New SCH freshman Katie Reagan (right) tries to get off a shot against Gwynedd Mercy junior Bridget Casey. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

by Tom Utescher

All of the area summer league basketball squads were in action at Gwynedd Mercy last Tuesday night, winning two out of three bouts.

Early in the evening, Springside Chestnut Hill Academy bowed to the host Monarchs from Gwynedd Mercy, 50-21. Next up was Penn Charter, which took down Wissahickon High School, 27-15, and in the last game on the docket, Germantown Academy dispatched Methacton High School, 44-21.

In their initial outings in the league, the young Blue Devils of SCH have kept pace with some strong opponents for a while, but then saw their rivals pull away to comfortable victories. This happened last Tuesday, when three-point field goals by sophomores Kara Kniezewski and Caroline Clark had the Blue Devils out to a 6-2 lead.

Gwynedd’s offense slowly got moving, but SCH added another “three” by Kniezewski and a free throw by incoming freshman Leajah Sistrunk to keep pace, and when Kniezewski deposited a short bank shot, the Chestnut Hill ball club held a 12-11 edge more than halfway through the first period. The point stream dried up in the face of stiffer Gwynedd defense, and on offense the Monarchs reeled off 14 straight points.

Closing the half with a bucket off a rebound right at the buzzer, the league hosts were ahead 25-12 at the break. On this night, SCH had an even younger line-up than usual, since most of the older players were attending the school’s graduation ceremony.

Clark provided most of the offense for the team in the second half, hitting two more treys along with a free throw. She would finish with 10 points and Kniezewski had eight, while the Blue Devils’ final total was capped off with a lay-up by incoming freshman Katie Reagan.

In contrast, most of Penn Charter’s points came from its three seniors. Forward Mireyah Davis rang up 13 to lead the Quakers, while guard Lexi Hnatkowsky scored seven and forward Julie Webb converted a rebound for a field goal.

Hnatkowsky and new PC freshman Carmen Williams each had a three-pointer and a regular field goal early in the first half. Hnatkowsky also made one of two free throws, and Wissahickon called time-out less than six minutes in, trailing 11-4. Things didn’t get much better for the Trojans, who found themselves down 19-9 at the intermission, and lost a little more ground during an 8-6 second half.

In between the SCH and Penn Charter games, Souderton High School had rolled over its Bucks County rival from across Route 309, Pennridge. After the Quakers played, GA took the floor in Tuesday’s nightcap, and for this game the Patriots had on hand most of their horde of rising freshmen, who number 10 in all.

Maddie Vizza (left), an incoming freshman for Germantown Academy, drives past a Methacton High School opponent. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

Senior guard Abby Starzecky helped get GA going with a little turn-around jumper and two free throws and classmate Lilly Bolen made a lay-up and one shot from the stripe, but overall the Patriots started slowly. They had a modest 13-8 advantage over the Warriors at halftime, with one free throw coming from recent Norwood Fontbonne Academy grad Maddie Burns.

Junior forward Alexa Naessens only managed one free throw in the first half but was more productive in the second stanza, finishing with eight points and 10 rebounds. Bolen would end up with five points and seven boards, but with the total number of GA players who scored reaching double digits, the points were really spread around.

Highly-regarded point guard Maddie Vizza, an incoming freshman, bagged a pair of three-pointers, and fellow rookie Jaye Haynes, a forward, contributed a free throw and a transition lay-up. Sophomore Taylor Putnam notched a three-pointer and a lay-up, and younger sister Lindsay was close behind with a four-point showing.

Although GA scored the first six points of the second half, Methacton kept its deficit in the 10-point range after that until the middle of the half, when the tally was 25-15. As the younger Patriot players began to feel more comfortable on the court, Germantown began to run the floor and score in transition, earning a 23-point victory.