Neshaminy holds off Souderton in final minute for Suburban One League semifinal win
NORTHAMPTON >> A long-awaited shot at redemption helped fuel one final, frantic stop by Neshaminy Saturday afternoon, as the Skins blocked three shots in the final 41 seconds to hold on as tight as they could to a 51-47 victory over Souderton.
“It was a tough loss to them earlier in the season,” the Skins’ Brooke Mullin said after the Suburban One League semifinal contest at Council Rock South High School. “It was very tough on us and we wanted redemption after that loss.
“(The final minute) was very nerve-racking. I’m not gonna lie. Our girls did very well. We were locked in and we were not losing that game. We did not wanna lose that game. We did everything we could.”
After falling 44-39 to Souderton back on Jan. 10, Neshaminy (21-2) has now won nine in a row. There could be much more to come between Souderton (20-3) and the Skins: both are expected to make deep runs into the District 1-6A and state brackets, and could wind up knocking into each other again.
“I really feel like they are just so well-coached. They are so fundamental,” Skins coach Joe Lally said of the Indians. “And they stick with their game plan. They seem to be the best out-of-timeout team. They seem to get what they want after a timeout.”
Neshaminy drove into the lead one final time when Mullin notched a pair of free throws with 50 seconds left, giving the Skins a 48-47 edge.
Souderton kept possession all the way until three seconds to go, but Allison Harvey, Mullin and Alexa McCoy all swatted away shots to keep the Neshaminy lead intact.
“You gotta give the girls a ton of credit,” Lally said. “And I think (Souderton coach) Lynn (Carroll) emptied out the playbook on them.”
The Skins got the ball back with three seconds to go, extending the lead to three with two ticks left on foul shots by Harvey (14 pts). Souderton, trying to get the ball down court, turned it over, and Mullin scored the final of her game-high 22 points on one of two free throws.
“They have really put the work in to be a better defensive team,” Lally said of his squad.
Scoring was spread out for Souderton in a back-and-forth first quarter.
A three by Mullin gave the Skins a 13-12 edge heading into the second.
Souderton then pulled in front and stayed ahead into the half. A three by Curran O’Donnell got Big Red ahead, and Megan Walbrandt (11 pts) began to heat up, hitting twice in consecutive trips down the court, the second one a three to make it 23-17 Indians.
A pair of free throws by Megan Bealer gave Big Red its biggest lead — eight — to that point, but then Neshaminy sliced it down to 25-20 at the break, courtesy of a Kacie Sienko three pointer.
Walbrandt’s eight first-half points led all scorers.
Souderton trailed by three heading into the fourth but went up by five with 5:49 to go, as Mikaela Reese (11 pts) found Megan O’Donnell on a fast break, and O’Donnell converted it into a three-point play.
There were five more lead changes until Neshaminy refused to let go in the final seconds.
“We’re all competitive personalities and we wanted to win this. We don’t like losing,” Walbrandt said. “But we’re still positive and we know we’re gonna be contending in districts.”
Megan Bealer had nine points for Souderton and Megan O’Donnell added eight for the defending SOL Challenge Champs.
“We would have preferred to win and get a chance to win this thing again on Monday, but there are a couple of things we wanna look at that we didn’t do well,” Carroll said. “But ultimately, now, we’re ready to start preparing for districts.”
