Team effott sends PW past Wissahickon

LOWER GWYNEDD >> You have to give points to Wissahickon High head coach Rodney Cline and his Trojans for trying.

Facing Plymouth Whitemarsh and its standout Taylor O’Brien Friday, Wissahickon employed a box-and-one defense and tried to do whatever was necessary to keep the Colonials in check.

The effort was there, but the upset was not.

O’Brien bucketed a game-high 17 points and Colonials teammates Ali Diamond and Laurel Suchsland added 14 points apiece as the visitors pulled away to a 54-21 victory.

PW, in a dogfight for second place in the Suburban One League’s American Conference with Cheltenham behind divisional leader Upper Dublin, has gotten used to seeing gadget defenses to slow down O’Brien.

But the gifted sophomore simply looks at the attention as an opportunity to get the ball to her teammates.

“It’s a compliment that they feel the need to stop me,” she said, “but that just means I can spread the ball around to my teammates.”

“This is just another game that we saw (the opposition) use a box-and-one on Taylor,” said Colonials head coach Dan Dougherty. “But we got other girls that contributed.

“Ali had a strong game and Laurel hit some key threes for us.”

The Trojans opened in the box-and-one, and actually stayed in the game, trailing by only 11 points (23-12) at halftime.

But the gap became 16 (33-17) by the end of the third, and with O’Brien and Diamond going a combined 10-for-12 from the charity stripe in the fourth quarter, the lead ballooned accordingly.

“We knew exactly what they were running,” Cline said, “so we went with the box-and-one on Taylor to try and make whatever she got difficult.”

Julianne Griffin led Wissahickon with eight points, but all of them came in the first half, as the Colonials made some adjustments of their own.

“(Griffin) really hurt us in the first half,” Dougherty said. “But with those adjustments we were able to shut her down.”

Things got testy between the coaches when Dougherty put his starters back in the game with just 22 seconds left on the clock, a move that Cline would call “classless and disrespectful” after the game.

But by game’s end it was the Colonials in charge, and looking forward to their upcoming games with both Upper Dublin and Cheltenham.

“We always have a chance to beat them,” O’Brien said. “We just have to be mentally ready for the challenge.”

OVERTIME
Sarah Putsch snared 10 rebounds for PW, while Daria Earland had three rebounds and three steals for Wissahickon.