Someone was going to walk out of Central Bucks East’s gym with a signature win.
As was fitting in a matchup of two potential division champs, East’s Tuesday game with Council Rock South needed overtime to determine a winner. The host Patriots ultimately withstood a barrage of 10 Golden Hawk threes to claim a 56-50 OT crossover victory.
“We had so many one- or two-point losses last year, with Council Rock South being one of them,” reminded East coach Liz Potash. “Everyone is a year older now. They have experience to get close games and pull them out.”
“We have a lot of seniors and juniors, so we’ve been in these positions before,” said Patriot Erin LeRay. “We tried to slow it down and play our game. When we run our offenses, we know we’re going to get stuff out of it.”
East scored the first 10 points of overtime and weathered a late Golden Hawks rally. “The defensive intensity picked up in overtime,” LeRay added. “Everyone really wanted to win.”
Katie Purpura’s three with 1:50 in regulation stopped a 7-0 East run and gave South a 43-42 lead. Kendall Gregor’s free throw with 13 seconds left put East up 45-43. Kathryn O’Kane’s layup at the buzzer sent it into extras.
“That was a huge momentum shift for Council Rock South,” Potash pointed out. “We just said, ‘We have a couple more minutes to play.’ Last year, the girls learned some hard lessons. It looks like they are paying off now.”
East did not get its first lead until 33 ticks left in the first half, when LeRay’s layup put the Patriots up 26-24 and capped an 11-3 East run. Gregor, who jumps center and had two triples, had 15 in the first half.
“I shoot and work on post moves,” Gregor explained. “I try and add variety to my game.”
“We weren’t happy with our transition defense in the first half and we knew we need to make changes,” Potash added. “I felt we did that in the second half.”
The two teams connected on seven field goals in the third quarter’s opening three minutes. Three of them were South triples; Cam Gregory’s put the Golden Hawks up 37-32.
A bigger East squad countered the threes with free throws, sinking 16 of 23 while CR South went just 2-of-5 from the line. Lilliana Metrick’s 12 and Purpura’s nine led South scoring. For East, LeRay scored 10 with Natalie Berndt and Anna Barry adding eight each.
“There are only one or two big girls on their team,” said Gregor, whose 18 points paced all scorers, “but (South) is really quick. Our guards pressed them. I think we showed our size in rebounding and defense.”
“I thought we were locked in, defensively, on what we wanted to do,” said CR South coach Blair Klumpp. “Particularly on Barry and Berndt. Anna is capable of going for 20+. I thought we made some adjustments with Gregor in the second half. She hurt us in the first half. I just don’t think we matched the execution on the offensive end.
East “is a well-coached team,” Klumpp continued. “They are going to execute their stuff and they are going to play you tough so you can’t have a lot of empty possessions on offense.”
South (6-2, 4-2 SOL) entered Tuesday night’s contest ranked No. 6 in District One 6A and on a four-game win streak. No. 12 East (8-2, 4-2 SOL) is just three points away from a perfect 10-0 start. The Patriots’ only blemishes were a 44-43 loss to Pennridge and a 36-34 heartbreak to Souderton, who has a strong chance of winning the district title.
South closed 2022 by pulling away from Pennsbury 44-41, behind Jess Mangoni’s 17 points, and then dismantling Harry S. Truman 69-28.
Speaking of dismantling, East entered Tuesday night with the Interboro Holiday Tournament trophy after two routs in late December. The Patriots thumped Friere Charter 61-27 in the opener and throttled the host Buccaneers 55-17 in the championship game. Sniper Barry scored 31 points over the two games.
Both teams are back in action on Friday. CR South hosts CB West while CB East heads to Bensalem.
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