Council Rock South beats Neshaminy with second-quarter shutout

Thanks to a scoreless second quarter by Neshaminy, Council Rock South sported what seemed like a very comfortable 16-point lead early in the third quarter of the teams' Suburban One League National Conference girls' basketball matchup Tuesday at South.

But Golden Hawks coach Monica Stolic warned her team that Neshaminy was too good to suffer through another poor half like the first one. She was right.

Trailing by 12 early in the fourth quarter, Neshaminy rallied to cut the deficit to 34-27 with 3 minutes, 45 seconds to go, but did not get another field goal. South received some hot free-throw shooting from sophomore Alexis Hofstaeder when Neshaminy was forced to foul, and the Redskins hung on to win, 40-31.

Hofstaeder went 6 for 6 at the line.

"That was a tough game," Hofstaeder said, "but I had a lot of confidence when I stepped to the foul line. It was important that we kept our composure. We're a young team, and Coach told us at halftime that Neshaminy would come out strong."

As Stolic watched her team's big lead being cut, all she could think of was a game two seasons ago against Neshaminy, and she didn't want a repeat of that.

"We blew a big lead and ended up losing the game on a shot with 1.2 seconds left on the clock after Neshaminy had to inbound the ball at the other end of the court. You never forget those kind," Stolic said.

"Today, I was constantly watching the clock and the score."

Although Stolic described her team's offense as hit-and-miss, she praised the defense. Neshaminy became only the second team to score more than 30 points against the 5-1 Hawks. They lost their opener to Downingtown West, 35-27.

"Neshaminy's a good team, and we knew we had to contain their transition [game]," Stolic said. "The kids are buying into our defense, knowing that it can lead to offense."

The second quarter was the killer for the Redskins. They missed 10 shots from the floor, and went scoreless for a 10-minute stretch that spanned three quarters.

Hofstaeder finished with 10 points, but game scoring honors went to junior teammate Alex Wheatley. Although she struggled at the foul line, Wheatley finished with 18 points.

Freshman point guard Megan Schafer led Neshaminy with nine.

"We were disappointed," Neshaminy coach Joanne McVey said. "We battled back but we did not play well offensively, and that affected other aspects of our game. It was a tough loss."

South is scheduled to play Souderton in a nonleague game at home Wednesday. Neshaminy will be at Notre Dame (N.J.) in a nonleague game Thursday.

Neshaminy   601213-31

Council Rock South   10101010-40

N: Shannon Barlow 3, Jackie Gerth 2, Jade Kent 3, Alicia Kucey 1, Amanda Lally 4, Amy Paulits 4, Megan Schafer 9, Jen Slivka 5.

CRS: Brooke Beidler 4, Courtney Brown 5, Taylor Dillon 2, Alexis Hofstaeder 10, Caitlin Jackson 1, Alex Wheatley 18.