Spring-Ford turns up the tempo to take down Plymouth-Whitemarsh

ROYERSFORD >> Spring-Ford upgraded the tempo of Saturday afternoon’s District 1-AAAA home playoff opener against Plymouth-Whitemarsh in the second half.

That fast-paced transition game has been a key piece to the Rams’ success over the past several seasons and has coincided with their string of successful campaigns. Spring-Ford has also been known to cycle players through a rotation, especially against teams with a deep roster.

All of those factors came into play late in the game against the Colonials as Spring-Ford pulled away and posted a 42-34 victory at Ram Gymnasium on Saturday afternoon.

Sydney Wagner scored 17 points and Maddie Haney tallied 11 as the 14th-seeded Rams (15-8) advanced to the second round of the tournament which will take place Wednesday evening. There the Rams will take on Garnet Valley, a 60-45 first-round winner over Oxford.

Sophomore guard Taylor O’Brien scored a game-high 20 points with two 3-pointers for the 19th-seeded Colonials, who finished their season at 16-7 overall.

“I think we knew going into the game we had to shut number 3 (O’Brien) down,” said Wagner, a 5-5 junior guard. “She controls the ball so we had to limit her easy baskets and face-guard her. We had a couple bad fouls, but overall we did a good job guarding her, and that allowed us to advance and to get off a lot of good shots.”

Spring-Ford’s combination defenses pressured O’Brien into 6-for-19 shooting from the floor and 2-for-4 from 3-point range. She shot 6-for-12 at the free throw line and grabbed seven rebounds with two assists and two steals.

Plymouth-Whitemarsh’s next-highest scorer was Laurel Suchsland, who finished with eight points and two 3-pointers as well as eight boards.

Spring-Ford came out of the gate with a 7-3 lead after one quarter. The game was tied at 12 with 1:32 left in the first half following a rebound and driving layup by O’Brien. The Rams’ Chloe Schretzman, a 6-0 sophomore forward, pulled down a rebound and made the second of two foul shots to give the Rams a 13-12 edge heading into the locker rooms at the half.

To start the second half, Haney converted a basket inside, and Wagner made a jump shot in the lane for a 17-12 lead. By the end of the third period, the Rams held a 24-22 lead. Spring-Ford went on to outscore P-W 18-12 during the final frame.

“We definitely have better team chemistry,” said Wagner of her team’s play of late. “We play better as a team. On offense, we look for the open man and work to create good shots. We are playing really well.”

Headed into the second round, Spring-Ford Mickey McDaniels doesn’t want his players getting ahead of themselves.

“Our first goal was to survive and advance,” he said. “Our goal is to take it one game at a time, survive and advance. We did what we had to do, especially in the second half, to win the game. I think we changed the tempo, the girls did a really good job of controlling it during the second half.”

McDaniel credited Plymouth-Whitemarsh coach Dan Dougherty and his staff for some good strategy in terms of tempo, especially in the early portion of the game.