Souderton shuts down rival Upper Dublin in SOL quarterfinals

FRANCONIA >> Souderton’s defense had its collective reach wrapped tightly around this one early.

Big Red disrupted rival Upper Dublin’s offensive plans from the start, not allowing the Cardinals to get any traction.

“It’s definitely hard for other teams because we’re all long – we all have long arms and we’re tall, and it’s hard to play against us,” said Big Red’s Casey Harter, “because we can just come out and try to block your shots and if not block them, just be there and be aggressive. So it’s definitely hard for the other teams but that’s one of our strengths.”

Big Red’s defense produced a satisfying 31-18 victory over the Cardinals Saturday afternoon in a Suburban One League Tournament Quarterfinal at Souderton. The win advanced Big Red to a Monday semifinal, at home against Pennsbury.

Harter was a key to Big Red’s defensive success.

“Casey just does a phenomenal job no matter who she’s guarding,” Souderton coach Lynn Carroll said. “Her length was very disruptive against Amy (Ngo). And we had a game plan that the girls really executed well and our help defense was so, so good.”

Souderton’s defensive play was so intense that the Indians allowed just two field goals in a dominant first half.

“We knew they have Amy Ngo and we knew they have a couple shooters who are good and can make shots,” Harter said. “So we just focused in on their personnel and who we’re all guarding, and I think it was really a team effort today.”

Souderton (21-2) led 8-3 after one and had a 15-6 advantage at the break.

While its defense dug in, its offense carefully pieced together key stretches, with Harter and Teya McConnaha each contributing nine points.

It was a matchup of two District 1-6A powers: Souderton is currently ranked second, Upper Dublin 13th (15-8).

“One of our keys was using the inside-outside game,” Carroll said. “First, we needed to see how they were gonna defend us down there, but the more we could get the ball inside, we thought we would have success with our post players either getting it down there or looking for kicks at the right time. And I think we were pretty successful doing that.”

“Getting a lead in the first quarter helped set a tone for the rest of the game,” Carroll said.

An underhanded layup by Brooke Fenchel extended the Souderton lead to 27-16 just inside of five minutes remaining. The Cardinals twice got within nine, once on a layup by Aditi Foster and on another occasion on free throws by Ngo, but a bucket by Harter helped ice it for Souderton.

“We’re happy to be moving onto Monday night. It’s gonna be a tough one,” Carroll said. “Pennsbury want revenge from the first time around but we’re looking forward to it.”

Big Red defeated the Falcons (21-2) 40-34 back on Jan. 13.

Said Harter: “We’re looking forward to playing them again because that was probably our biggest win of the year and it was a really exciting game to play in. It’s gonna be a tough game but if we play our best basketball, which we have been recently, then it’ll be good for us and we can do it.”

Souderton 31, Upper Dublin 18

Upper Dublin 3 3 8 4 – 18

Souderton 8 7 10 6 – 31

Upper Dublin: Bliss Brenner 1 0-0 2, Aditi Foster 1 2-2 4, Geena Sarnoski 2 0-0 5, Colleen Klammer 1 2-2 4, Amy Ngo 0 3-4 3. Totals 5 7-10 18.

Souderton: Brooke Fenchel 2 1-1 5, Mikayla McGillian 3 0-0 6, Casey Harter 4 0-0 9, Grace McDonough 1 0-2 2, Teya McConnaha 4 1-2 9. Totals 14 2-5 31.

3-pointers: UD-Sarnoski; S-Harter.