Strong 3rd lifts UD over Ghosts
Eskew, Ngo both score in double figures as Cardinals claim SOL Liberty victory
>> Upper Dublin dominated Abington for a threeminute and 39-second stretch in the third quarter Tuesday night. The Cardinals made the right passes, open girls hit their shots and the defense buckled down during an 11-2 run shortly after halftime.
The nine-point advantage proved to be the difference as the Cardinals picked up the Suburban One League Liberty Division win, 49-40, at Upper Dublin High School.
Amy Ngo and Bliss Brenner got the Cardinals off to a fast start in the second half. Ngo made a layup to break a 23-23 tie and Brenner hit a three-pointer to extend the lead to five. Abington’s Khalis Whiting immediately responded to Brenner’s three with one of her own to make it a two-point game 2:10 into the third quarter.
That’s when Upper Dublin took off. Ngo made two more layups while Jess Polin and Brenner each scored at the basket for a 36-28 lead. Sarah Eskew capped off the run with a three-pointer to make it 39-28.
The final five points of the 11-2 run — a Ngo basket and Eskew’s triple – came on beautiful passes. On an out-of-bounds play, Polin found for Ngo all alone under the basket for her score and Dayna Balasa looked off the defense to find a wide open Eskew for her three.
“We tried to take advantage of them switching a lot of screens,” Upper Dublin coach Morgan Funsten said. “The first game and the book on us is to switch a lot on screens, but when you have Jess Polin being able to make the passes that she does — we got some easy baskets in the third and the story was defensively. If Khalis was as hot as she was all