Jenkintown topples Pioneers
It turns out that revenge is a dish best served in the conference tournament.
It was no easy task, but Jenkintown edged Christopher Dock 34-25 in the opening round of the Bicentennial League Tournament. Avenging an early season loss, the top-seeded Lady Drakes struggled early, but turned things around in the fourth quarter to take control of the game. Jenkintown guard bmma Dorshimer kept her team afloat, dropping 25 points, 10 of which came in the crucial final period.
“I don’t know why we started slow,” Jenkintown coach Jim Romano said. “They were really excited about the game and I thought they would come out firing and ready to go. It was probably nerves, but I don’t expect that out of this group. But, defense wins games.”
Dock kept the game close the entire way, but an experienced Jenkintown team used defense to bail them out of a poor shooting night by anyone not named bmma Dorshimer. Luckily for the home team, the slow start did not hurt too badly.
“Sometimes we just start out really slow,” Dorshimer said. “But I think we warmed up throughout the game and stepped up at the end. I felt good, but it can’t just be me. I feed off my teammates.”
To put it lightly, the Lady Drakes got crushed on the boards, specifically by Dock’s Keerece Seuren, who had a team-high 10 points. Although the Lady Pioneers were winning the battle of the boards, they struggled to put the ball in the net more times than not, making life a bit easier for Jenkintown to get second chances on missed opportunities.
“We battled, but we have had difficulty generating offense in the half court,” Dock coach Tim bhst said. “It was pretty much a defensive battle like the first time we played. We have had difficulty finding consistency on the perimeter.”
Dock was down just two points with two minutes remaining in the game, but when it came time to hit its foul shots, Jenkintown was up for the moment. The Lady Drakes went 7-for-9 from the charity stripe in the final period, all of which were hit by Dorshimer. Dock’s Olivia Longacre had five of her seven points in the fourth, including a three to take a brief lead in the middle of the period, but Jenkintown kept the Pioneers from scoring even when they got the ball with time on the clock.
“We had difficulty scoring
in the paint other than Kereece and we had foul trouble with Lauren Anderson,” bhst said. “We have some raw talent in the post, but we need to grow in the spot on the court and make it more of a strength. I’m hoping we can build on the progress from this season and make it a threat next year.”
The game got off to a rough start. It took four minutes for either team to score, and even when the points came, the first quarter ended 6-4 in favor of Dock thanks to a Longacre steal-andscore as time expired.
The scoring picked up a bit in the second, but Dorshimer had 12 of Jenkintown’s first 14 points. The Lady Drakes struggled to rebound, which kept Dock in the game in the early going. Olivia Seavy came off the bench to lead Dock with four points in the first half.
As the Lady Drakes await the winner of the other quarterfinal, Dorshimer hopes that the close game was a wake-up call.
“I think we need come out with intensity,” Dorshimer said. “Sometimes we have a problem with that. But in the next round we need to come out better than we did tonight.”