Cheltenham girls to take on Mount St. Joseph

Although Bishop McDevitt got bounced from the PIAA Class AA girls' basketball playoffs in the opening round Friday night by Northern Lehigh, coach Jerry Frasca was happy to see the Lancers make it that far.

"It's been 13 years since we made the Catholic League playoffs," said Frasca, whose team dropped from Class AAA to AA this season. He didn't expect that to happen with the closing of Cardinal Dougherty. He thought McDevitt would pick up some transfers from Dougherty to keep the McDevitt girls at AAA. The McDevitt boys have been AA for several years.

"We were barely AAA last year - I think by seven students - but we didn't get as many transfers as I thought," said Frasca, who is in his fourth year as the girls' coach. "I almost fell out of my chair when I found out we were going down a class. That really worked to our advantage."

The Lancers (6-17) were the second-place team out of District 12 in AA play.

The Lancers lost a key player, Chelsea Burroughs, to anterior cruciate ligament surgery but managed to score a 57-43 win over Hallahan to clinch a Catholic League playoff spot. The Davis sisters, Asha and Savannah, were also key leaders for the Lancers.

"It was great for the girls to be in the playoffs," Frasca said, "They got some exposure."

Still shorter. Once again, Cheltenham will find itself vertically challenged when it meets District 1 champion Mount St. Joseph on Tuesday night at Wissahickon in the second round of the PIAA Class AAAA playoffs.

"I think we're the smallest Class AAAA district team left in the playoffs," said coach Bob Schaefer, who has no starter over 5-foot-9. Sub Tiana Clark is the tallest player on the squad at 5-10. The Magic count Steph Smith (6-2), Alex Louin (6-0) and Carly Monzo (5-10) among their tallest players.

"We'll be outsized like we usually are," said Schaefer, whose Panthers opened the playoffs with a lopsided 74-46 win over Governor Mifflin, the third-place team from District 3. "The Mount is extremely aggressive and physical."

Mifflin couldn't stop 5-7 Ciara Andrews of Cheltenham, who led all scorers with 31 points.

"It's too bad we have to meet this early in the playoffs," Schaefer said. "They're the first-place team out of District 1. We're the fifth-place team. But we're not planning any big changes for them. We are a group of hard working overachievers. We'll see what happens."

What lies ahead?. After winning the District 1 Class A championship last season, Delaware County Christian went on to lose to Tri-Valley of District 11 in the second round of the PIAA playoffs.

The Knights, who finished 24-5 last season, face Reading Central Catholic (21-4) Tuesday in this year's second round. If they get past that game, there's a possibility they might see Tri-Valley again. Tri-Valley (22-4) plays Lourdes Regional (19-7) Tuesday night.

"Our goal was to improve on last year's record," said Knights senior Emily Homan. The Knights are 25-2. "It would be nice to play Tri-Valley again and beat them. First we have to beat Reading Central."

If the Knights are to beat both teams, second-year coach Mark Weaver knows he'll need big games out of the 6-3 Homan. The Lafayette-bound Homan had 21 points in the team's 43-25 opening round win over Old Forge. She's averaging better than 17 points, 14 rebounds and 6 blocks a game.