Leer leads Abington past Cheltenham, 54-44

Abington center Emily Leer showed her future Villanova coaches last night that she is more than comfortable playing at the Pavilion. Leer finished with 20 points, 10 rebounds, and 5 assists as the sixth-seeded Ghosts upset top seed Cheltenham, 54-44, for the District 1 Class AAAA girls' basketball championship.

It is Abington's first district title since 1975.

"It was a tough game, but I'm 1 and 0 on my [future] court," Leer said as she wore her championship medal around her neck. "So I'm undefeated. I'm happy."

Cheltenham's Kutztown-bound guard Shayla Felder led the Panthers (25-2) with 19 points and four rebounds but fouled out with 16.6 seconds remaining as Abington made 13 of 18 fourth-quarter free throws to hold the lead down the stretch.

Ghosts guard Carli Fitzgerald made two of the biggest free throws with 1 minute, 35 seconds remaining and the Ghosts up by just 42-40.

Fitzgerald, a junior coming off the bench - who did not practice leading up to the game due to a battle with strep throat - gave the Ghosts a four-point lead and squelched the momentum Cheltenham had built with a 5-1 run.

Said Fitzgerald of her mind-set while sinking the two knee-knockers: "Deep breath, up and over, block out everyone, use your legs and go."

Abington (23-4) made 25 of 35 free throws overall, led by Leer (14 of 18) and sophomore guard Aiyannah Peal (14 points, four assists, 6 of 6 free throws all in the fourth quarter).

"We made free throws, which has been a little bit of an Achilles' heel all year," said Abington coach Dan Marsh, who got soaked with water when he entered the locker room. "But we made them when it counted, that's for sure."

Abington led, 26-19, at halftime but committed three turnovers on its first four possessions of the second half. Despite their other strong statistics, Leer (eight turnovers) and Peal (six TOs) also fell victim often to the Panthers' defensive pressure.

Cheltenham took a 30-28 lead with 2:59 remaining in the third quarter on a fadeaway bank by Felder - the first Panthers' lead since a 2-0 opening-game advantage.

But Leer scored four straight, and Peel finished a drive to put Abington up 34-30 entering the fourth.

The Panthers' Ciara Andrews scored 12 points and grabbed seven rebounds.

Abington (23-4) will be District 1's No. 1 seed in the PIAA Class AAAA state tournament, facing the District 3 seventh seed in the first round on Friday.

Cheltenham (25-2), the Suburban One American champion, advances to states as the District 1 two seed and draws the District 3 five seed in the first round.

"We came back . . . and couldn't score," said Cheltenham coach Bob Schaefer. "All we had to do was score a basket or two, and then we could have taken control of the momentum and made them work a little bit harder, and maybe we could have hung on to the game."

Cheltenham and Abington are neighboring townships in Montgomery County, so Leer said she was thrilled to finally get a chance to compete against familiar faces in such a big game.

"It was great to kind of end the trash-talking, and finally find who's best in the neighborhood," Leer said.

Cheltenham 9 10 11 14 - 44

Abington 17 9 8 20 - 54

C: Shayla Felder 19, Ciara Andrews 12, Kira Ogden 9, Tiffany Johnson 2, Liz Taliaferro 2.

A: Emily Leer 20, Aiyannah Peal 14, Jess Schmidt 3, Chynna West 6, Jamie Shectman 9, Carli Fitzgerald 2.