Tumasz on a tear
NP senior guard has had postseason to remember
RADNOR — After a thrilling shooting affair against West Chester Rustin in the District 1-AAAA semifinals, there was no way North Penn could repeat such a feat in the championship game against Spring-Ford, right? Wrong. Vicki Tumasz looked nearly unstoppable at times, inhuman even, when she splashed back-to-back three pointers early in the second half on the way to the Maidens’ 63-51 win over the Rams. It looked so easy at times for Tumasz that she said it was like throwing a rock from the bay to the ocean.
“It was truly a great feeling, not only did my team have confidence in me, but I had confidence in myself,” Tumacz said. “But, it wasn’t just a one-player game, we all played well.”
The Maidens, led by coach Maggie deMarteleire, intended to stagnant the Rams defensively. Little did deMarteleire realize that her squad would shoot 50 percent in the first half and finish the game 17-for-39 from the floor.
“Vicki Tumasz played her tail off. She was working on defense, she was hitting buckets on offense,” deMarteleire said. “I was really, really pleased with her.”
The 5-foot-6 Tumasz knocked down shots with enthusiasm and vigor, and from all areas of the floor. She knocked down the wide-open jumpshots as well as the closely-guard, contested shots with a hand in her face. Under duress at times, Tumasz let the game come to her and shot the ball with an easy, fluid release in rhythm.
Between her and freshman guard Sam Carangi, who had three three-pointers and 11 points, the two combined for six of their team’s seven madethrees.
Yet in warmups, Tumasz said she didn’t make a single shot.
“I was nervous when I was coming in, I literally did not make any shots in warm-ups,” Tumasz said. “The lighting, the depth-perception and just being on the court (were all difficult).”
But, her 11 first half points were only the beginning, as she was 4-for-10 in the second half and 8-for-9 from the free throw line to finish with 27 points.
Tumasz said over the summer she had really honed her shot as she played AAU basketball, and this season she and her coaches have worked tirelessly to perfect the craft.
“It was just crazy,” said Spring-Ford forward Shelby Mueller. “They would be really far outside the threepoint line and they didn’t have a problem shooting it, and they would just go in. We’d try to put a hand in their, but it just didn’t help.”
The Rams had tremendous difficulty guarding the senior guard. Whether she was able break free or come up big with contested shots, Tumasz and the Maidens played to win.
“We wanted to run proximity on their shooters and there were times we left them open and there we times we were flat-out in their face and they buried them,” said Spring-Ford coach Mickey McDaniel.
“Today we struggled,” said Spring-Ford star Sammy Stipa. “We just weren’t together (defensively), we weren’t as strong as we probably should have been and it just got us in trouble quickly.”
Looking at the stats, one would believe the Rams ran away with the victory handily. SpringFord outrebounded North Penn 35-to-22 — 19 of which were offensive rebounds — and they caused 19 North Penn turnovers. But, the Rams just weren’t able to get those ever-so important shots to drop while the Maidens continued to rack up points on the other end.
“When you work as hard as we do defensively and you’re in somebody’s face and they’re still burying shots, that’s tough,” McDaniel said.
Tumasz, along with Erin Maher and Brianna Cullen complete the trio of seniors that have led the squad of mostly freshman and juniors to the pinnacle of District One. deMarteleire was more than impressed with the caliber of play her team brought to the Villanova Pavillion on Friday night.
“For them to take under their wing three freshman and a sophomore and mold us into this team that won the district championship, it’s truly unbelievable,” deMarteleire said.