New Hope-Solebury wins first girls' basketball district title since 1979

The upstart toppled the dynasty Saturday afternoon at Council Rock South.

The New Hope-Solebury girls' basketball team had not won a district title since 1979. "Thirty-seven long years," said New Hope-Solebury coach Andy Krasna. St. Basil Academy was going for its fourth straight District 1 Class 2A title.

But the Lions emerged with a 32-31 win and the championship.

The Panthers were 1 minute, 30 seconds away from the four-peat, leading by 31-27. New Hope-Solebury had scored just seven points in the second half. But then Lions guard Sarah Wilson took over.

First, with just over a minute to play, Wilson crossed up her defender, stepped back, and buried a three-pointer to cut the Lions' deficit to one. Then she intercepted a pass near midcourt, drove toward the basket, and got slammed to the ground. The junior calmly swished both free throws - the second after St. Basil tried to ice her by calling a timeout - to put the Lions up, 32-31, with 52 seconds left.

With 1.5 seconds left, St. Basil clanged a three-pointer off the rim, and New Hope's players stormed the court. The Lions advanced to the PIAA Class 2A girls' basketball tournament. New Hope will be the top seed from District 1 and play the fourth seed from District 12 on Friday.

Krasna often compares Wilson to Golden State Warriors superstar Stephen Curry. The coach and player agreed that Wilson's district-title-clinching 5-0 run was her best Curry impression yet.

"I just was trying to be like Steph Curry," Wilson said of her step-back three. "I had been practicing it."

"We have a play for her called Steph-Sarah," Krasna said. "She's so creative."

Wilson scored seven points in the game. Kelley Hyland led New Hope with nine.

St. Basil beat New Hope by 14 in the 2015 district title game. Anticipating a rematch, Krasna's son and assistant coach, Jesse, started scouting the Panthers in December. Krasna watched St. Basil four times and developed a strategy.

"They ran most of their offense in the half-court," Jesse Krasna said. "We thought if we could make them play an up-and-down game, we'd be successful."

New Hope pressured St. Basil into five first-quarter turnovers and 33 percent shooting from the field, building an 11-7 lead. The teams exchanged leads four times late in the second quarter, ending with Wilson's breakaway layup that put the Lions up at halftime.

St. Basil built a five-point lead in the fourth before Wilson started her run.

New Hope-Solebury 11 9 4 8 - 32

St. Basil Academy 7 12 9 3 - 31

NHS: Toni Suler 6, Maggie Dougherty 5, Karli Burns 2, Kelley Hyland 9, Sarah Wilson 7, Bella DeVito 3.

SBA: Julianna Gura 7, Karen Lapkiewicz 4, Danielle McCurdy 4, Natalie Kucowski 13, Maddie Riehman 3.