Updated: Lady Ghosts seeded 17th for playoffs; boys miss

Abington basketball coaches Dan Marsh and Charles Grasty walked out of Sunday's District 1 seeding meeting with different agendas.

Marsh must prepare his 17th-ranked girls squad — the defending District 1 champions — for a road game at No. 16 North Penn, Saturday at 3:30 p.m. Grasty has to say goodbye to his players after a season that ended without a playoff berth.

"We've had two real good practices, and the focus is back," Marsh said. "It doesn't matter what we were in the regular season, since everybody starts over at 0-0. We have more playoff experience than North Penn. Hopefully, that will be a factor."

Marsh had been disappointed in a late-season loss to William Tennent that ultimately cost the Ghosts a higher position in the PIAA Tournament. As a sixth seed last year, Abington bounced the No. 1, 2 and 3 teams to earn the school's first district championship since 1975.

They followed that by getting within three wins of a state title, but were bounced after a quarterfinal, double-overtime loss to Red Lion.

The Ghosts went 25-5 last season, their fourth straight with at least 20 wins, but fell to 14-8, including two losses to Council Rock North and once to CR South. Should Abington beat North Penn, they will face the winner of top-ranked CR North and No. 32 Central Bucks West.

"It's going to be a different road from last year," said senior Carli Fitzgerald, one of three senior starters with Jessica Schmidt, Chynna West and Jamie Shectman. "Last year, we knew we were a top eight seed, so we knew we'd have home games. But home or away, we have to play better."

Nine teams advance to the states from the 32-team tournament; two wins guarantees an entry. Second-round losers then have a series of play-in games to determine the ninth team to advance.

"It was already uphill climb this season, but now it's an uphill climb on a greased pole," Marsh said. "I've seen [North Penn] play. They have a couple of big post players. They're good and well-coached. It will be a good game."

On the boy’s side, Grasty's team went 9-13 and narrowly missed the 32-team cut. Under a points system that factors in record, win points, schedule points, bonus points and a team's power rating, the boys team ranked 34th with 6.59 points, while Pekiomen Valley earned 32nd with 6.84. Thirty-third ranked Boyertown had 6.74.

It was a fitting close call for a team that let too many games slip away late, including two losses apiece to Bensalem and each of the Rocks. Those defeats put Abington in a position where they needed help after Friday's shootout win over Harry S. Truman.

"We gave away some games we shouldn't have earlier in the season," guard Wes Rines said. "It was a hell of a run."

Grasty learned a lot in his first year as head coach, as the Ghosts transition to a more up-tempo style this season. While Abington will lose Darian McFadden, Rines, Julian Keys, Vincent Tranquillo and Jordan Monroe, they will have more experienced players returning in Jordan Simmons, Jiere Morrissey, Chris Ruhl and Michael Travor.

"It was a fun experience for me," Grasty said. "The kids made my first year easy by working hard. It could've been the other way, too, where they didn't buy into the system, but we got better as a team. That should continue."