Spratt helps spark CB West in win over North Penn

TOWAMENCIN >> Teams that win on the road can create their own energy in pivotal moments.

North Penn had just cut Central Bucks West’s lead to three points Tuesday night when Emily Spratt created a surge of energy for the Bucks. The sophomore got fouled on a run to the hoop, then came up with a steal leading to an and-one and finished her burst of momentum by diving on the floor trying for another steal.

West’s ability to forge its own momentum in the second half came in clutch as the Bucks pushed past North Penn 57-45 to stay unbeaten in the SOL Continental.

“Where most of our energy comes from is our momentum on defense,” Spratt said. “I don’t get that foul without Maddie (Burke) passing me the ball and looking up. It’s a whole team thing, we all brought it up, we all knew what we had to do. (North Penn) is a great team and we needed it.”

When both teams were going well Tuesday, it traced directly back to how they were playing on defense. The Knights (7-3, 2-2 conference) were frigid on offense all night, shooting 16-of-56 overall but even as their shots refused to drop, their defense did enough to prevent West from running away.

Despite missing their first four shots, North Penn only trailed 4-0 midway through the opening frame until a lull on defense allowed the Bucks (7-3, 4-0) to rip off a quarter-ending 7-0 run that bloomed into a 10-0 spurt to open the second. A couple of quick shots on offense by the Knights also helped West keep its run going.

“Our hope is we hold them to one shot and get rebounds and at times, we were successful with that and when we did that, that’s when we made our runs,” North Penn coach Jen Carangi said. “We have too many lapses and it’s been this theme we need to figure out. The reality is, against a team that is that good offensively, we can’t have mental lapses.”

North Penn started to claw back into the game, using a 10-1 run capped by Carley Adams’ bucket to close within 21-17 late in the second quarter. Jess Broskey buried a three off an inbound play to send West into the half up 24-17, but Carangi told her players at the break they were very much in the game.

“You talk about mental toughness and playing in a high-level, competitive league game that this was, I thought the first quarter was a lot of nerves,” Carangi said. “We played, I though pretty poorly in the first half, but I told the girls we’re not good enough yet to spot teams that many points and try to play from behind.”

As Carangi noted, North Penn’s best offense came from transition when it got a rebound off a miss. Mullaly capitalized on that in the third, scoring five quick points to cut the lead down to 25-22 before Spratt lit a fire for the Bucks.

CB West, which lost to National Christian out of Maryland in overtime on Sunday, tried to take positive momentum out of that game into Tuesday. First-year Bucks coach Zach Sibel said his team was all positive at Monday’s practice and he wasn’t surprised his players mixed the fuel for their runs on their own.

“You have to give North Penn a ton of credit, they’re extremely tough, we knew they would get up for this game and have some fans here and they play hard,” Sibel said. “It’s not easy to come in their gym and handle that and I thought the girls really did. It’s every girl that steps up, it’s not just the starters but the bench too.”

Spratt led the Bucks with 17 points and 12 rebounds, scoring 11 in the second half. Sibel cited the play of reserve trio Maddie McGarry, Lilly Evans and Maggie McCusker for keeping the energy up and spelling the starters so West could close strong.

Evans fed Maddie Burke for a three-point play late in the third, then Burke canned a 3-pointer and Olivia Irons scored off a Spratt dish to give the Bucks a 37-27 lead going to the final period.

“We get most of our shots through transition, so once we started figuring it out, that really helped us a lot,” Spratt said. “We’re all together as team, we’re all great friends and consider each other family. I think this is huge for our confidence especially coming off a loss and playing such a tough team will help us in the future.”

North Penn went on a 7-2 run to open the fourth, then hacked the lead down to 41-37 on Lindsay’s three with 5:08 left in the game. Lindsay had an all-around solid game with 10 points, nine rebounds and five rebounds while Mullaly added 11 points, seven boards and four helpers.

Burke provided the energy on West’s ensuing run to respond. The Penn State-bound senior found Evans on a rope for a layup, then buried a corner triple off a feed from Irons before grabbing a contested rebound off a North Penn miss.

Spratt essentially iced the game on a play she kind of pulled out of nowhere. Seemingly trapped under the basket, the sophomore spun, tossed up a shot, got fouled and had the ball drop through for a three-point play and 55-41 lead with a minute to go.

“Honestly, I don’t know how I got out of that, I was going to pass to Jess and they were guarding her, so I kinda went ‘oh,’” Spratt said, mimicking her spin. “I just shot it and it went in. It’s just one of those plays.”

North Penn returns to play on Friday against CB South while West faces off with Quakertown Friday night before visiting Upper Dublin on Saturday afternoon. West didn’t shoot great either on Tuesday but Spratt, who was just 2-of-7 in the first half, credited the coaches for keeping the team positive.

“We did a good job moving the ball and this game is going to help us,” Spratt said. “With Coach Sibel, he’s always positive and I was missing a lot of shots early but him having the confidence in me or any of us to keep shooting, it’s really awesome.”

CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 57, NORTH PENN 45
CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 13 11 13 20 – 57
NORTH PENN 5 12 10 18 – 45
Central Bucks West: Paige Gilbert 3 0-0 6, Olivia Irons 3 4-4 11, Emily Spratt 4 9-10 17, Jess Broskey 1 1-4 4, Maddie Burke 5 1-3 14, Lilly Evans 1 1-2 3, Anna Blue 1 0-0 2. Totals: 18 16-23 57.
North Penn: Alli Lindsay 3 2-2 10, Alaina Mullaly 3 4-4 11, Kate Early 3 0-2 7, Carley Adams 1 0-0 2, Val McGriff 3 1-2 8, Rachel Dunn 2 1-2 5, Imani Plaza 1 0-0 2. Totals: 16 8-10 45.
3-pointers: CBW – Burke 3, Broskey, Irons; NP – Lindsay 2, Mullaly, Early, McGriff.