GIRLS BASKETBALL: CB East holds off CR South, Upper Dublin rolls past Cheltenham in SOL semifinals

BUCKINGHAM – Central Bucks East would prefer not to have Haley Moran in the position she ended Saturday’s Suburban One League tournament semifinal in again.

Moran, to her credit, readily agreed with that assessment. The Patriots’ standout sophomore point guard had to watch the last three minutes from the bench after fouling out, the top seed narrowly holding off No. 4 Council Rock South’s comeback effort.

A strong fourth quarter by Natalie Berndt helped CB East edge CR South 40-37, sending the Patriots to their first league championship game.

“I’ve learned a lot from the last couple games especially because we’ve been playing some really good teams,” Moran said. “There’s definitely been closer games than we were used to, so there’s been a lot of learning experiences.”

Prior to fouling out, Moran had been working on a pretty strong game against a CR South team coming in on an 18-game win streak. The Golden Hawks, the outright SOL Patriot champion, had a miserable first half shooting the ball from the perimeter and a six-point second quarter by Moran had helped the SOL Colonial champion Patriots to a 19-10 halftime edge.

East (20-4) got an overall balanced effort, junior Jess Lockwood leading the way with 12 points including a pair of second half three-pointers. Berndt, who only took one shot, finished with 10 points and was lights-out at the foul line in some pressure moments while Moran added eight rebounds and four assists to her eight points and Sydney Ralph tallied seven points and seven rebounds.

“To be able to pull that out without her on the floor, she fouled out with about three minutes left, it’s a long time to play without her in a close game,” East coach Liz Potash said. “She’s our main ball handler.”

Moran had an incredible finish on a drive and two late free throws by Ralph gave East a 28-21 lead going into the fourth quarter. The Golden Hawks found their offense in the final eight minutes, senior Fiona Reckner leading a furious comeback despite South point guard Kathryn O’Kane fouling out with about four minutes left.

Reckner had a game-high 15 points while senior Lil Metrick added 10. A three by Sarah Freeman with 3.7 seconds left cut the lead to 38-37 with the Hawks then fouling on the inbound with 2.2 on the clock.

After Ralph missed the first free throw, CR South (20-4) called a timeout but the Hawks had none left, resulting in a technical foul, another set of free throws for East and possession of the ball. Ralph sank her second, Berndt went 1-for-2 and the Patriots were able to inbound the ball to secure the win.

East will play for its first SOL title on Monday against Upper Dublin, the championship game set for 6 p.m. at Bensalem.

“We’re definitely looking forward to playing for a championship,” Moran said. “Upper Dublin, they’ll be a good matchup, we know them and they know us. It’ll be a good way to go into districts.”

Upper Dublin 75, Cheltenham 45

The final score looks one-sided, but this wasn’t a game Upper Dublin coach Morgan Funsten was overlooking.

Earlier this season, the Panthers gave Upper Dublin all it could handle in a nondivision contest. With a strong core of senior Jiah Price and juniors Maya Simmons, Paige Powell and Zoe Thompson, the SOL Freedom champion Panthers certainly had a lineup capable of causing trouble. Funsten also credited first-year Cheltenham coach Monique Boykins for the job she’s done getting that talent organized, the Panthers (20-3) also likely to receive a first round District 1 6A playoff bye.

“We had not seen them on film leading into that game but we knew they had their big three girls back from last year in Powell, Price and Simmons,” Funsten said. “We didn’t know about Zoe Thompson but she really helps complete their team. They’re really dangerous and the score today – it looked like a blowout but I thought they competed hard the whole time. I thought our girls’ mental toughness in the second half really showed through.”

Tamia Clark had another stellar effort for Upper Dublin (20-4), the sophomore scoring 27 points with 12 of those coming in the first quarter.

“She’s so electric in everything she does,” Funsten said. “She has such a good nose for the ball and she can finish around the basket as good as anybody. Her energy level was great tonight and I thought we took a lead off her energy.”

Powell led Cheltenham with 12 points, Price and Thompson each adding 11 and Simmons scoring nine.

Megan Ngo had another maximum-effort game for Upper Dublin, the point guard tallying 16 points.

Upper Dublin returns to the SOL final for a second straight year, the shorthanded Cardinals falling to Neshaminy in last year’s championship game. They’ll play ahead of the Upper Dublin boys, the two teams both in the midst of special seasons.

“Derek (Brooks) is doing such an awesome job with the boys, it’s inspiring to watch that team come together,” Funsten said. “They’re so senior-heavy and they’re what you want to become as a team. Their practices are so good and it’s something we’re striving to be as a team.”