Souderton tops Springfield-Delco for 7th place in District 1-6A

LOWER SALFORD >> Heading to Indian Valley Middle School – the Souderton girls basketball team’s temporary home for Friday night’s District 1-6A seventh-place game – reminded Teya McConnaha of the last time she did not have Casey Harter alongside her on the court.

“Seventh grade, she got hurt – hurt her ankle, “McConnaha said. “When we walked in, I was like ‘Well Casey, this remind you of anything?’ She’s like ‘Yeah, I still have my boot on.”

Wednesday’s overtime loss to Neshaminy in playbacks took its toll on the Indians as Harter, a Northwestern commit, hurt her ankle in the third quarter while Erin Bohmueller was injured late in the fourth.

Facing seventh-seeded Springfield-Delco, Harter was on the sideline while Bohmueller played limited minutes. And while they were not at full strength, the Indians made sure their defense made the trip to their fill-in gym.

In a tight, low-scoring battle, Souderton held the visiting Cougars to just four points in the fourth while McConnaha helped the Indians grab the lead and pull away for a 39-32 victory.

“I think we all just knew we had to step up,” McConnaha said. “If we were playing a girl that was faster than us, we had to get lower. I, personally, had to get lower on defense cause she was a little faster than me. And if we had a shooter we had to get up on her and just play her the way we know how too.”

McConnaha recorded a game-high 17 points while Mikayla McGillian added 11 points as the Souderton 22-6) finished on a 9-2 run to snap its first two-game losing streak of the season. In placing seventh in District 1, the Indians face District 3 runner-up Central York in the first round of the PIAA Tournament on Friday, March 10. Souderton expects to be at full strength by then.

“I could not be more happy with how we played,” Souderton coach Lynn Carroll said. “Defensively without Casey, Erin only played a few minutes and then we decided maybe it was better that she not play. And other people having to step up, Brooke (Fenchel), Grace (McDonough), Alexis (Stefanowicz), what they did on defense was just really good. Mikayla’s help defense, Teya willing to go after 50/50 ball that there is

“And then offensively Brooke basically played point guard for 32 minutes and got us into our sets. We kind of got into a rhythm with our post players getting some good looks and we stuck with that.”

Lexi Aron, Kaitlyn Kearney and Anabel Kreydt each scored six points to pace Springfield (19-8), who was still without point guard Mia Valerio after the senior was injured in the Cougars’ district opener.

“Two pretty good teams, we were without one of our starters as well so we’re both down a player,” Cougars coach Ky McNichol said. “And I thought our team played a great four-quarter game, it just came up short at the end.”

Springfield faces District 12 runner-up Central in its state opener.

“We were happy the way we bounced back from Wednesday night cause we did not play a good game Wednesday night,” said McNichol of the Cougars’ 37-23 loss to Upper Dublin. “I thought we played well tonight, we just needed to finish a few plays down the end but overall we were happy with their effort, their energy which we were not happy with the other night.”

Souderton scored the first four points of the fourth, Stefanowicz’s jumper off a McConnaha cross-court passing putting the Indians up 30-28.

“She’s probably considered more of a role player throughout the season but she stepped up and took shots cause we needed her to,” said Carroll of Stefanowicz.

Cora Fattori converted on a dive to pull Springfield even but McConnaha gave Big Red back the lead with two free throws at 4:22. A McGillian basket off a feed from McDonough made it 34-30.

Anabel Kreydt layup after a steal had Springfield down 34-32 but McConnaha connected as she was fouled on a drive – completing the and-one for a 37-32 Big Red advantage at 2:07.

“It took me a little bit cause I had to get used to the perimeter,” McConnaha said. “Because I’m not used to being the perimeter player right now cause I’m usually in the middle because we usually have two bigs in then three guards out. But it was definitely a good opportunity for me to go outside and show I can dribble and I can use my skills in the perimeter just to create havoc and create open players.”

With 1:15 remaining, McConnaha made both ends of a 1-and-1, pushing the lead to 39-32.

“I thought the combination of Mikayla and Grace down low was very, very good, either one of them was finishing a shot or the other one was assisting it,” Carroll said. “And Teya, finding a way to get it done the way she always does.”

“But I can’t think of a better way to go into states than with other kids having to step up and win a close game so they had to make plays down the stretch on both ends and they did.”

Souderton’s 51-45 OT loss to Neshaminy was just the third time this season it had allowed an opponent to score more than 50 points. Friday at Indian Valley – the game site due to Souderton High hosting the South East 3A Regional Wrestling tournament – Big Red set the defense tone quickly with four blocks on Springfield’s opening possession.

“It was like are we ever going to play offense or are we just going to keep blocking ‘em to death,” McConnaha said.

A long Stefanowicz two had Souderton up 8-4 before Springfield scored the first quarter’s last five points – a Sophia Ward basket followed by Aron’s 3-point play off a baseline drive giving the Cougars a 9-8 edge.

Two Kearney free throws at 4:24 in the second quarter made it 14-10 Springfield. After a McDonough foul shot at 3:57 Corinne Guyton-Williams scored inside to give the Cougars their biggest lead of the night at 16-11.

Souderton, however, responded with a 6-0 burst. McConnaha’s 3-point play at 3:22 cut the margin to 16-14 with McGillian banking in a jumper to tie the game. A McGillian free throw at 1:13 put the Indians up 17-16 but Taylor Hunyet hit a three for a 19-17 Springfield lead at halftime.

Fattori began the third with a jumper that made it 21-17 but the Indians proceeded to go on a 7-0 run, the last five scored by McConnaha, who knocked down a trey for a 24-21 Souderton lead.

Springfield answered with the next seven – a Kreydt jumper, Aron’s 3-pointer and Alyssa Estep basket off an offensive rebound had the Cougars up 28-24. McDonough found McGillian for a bucket to have Souderton within 28-26 after three quarters.

Souderton 39, Springfield-Delco 32
Springfield 9 10 9 4 – 32
Souderton 8 8 8 13 – 39
Springfield: Lexi Aron 2 1-1 6; Kaitlyn Kearney 1 3-4 6; Anabel Kreydt 3 0-0 6; Cora Fattori 2 0-0 4; Taylor Hunyet 1 0-0 3; Alyssa Estep 1 0-0 2; Corinne Guyton-Williams 1 0-0 2; Sophia Ward 1 0-0 2; Molly Clifford 0 1-2 1; Totals 12 5-7
Souderton: Teya McConnaha 5 6-6 17; Mikayla McGillian 5 1-4 11; Alexis Stefanowicz 3 0-0 6; Grace McDonough 2 1-2 5; Totals 15 8-12 39
3-pointers: Sp-Aron, Hunyet, Kearney; So-McConnaha.