Abington holds off C.R. South

Before Friday night's Suburban One League National Conference game against Council Rock South, Abington coach Dan Marsh told his girls' basketball players that if they played hard and got the win, they'd have practice off on Saturday.

Playing their third game in five days, the Ghosts were eager to win their second straight, getting above .500 in the process, and put themselves atop the conference and stamp themselves as the squad to beat.

The prospect of having Saturday morning off didn't hurt, either.

With that in mind, the Ghosts came out strong, scoring 21 first-quarter points, and finished strong in a huge win over the Golden Hawks, 42-37.

Abington (3-2 overall, 1-0 National) scored 14 points in the final 41/2 minutes of the first quarter, getting two three-pointers from sophomore Deja Rawls and two blocks from junior Michael Harris on defense.

Up by 13, the Ghosts seemed to be on a roll, but they went scoreless in the second quarter after struggling against South's press.

"In the first quarter, we were very aggressive, we attacked the basket, and got open shots," Rawls said. "In the second quarter, we fell off, so we knew we had to pick it up in the second half."

With the score knotted at 21 at the start of the third quarter, the Ghosts bounced back, getting opportunistic baskets from freshman Leah Simmons and a couple of more blocks from Harris.

After gaining a one-point lead in the fourth quarter, its first advantage since the opening minutes of the game, South (2-2, 0-1) faltered with a minute and a half remaining, committing a backcourt violation.

Abington took advantage of the miscue, making six straight free throws to end the game.

The win - not to mention the work ethic displayed Friday - gave the Ghosts the weekend off, a well-deserved rest until they have to prepare to host Council Rock North on Tuesday.

Rawls, for one, knew what she would do Saturday morning in the scheduled time slot for practice: sleep.

Then she's got some body parts to ice.

"My body is so sore right now," Rawls said.

So sore, in fact, that she said she might not even bother with individual bags of ice.

"Maybe I'll take an ice bath or something," she said.

Abington   21 0 11 10 – 42

Council Rock South   8 13 6 10 – 37

A: Sammy Lochner 11, Michael Harris 10, Deja Rawls 8, Leah Simmons 6, Gabrielle Nolan 5, Cate Hughes 2.

CRS: Alexis Hofstaedter 12, Courtney Brown 10, Cara Barlow 8, Allison Taub 7.