Unbeaten PW holds off West Chester East to win Colonial Tournament Title

PLYMOUTH MEETING >> Plymouth-Whitemarsh got the test it wanted, just in time for the new year.
West Chester East was difficult to shake, but the Colonials — playing nine deep — wore down the visiting Vikings, got a tide-turning three pointer from Sydney Kesselman, and benefitted greatly from the inside play of their two freshman bigs, Lainey Allen and Jordyn Thomas.
“Sometimes, with the stat sheet, we like to think of them as one person,” said coach Dan Dougherty. “They do play on the floor at the same time occasionally, but we always combine their stats and say ‘look at what we got out of our five position.’ They enjoy playing together and do a really nice job for us.”
Add to that the all-around play of Tournament MVP Anna McTamney, and Plymouth-Whitemarsh found itself huddled around the championship trophy after earning a 58-46 victory over the Vikings in the Seventh Annual Colonials Holiday Tournament Final on Saturday.
“We’ve been playing really good lately and this team showed us just how good we are,” said McTamney, who was key in helping the Colonials overcome a first-half deficit as well as the dangerous, all-tournament selection, Marissa McDonald. “It was a great win.
“I feel good for the whole team. We all played very well, worked very well together. This tournament was very good competition. And it shows how we just need to keep pushing ourselves to do better.”
McTamney’s drives to the hoop kept PW on pace, her 13 points helping the Colonials raise their unbeaten record to 8-0.
After trailing 20-14 after one quarter, PW limited the Vikings (3-3) to 11 second-quarter points and pulled ahead before halftime.
“We got in those passing lanes, got the steals,” McTamney said.
Kesselman, an All-Tournament selection, scored 12 of her team-high 14 points in the second quarter, including a pivotal three. PW went into the break up by four and widened the gap in the third.
Thomas came free, laying it up and in to push the lead to nine.
“Nobody plays more than 24 minutes but everybody plays at least 12 minutes,” Dougherty said of his balanced roster. “And we always hope that that kind of energy wears teams down.”
Five different players connected from three-point range for the Colonials, who could also pound it inside. A bucket by Allen (9 pts) made it 48-42 PW early in the fourth.
The Vikings didn’t go away, pulling to within five on a three by Olivia McDonald and later trimming the deficit to four on a pair of free throws by Lauren Klieber.
“I challenged my team to play with toughness tonight,” Vikings coach Erin Listrani said, “and they responded. To play against a team as strong as PW and to play as hard as we did, I can’t be anything but proud of my team.”
Free throws by Thomas and McTamney padded the lead for the Colonials. A Kesselman-to-Gabby Cooper fast break locked it up, extending the margin to nine in the final minutes.
“They’re a very familiar foe,” Dougherty said of the Vikings. “We play them every year in this tournament and we play them twice, sometimes three times in the summer league, and it’s always very competitive.
“There’s not much of an answer for the (Marissa) McDonald kid. She had a really special night tonight. I told the girls at halftime that as long as she’s making contested shots, there’s not much we can say.”
PW won its first seven games by an average of 25 points, and then in this one showed it could dig down deep to get the victory.
“This was definitely a good test for us,” Dougherty said. “So to have a close game and to have to execute in the half court is a big deal. We know what’s on the horizon — two of our next three games are against Abington and (Defending State Champ) Upper Dublin. So we know the level of competition is about to skyrocket.”