Girls B-ball: Lady Cardinals Defeat Abington Heights, 47-36 in PIAA Opener

SCRANTON – Upper Dublin’s defense produced varying results at different points in Friday’s Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association girls’ basketball first-round game.

The Cardinals forced turnovers early, then closed up the middle and finally shut down all of the Abington Heights scoring options on the way to a 47-36 victory at Marywood University.

“We kept changing,” Upper Dublin coach Vince Catanzaro said. “We knew we’d have to do that.”

The Cardinals bothered the Comets guards early, forcing eight turnovers in the first 5:24 while taking an 11-6 lead.

 Upper Dublin still led by that margin, 17-12, after one quarter, but Abington Heights center Maggie Fruehan had 10 of the points and was threatening to take over the game.

“We didn’t know how good (Fruehan) was,” Catanzaro said of the 5-foot-11 senior, who was a third-team, all-state selection last season in Class AAA before Abington Heights moved up in classification. “We really put it to her in the end because of our box-and-one.”

Fruehan did not miss a shot in the first quarter. She hardly got any in the final three when she took just two shots from the floor and two from the line while scoring only one more point.

“We began playing our match-up zone and got a lot of turnovers,” Upper Dublin guard Sarah Hallowell said, “but they were getting a few too many easy baskets, too.

 “We definitely eliminated their big girl inside.”

The Comets found scoring from different positions at times while rallying from as many as nine down to get within three points late in the third quarter and four points in the fourth quarter.

Defense again carried the Upper Dublin, which held Abington Heights scoreless for a 6:51 stretch of the second half and allowed just four points in the fourth quarter.

“That was our sagging defense,” Catanzaro said. “We’re not super big or super fast, but we’re in the places where we need to be.

“We talk about it all the time. You have to adjust in a game and we adjusted three times.”

Those adjustments combined with timely offensive production from Taylor Bryant to lead the Cardinals (23-5) into Tuesday’s second round against District 3 runner-up Wilson, which improved to 21-8 with a 56-14 romp over Girls High of Philadelphia.

Bryant scored six of her game-high 14 points in eight seconds for a 20-12 lead. She hit one 3-pointer from the left corner with two seconds left in the first quarter and another from the top of the key six seconds into the second quarter.

Bryant was just inside the 3-point arc on the left wing at the third-quarter buzzer when, just like the end of the first, Curtrena Goff penetrated to draw the defense and kicked it out for the shot. Bryant connected, halting a six-point streak by Abington Heights and giving Upper Dublin a 37-32 lead.

“I know how she likes to distribute the ball,” Bryant said. “When someone comes 

“We just know where to be after playing with each other this long.”

 Abington Heights coach Vince Bucciarelli said, “those shots at the buzzer killed us.”

The Comets tried coming back one more time, scoring back-to-back baskets for their only points of the fourth quarter to get within 40-36 with 2:01 to play.

After foul trouble helped limit her to two points in three quarters, Goff had seven in the fourth. She started a game-ending, 7-0 run with a strong drive to the basket.

“Nobody handles her one-on-one,” Catanzaro said.

The Cardinals went 5-for-6 from the line in the final minute. Lauren Rothfeld and Goff made two each before Jen Myers hit one of two.

Myers also had a team-high five assists. Myers and Rothfeld had four steals each while Goff had three.