It had been a while since the Spring-Ford girls had played a basketball game. Seven days, to be exact. Despite the Rams having to shake off some first period rust, however, head coach Jeff Rinehimer welcomed the practice time.
“We had a stretch of about a week and a half that, because of the weather, we didn’t even have a day of practice,” said the Rams head coach. “I was glad to have a couple of days to have good practices. We had started seeing some bad habits forming since we had so many games in a row there. We got a chance to work some of that stuff out and get back to working on our shooting technique, which was a big help today.”
The work in practice paid huge dividends Saturday, as the Lady Rams outscored Pope John Paul II 30-10 in the second half to run away with a 61-22 win, advancing to the PAC-10 final for the first time since 2008, when they took home the championship.
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“This is what I have dreamed of since I was a freshman,” said senior Meagan Yates. “I got to put those scissors [to cut down the net] in my hand in 2008. If we win on Tuesday, it will be the highlight of my high school career.”
As one of the teams’ leaders, it was Yates that got Spring Ford going in the first half, scoring seven points and snagging four rebounds, as the Rams got off to a sluggish start offensively. They pulled it together with the leadership of Yates and Mariah Traywick.
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Spring-Ford uncharacteristically missed some very makeable shots in the early going, but it did not stop them from building a 12-5 first quarter lead. They pressured the Golden Panthers' shooters whenever they touched the ball or tried to set up beyond the arc.
For Pope John Paul II, Devin Rauh and Haley Mesaros combined for all 12 first-half Golden Panthers points with five and seven respectively, as they shot 5-for-20 as a team.
“We knew we needed to get our hands up,” said Mariah Traywick. “They are such a good shooting team that if you give them clear shots they will burry them. Our plan was to force them to shoot before they wanted to and have our hands in their face.”
Traywick was a monster on the glass as she grabbed 13 rebounds to go with her nine points, which was second on the team behind the game high total put up by Sarah Payonk with 13 points. Payonk shot 7-of-7 from the line while adding five rebounds and three blocked shots.
“We have to be aggressive and dictate the game.” Said Payonk. “We are very happy to be in this position, but we have a lot of work to get ready for whoever we play in the final. Today our defense really got our offense going and once we settled in, the shots started falling for us.”
Spring-Ford will play Boyertown in the final. The Bears defeated Phoenixville 59-31 in the other semifinal game. The teams split a pair of regular season meetings.
Returning to the court after the intermission with a 31-19 lead, the Rams left no doubt as they held PJP2 scoreless for most of the third quarter. Sarah Klokis got the Golden Panthers first and only point of the frame on the front end of a one and one with a minute to play. Spring-Ford had just completed a 24-0 run, propelling them to a 53-13 lead heading into the final quarter.
“It is awesome to get a chance to play for a championship,” added Meagan Yates. “The young girls have worked so hard and we have grown together as a team so much that it would be a shame to make it this far and fall short of our goal.”
The Rams shot better than 50 percent from the field in the second half and converted on 13 of 20 free throw attempts for the game. Spring Ford improved to 19-4 overall.
“We are very excited to be here,” said Traywick. “But it is a new season now. Nothing that happened up until now counts. Every game can be your last game so you can’t afford to underestimate anybody. We have to come out and play hard for 32 minutes on Wednesday.”
“I thought they (PJP2) did a good job on us,” added Rinehimer. “They came out in a zone, which was nice change of pace from what we expected. It took us a little while to adjust. Overall it was a good strategy on their part.”
“We will get to work on preparing for Wednesday night,” added Rinehimer. “We will have a little bit of a height advantage, which we will hope to exploit, but it will take a complete game to win the championship.”
Pope John Paul II 5 7 1 9 - 22
Spring Ford 12 19 22 8 - 61
Pope John Paul II (22)
Rauh 2 0-0 5, Holleran 1 0-0 3, O’Brien 1 0-0 2, Cherneskey 1 0-0 2, Casey 0 1-2 1,
Mesaros 3 2-2 9. Totals 8 3-9 22.
Spring Ford (61)
Moore 1 0-0 2, Stipa 4 1-2 9, Yates 2 1-2 7, Traywick 3 3-5 9, Payonk 3 7-7 13,
Hinnant 2 0-0 4, Lynch 3 1-2 7, Haas 1 0-0 2, Mueller 2 0-0 4, Puckett 2 0-0 4,
Davis 0 0-0 0, Nicholson 0 0-0 0, Landis 0 0-0 0. Totals 23 13-20 61
Three point field goals- Yates (SF) 2, Rauh (PJP), Holleran (PJP), Mesaros (PJP)
