Lady Aces Are Heading To District Semifinals

It’s been the kind of season and the kind of team that’s been tantalizingly sensational most of the time, and agonizingly frustrating during others. But there is one thing for certain during the last two weeks: The girls’ basketball team has been nothing short of exciting to watch.

The Aces have driven their coach, Lauren Pellicane, up a wall at times, and on occasion, themselves, but somehow, someway, the Aces find a magical solution.

They did again on Saturday, in the PIAA District 1 Class AAAA quarterfinals.

The Aces didn’t start out too well playing No. 4 seed Cheltenham—at Cheltenham, a court that the Panthers control and where they haven’t lost since 2008.

The Aces were pushed and survived some tense times, before coming out ahead, needing overtime to beat Cheltenham, 50-47, behind a team-high 18 points from Lila Jones, and a very nice boost from 6-foot-2 sophomore Carmen Torres, who chipped in with 17.

The Aces, the No. 5 seed, improved to 22-3 overall and will now advance to the district semifinals for the second time in three years, playing No. 1 seed Council Rock North at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Norristown High School.

Getting there again wasn’t that easy. Cheltenham carried a 17-game winning streak into the game. The Panthers, now 21-4 overall, were stomping every team they faced in the playoffs. They had not given up 50 points or more in a game since December 29. They also featured St. Joseph’s-bound Ciara Andrews, who scored a game-high 26 points.

Cheltenham bolted out to a 13-3 lead when nothing seemed to be going right for the Aces. They seemed unsteady, even dubious about themselves.

“I was even like ‘wow,’ do we even deserve to be here, or did we get here by luck.  After that first quarter, I started questioning that,” Jones said. “Our coaches kept telling us that it’s not over and it’s just the beginning. We even got together as a team and kept telling each other to keep fighting and fighting, and it paid off. It was mental in the beginning. I think it was. I know for me it was, and I’m sure it was for a lot of the girls on the team, too.”

Gradually, Lower Merion chipped away and chipped away, and even after trailing by eight in the fourth quarter, a man-to-man, fullcourt press began taking a toll on Cheltenham. The Panthers didn’t know how to respond to the pressure.

“They just thought they had it and we never stopped playing hard,” said Aces’ guard Sheba Hall, who finished with six points. “They were off balance a little in everything they were doing in the fourth quarter. They didn’t know how to react to our speed and the press. In the beginning, sometimes we do start out slow, but we had time to come back. In the fourth quarter, I felt we were going to win.”

Playing a high-low game with Torres, Lower Merion scored on two layups inside of a minute to tie the score at 44-44 in regulation. In overtime, Jones hit a three, and Rosie Stahler played a major role, making two steals and scoring the final three points for the difference.

“It takes a lot to beat us—this is the last time we’ll all be playing together, and playing high school basketball; when we huddle, we say that to ourselves that we just have to prove that on the court,” Jones said. “I’m glad we made it this far, but we aren’t done yet.”