So much for “youth and inexperience.”
Freshmen Naleli Coplan and Brooklyn Ellis each scored 13 points on Friday as the host Solebury Spartan girls convincingly dispatched Community Academy of Philadelphia (CAP) 39-22.
The White Out game doubled as Solebury’s Senior Night.
The Spartans took a 21-8 lead into halftime. CAP, who Solebury defeated 31-14 on the road on Jan. 13, cut the margin to 26-18 late in the third quarter.
“I wanted the girls to know that what happened last week had nothing to do with tonight,” pointed out head coach Tonya Grant. “When they came back, it was like ‘See?’ This week could be a different team.’”
Solebury salted the PJAA White division contest away with a late 11-0 run. “They started boxing out and contesting shots more,” Grant observed. “They took their time and ran our offense. I think we got away from running our offense and wanted to go fast.
“I said we had to control the tempo of the game and that’s what they did in the fourth,” Grant continued, “that and boxing out to get rebounds that we needed.”
Hanna Schmukler added five points while senior Ruby Burns scored four.
CAP marked Solebury’s third game in four days. Three days prior, behind Ellis’ 17, the Spartans beat archrival Villa Victoria 41-24 in New Jersey to complete the season sweep.
Coplan (15.6 PPG) and Ellis (13.6 PPG) are the pistons that drive the Solebury engine. Although the Spartans start just two upperclassmen, that hasn’t affected them in the win column.
Ellis and Coplan “have experience with summer and AAU basketball,” Grant pointed out. “With some of the players around them, this may only be their first or second year playing. I appreciate their patience with the kids who might not be on the same level since they have been playing since they were 6 years old.”
Solebury didn’t play in 2020-21 due to COVID and struggled last season. The influx of young talent serves notice that Solebury is ready to get back to where the program was in 2015 and 2016, when the Spartans won consecutive Penn-Jersey Athletic Association titles.
Wins are the benchmark of a team’s success, but four of Solebury’s losses have been two possession games. That bodes well for a deep PJAA run.
Monday’s loss at Stuart Country Day put the Spartans at 6-5 (6-3 PJAA White). Solebury entered press time with a divisional late game at Pine Forge.
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