Abington Friends girls rebound to defeat Shipley
Jeff Bond called a timeout. "OK, now we got that out of our system," the Abington Friends girls' basketball coach said to his team on Tuesday.
Jeff Bond called a timeout.
"OK, now we got that out of our system," the Abington Friends girls' basketball coach said to his team on Tuesday.
His Kangaroos were down, 8-0, to start a pivotal Friends Schools League match-up against Shipley. And worse yet, the players just didn't look like themselves as they let the Gators run all over them, own the boards and make clean backdoor cuts.
It took a few more moments for the Kangaroos to snap out of it after Bond's words. But when they did, AFS was back to playing its usual style.
Afterward, Bond called the game a "slugfest" and a "scramble."
It was both of those things. It was also a little erratic and chaotic, but that suited the 'Roos just fine as the visitors came from behind to win, 47-40.
"This is the first time we've beaten Shipley in their home gym in a really long time," freshman forward Paige Mott said. "So it was really great. To be able to come back from that first quarter, especially."
After going down, 12-0, in the first 5 1/2 minutes of play, AFS (17-2 overall, 6-0 league) battled back, cutting the Shipley (15-4, 6-1) lead to seven before the second quarter started.
"We know there is no 12-point play in basketball," senior guard, Khadijah Hickson said. "So, we know we have to take it possession by possession, especially knowing it has to start on defense with getting stops.
"It was basically defense today. Getting stops on the defensive end, and that made us get easy baskets."
With the frequency of turnovers, fouls and loose balls, the contest never got into a rhythm. But instead of frustrating the Kangaroos, the team seemed to thrive in it, even when they faltered.
"It is really hard and really chaotic," Mott said. "But you can't let that determine what is going to happen next time. If you turn the ball over, you've got it next play, because then you make sure it doesn't happen the next play."
Up four points with 1 minute, 22 seconds left, Alyssa DeNofa had a message for her teammates in the huddle.
"Finish on three," she said. "One, two, three, finish."
Things may have started out a little bumpy for AFS on Tuesday. But when it mattered, well, they finished.
Abington Friends 7 15 9 16 - 47
Shipley 14 7 7 12 - 40
AF: Jade Young 19, Paige Mott 11, Khadijah Hickson 7, Kendall Hodges 7, Alyssa DeNofa 3
S: Yndiah Bobo 16, Lauren Ross 11, Anna Camden 8, Kate Scutt 3, Casey Winter 2
@ka_harman