Tuesday
September 26, 2023 
For three quarters on Thursday night, the Faith Christian Lions tied their hosts and Lower Moreland leonine rivals 21-21.
Unfortunately, basketball has four quarters. Lower Moreland (3-3, 2-1 Bicentennial) outscored Faith 15-2 in the second and posted a 36-23 win.
“At halftime, coach focused on slowing the game down,” said Faith junior Karleigh Garber. “We had been jacking up a shot that wasn’t there or driving into people. He said to pass it around and that will get some open drives or kicks.”
Faith opened with two buckets from Stephanie Cicero, one off of an offensive board. Kaylee Paul added a 17 footer; four Sydney Heller free throws put Faith up 10-4 late in the first quarter.
Lower Moreland’s Macy Morozin sank a three to close the first quarter scoring. It also started an 18-2 run that resulted in a 22-12 Lower Moreland halftime lead. Lower Moreland extended the lead to 28-16 at the end of the third; Faith got defensive stops but turnovers hindered their offense.
Lower Moreland sank one layup off of its defensive press, although point guard Heller did a commendable job of breaking it. “It was uniting together,” Heller said. “We have to pass the ball around. Last year, we’d dribble more into it, but we’re keeping our heads up and working as a unit. We’re staying middle and ball side.”
Lower Moreland’s Nicole Castor led all scorers with 10. Heller was a point and rebound short of a double-double; she sank seven of nine free throws. Cicero scored six points and added two assists. Faith freshman reserve Joy Hissner grabbed seven rebounds.
“A lot of our offense is getting into the lane and kicking for 3-point shots,” Heller noted. “We have a lot of shooters. Steph, in the middle, can get buckets and score. We like to cut.” Faith scored at least 48 points in its prior five contests.
Faith entered Thursday’s contest on a three-game win streak. “We play hard,” explained Garber, who had four rebounds and two steals against Lower Moreland. “Even at the end, down by 10, we’re trying to get the ball back and pushing as hard as we can.”
“It was a lot of people doing a lot of different things and the team functioning together on both ends,” coach Dave Forker added.
“It was playing as a team,” Cicero echoed.
The Class A Lions opened the season at Pennridge’s Tip Off Tournament, facing two 6A Suburban One squads.
“The speed of the game is quick so we learned that we have a lot to work on with offensive execution,” Forker felt, “and we played some teams who shot really well. The girls didn’t get discouraged.
Sometimes, early season losses are good for coaches because it gets players’ attention. It helps them to understand that when we play like this against good teams, we can function and if we don’t, you see the results.”
Forker’s Lions are young and deep. He has four freshman or sophomores in his first seven.
“It’s been fun,” Forker concluded. “We have two seniors and their leadership and captaincy has made it really comfortable for the underclassmen to feel not afraid to mistakes. We’re young but they can play at both ends of the floor. My two freshmen guards are bulldog defenders. We have a lot of depth.”
The Lions (3-5) next take to the floor against Salem Christian on Dec. 27.
