Suler, New Hope-Solebury shut down Faith Christian in BAL final

PHILADELPHIA >> There was no repeat for the Faith Christian girls
basketball team Saturday afternoon.

The defending Bicentennial Athletic League Tournament champ struggled
to score inside against New Hope-Solebury’s Toni Suler while NHS
pulled away in the second quarter to a claim a 32-19 victory in the
BAL final at Holy Family University.

“First and foremost, it’s tough because New Hope played great, Faith
Christian coach David Forker said. “And when they get a lead they’re
really tough with their guards and they spread it out.”

Faith had a tough time just getting shots to go down, while its offensive struggles we’re magnified by Suler blocking a handful of shots when FCA (20-5) got the ball down low.

“She did last game, too. She dominated in the middle,” said Forker of Suler. ” And again, we had her with three fouls in the third quarter, that game was already slipping away.
“And to be honest, what we were trying to is just go in there, draw her to us and then find the open girl, but we weren’t moving well.”

Kelly Hyland had a game-high 10 points while Suler added eight points
for New Hope-Solebury (23-2).

“It’s awesome, especially cause it’s my senior year, so it means a lot,” said Suler of the BAL title.

New Hope-Solebury lost to Faith 38-30 seven days earlier. But Saturday, NHS outscores Faith 12-4 in the second quarter to lead 20-10 at halftime and never lost the double-digit advantage in the final 16 minutes.

“Honestly, I think we practiced a lot on their defense and what we wanted to do offensively and everything,” Suler said. “I think we just rested a lot and then by the time we played them again, we were ready for them.”

Kirah Brown paced Faith Christiam with nine points, hitting 3 3-pointers in the first half.

Both teams now get ready for their respective District 1 playoffs.

Faith Christian is the third seed in the Class A tournament and opens against No. 6 Christopher Dock in the quarterfinals Saturday.

“Dock always plays us well,” Forker said. “So our challenge in the locker room postgame was this game doesn’t end our season, alright, we’re going to play the next two games if we lose our season’s over and so what can we take away from this, to learn from it to be a
better team, to help make us better in districts.

“Cause we’re going to go with everything that we got and we’ll be
fully fueled and fully charged when we get to that point.”

New Hope-Solebury, meanwhile, opens the AA tournament Feb. 23 with a semifinal matchup against Calvary Christian at Upper Dublin.

New Hope scored the first five points Saturday, but Faith pulled to with 7-6 on Brown’s 3 from the corner.

NHS proceeded to collect the next eight points to lead 15-6 after Hyland scored on a drive. An Ashley Forker free throw stopped the run, but Sarah Wilson’s 3 put New Hope up 11.

Brown’s third trey had FCA within 17-10 before a Suler jumper made it
a 10-point margin at the break.
Hyland beat the buzzer at the end of the third to put New Hope up 28-15.

“I thought we kept in in single digits for most of the first half, but we still weren’t playing well at that point,” David Forker said. “And once you start looking up at the scoreboard and you start chasing them around the court all over the place, it gets a little demoralizing.”

Two Suler free throws 41 seconds into the fourth made it 30-15. NHS
began to burn the clock from there.