flanagan’s effort on her block the capper on a standout performance from everyone involved.
Aside from beating Scranton Prep and a pair of wins over SOL rival Upper Dublin, the Colonials hadn’t picked a signature win yet this winter.
They couldn’t control their first meeting with Abington needing to be postponed but what the Colonials could control was what they did with the opportunity on Sunday. Dougherty called the game a “quiz” with the final exam hopefully coming in a couple months, saying it was not a result his team would leave pounding its chests about but also one it wanted to gain some respect.
“We play with a chip on our shoulder,” Dougherty said. “I appreciate that we got invited to this showcase, we don’t get invited to many. We were supposed to play a schedule like this last year. All we told our kids was we passed our quiz. I’m so proud of them because they do, in a sense, get disrespected a lot so it’s a vindicating experience but at the same time, it’s a Sunday afternoon showcase and Thursday with Abington is a different kind of test too because that’s also a team that plays with a chip on its shoulder.”
Flanagan couldn’t totally stifle a laugh at the quiz analogy but she did agree with her coach that was a victory she and her teammates could take pride in but not get overblown about.
“It’s definitely both,” Flanagan said. “You have to use both, one part of it is motivation that we want to show we can beat these big-time teams because looking at our schedule, we haven’t played many teams like Carroll. But, you can’t only use that then get super-emotional, so you have to stay level-headed about the fact that it’s just another team of high school basketball players and not get overwhelmed.”
PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH 14 5 10 9 – 38
ARCHBISHOP CARROLL 3 7 11 8 – 29
PW: Kaitlyn Flanagan 2 3-4 7, Erin Daley 1 1-2 3, Abby Sharpe 3 0-0 6, Lainey Allen 4 4-5 12, Jordyn Thomas 4 0-0 8, Fiona Gooneratne 0 2-2 2. Totals: 14 10-15 38
AC: Brooke Wilson 1 2-2 4, Taylor Wilson 3 0-2 6, Grace O’Neill 5 1-2 13, Maggie Grant 2 0-0 6. Totals: 10 3-6 29
3-pointers: AC – O’Neill 2, Grant 2
