Strong 3rd quarter sends Plymouth Whitemarsh past Upper Moreland

WHITEMARSH >> Plymouth Whitemarsh only hit one three-pointer against Upper Moreland Thursday night, but it was a big one. Erin Daley’s triple from the left wing cut a six-point deficit in half in the final moments of the second quarter.

The Colonials kept the momentum going after halftime, scoring 12 of the first 15 points in the third quarter to take a six-point lead of their own. The advantage was trimmed to two points in the middle of the fourth, but they never lost the lead.

Plymouth Whitemarsh held off Upper Moreland for a 43-36 Suburban One League crossover win at Plymouth Whitemarsh High School.

“Right before that shot (PW coach Dan Dougherty) said, ‘I want a layup or a drive or whatever,'” Daley said of her three-pointer, “but (my defender) was back off me, so I said OK I’ll take the three. I was confident with the three. I don’t think anyone expected that was what was going to happen. It was a really big motive for us to run back into the locker room, hear what (Dougherty) had to say and get right back out there and keep the game moving in our direction.”

Abby Sharpe scored six of her game-high 15 points in the third quarter to help Plymouth Whitemarsh (14-2, 10-1 SOL Liberty) take control of the game. AJ Avery added four in the third while Azzy Crumpton had three to turn a 19-16 halftime deficit into a 30-25 lead going into the fourth.

“I think they were getting a little too comfortable with how close the game was the whole time,” Daley, who finished with 13 points and 12 rebounds, said. “We weren’t OK with how close the game was, so we came out and we knew we had to win the third quarter in order to secure that game.”

“I didn’t like the third quarter,” Upper Moreland coach Matt Carroll, who was happy with his team’s overall performance, said. “I feel like when they came out and hit a couple in a row, we got kind of skittish and then turned the ball over against the press, which we didn’t really do in the first half. I thought we were a little timid against the press, which made them jump on us early in the third quarter.”

The Colonials led by as many as seven points in the fourth – 32-25 and 36-29 – but Upper Moreland kept coming.

The Golden Panthers (13-2, 9-2 SOL Freedom) got within two after an EmmyFaith Wood three-pointer and Lilly Hansen layup made it a 36-34 game with 4:10 remaining.

Sharpe responded with what proved to be the game-winning basket. The University of Pennsylvania commit drove to the basket from the right side and scored through contact. She converted the free throw for a 39-34 lead and Upper Moreland’s leading scorer, Holly Gohl, picked up her fifth foul.

“Having one of their best players coming out,” Sharpe said, “I think that was like – all right, we have to really take advantage of this situation and keep pushing, not let up. I think finally getting that call was a big momentum push. The crowd got involved, brought some energy back to us from starting out strong in the third. That was able to keep our energy up to then push to the end.”

“In the second half they had Abby Sharpe and we didn’t,” Carroll said. “She absolutely said, ‘Give me the ball, I’m taking over.’ And she did. She made some big plays, got some of our girls in foul trouble and was really good.”

Gohl, who finished with a team-high 12 points, accounted for all 15 of the Golden Bears points in the second half until she picked up her final foul. She hit two three-pointers  for all six Upper Moreland points in the third quarter before hitting two twos and assisting on Wood’s three and Hansen’s layup in the fourth.

“Holly’s awesome,” Carroll said. “We could have avoided it by taking her out, but we can’t save her foul trouble. She has to be in the game and she has to play. It’s unfortunate, she was great in help defense all night. She got some fouls that we didn’t agree with, but what can you do.”

Hansen got the difference to three, 39-36, with 2:42 remaining, but Plymouth Whitemarsh closed it out from there. McKenna Winland hit a pair of free throws to make it a two-possession game with 1:58 on the clock and Avery and Angelina Balcer each split free throws down the stretch for the 43-36 final.

The Colonials were aggressive going to the basket in the win. As a team, they went 22-for-28 from the free-throw line. Sharpe went 7-for-7 while Avery was 7-for-8.

“I’ve really got to credit AJ Avery,” Dougherty said. “I thought AJ Avery, both sides of the floor, really strong, 7-of-8 from the foul line tonight, getting strong rebounds. That was her to start the third quarter in the adjustment that we made, came up, read it and got that steal and then got fouled. She’s a kid that’s really starting to take leaps now that she’s come back from the injury.”

The SOL Liberty Division-leading Colonials and Freedom Division-leading Golden Bears were tied, 8-8, after the first quarter. Upper Moreland used a 9-1 run to build a 14-9 lead early in the second quarter and led by six before Daley’s three-pointer made it a 19-16 game at halftime.

Plymouth Whitemarsh 43, Upper Moreland 36
Upper Moreland 8 11 6 11 – 36
Plymouth Whitemarsh 8 8 14 13 – 43
Upper Moreland: Mikel Lancit 1 0-0 2, Alyssa Wiley 0 0-0 0, EmmyFaith Wood 2 1-4 6, Lilly Hansen 4 1-1 10, Holly Gohl 5 0-2 12, Marie Meyers 0 0-0 0, Allie LaRocco 2 0-0 6. Total 14 2-7 36.
Plymouth Whitemarsh: Azzy Crumpton 1 2-4 4, Angelina Balcer 0 2-4 2, AJ Avery 0 7-8 7, McKenna Winland 0 2-2 2, Haley O’Hara 0 0-0 0, Erin Daley 5 2-3 13, Abby Sharpe 4 7-7 15, Quinn Daley 0 0-0 0. Total 10 22-28 43.
3-point goals: UM: Allie LaRocco 2, Lilly Hansen, Holly Gohl 2, EmmyFaith Wood. PW: Erin Daley.