Faith Christian girls’ basketball team goes a-caroling

The Faith Christian basketball team has had a lot to celebrate lately, including a belated Christmas.

Doug Maurer, the father of Lions starter Rachel Maurer, was diagnosed with leukemia last summer and underwent a bone-marrow transplant the week before Thanksgiving. He was scheduled to go home from the hospital just before Christmas. As a welcome home, the team planned to go caroling at the Maurer home in Sellersville.

But complications forced his return to the hospital. After being released again, Maurer got the opportunity to see Rachel play for the first time this season in a senior night game on Feb. 10. Rachel scored a three-pointer right in front of her father in the stands. The Lions called a time-out and he got a standing ovation when he was introduced.

Having missed the Christmas opportunity to go caroling at the Maurers', the team decided to do it on Thursday night.

"That was exciting and so was the caroling," said Rachel Maurer, who plans to play soccer at Clearwater Christian.

To top off the Lions' week, they beat Upper Bucks Christian, 37-32, Friday night to advance to the Atlantic Coast Christian Athletic Conference final. The next night, they beat Lehigh Christian, 35-30, for their second straight championship and fifth in the last eight seasons.

Jones is back. Lurline Jones was the girls' coach at University City, where she won 12 Public League championships from 1971 until 2006, when she retired as both teacher and coach.

Before this season started, she talked to Germantown athletic director Mike Hawkins, a godfather to her children, who asked her if she was interested in coaching there. The Bears had won just a couple of games over the last two seasons.

"I felt I could help them but I wasn't sure if the girls would buy into my program," Jones said, noting that she runs a disciplined one. "I told them, 'I'm coming to practice for two hours. I expect you to do the same.'

"We lost our first game [to Germantown Friends] by 30 points but we finished with a 10-6 record. We just started with the basic fundamentals."

According to Jones, Jonae Scott and Tierra Andrews were two of the key players in the team's success.

"They're a good group of girls," she said of the team.

Surgery ahead. Germantown Academy senior Alexa Gallagher, one of the top big players in the area, is expected to have arthroscopic surgery Thursday for a knee injury.

The 6-foot-2 star had some problems with swelling in the knee, so Patriots coach Sherri Retif decided to rest her for three games coming down the homestretch. The Patriots, who had been ranked No. 1 in Southeastern Pennsylvania by The Inquirer, bowed to Cardinal O'Hara and Inter-Academic League rival Episcopal Academy in two of those games.

"With her headed to DePaul, we decided to err on the side of caution and keep her out of the games," Retif said. As it turned, out Gallagher had torn cartilage. "She got permission to play in our three remaining games."

The Patriots won those three games over Friends Central, Hill School, and Shipley to earn their third straight Pennsylvania Independent Schools tournament championship. Gallagher contributed 29 points in the three games.