The Solanco girls basketball team felt like a frustrated fisherman following Tuesday night's 54-51 overtime loss to Palmyra in a District III 5A semifinal game. It was the one that got away. Angling for their first-ever appearance in the district championship game, the Mules could not reel in the victory and allowed the Cougars to wriggle off the hook. Top-seeded Solanco led 25-24 with three minutes left in the third quarter before the visitors rallied.
The Mules had a chance to win it in the final seconds of regulation and an opportunity to tie the game at the end of overtime, but could not convert either time. Solanco, already assured of a state tournament berth, hosts Twin Valley Thursday night at 7 in the third place game. The Mules still have a chance for their best-ever district showing. Solanco was fourth in 2012, the only other team the program has qualified for the state tournament. The PIAA tournament begins Saturday, March 9. Tuesday night's game was the polar opposite of the Mules' victory over Mechanicsburg the previous Thursday. In that game, Solanco stormed back from a nine-point fourth quarter deficit and won going away. In the district semis, it was the Cougars who engineered a big second half comeback. Paige Phillips knocked down a three-pointer to pad the Mules' lead to 35-24. Palmyra proceeded to go on a 13-0 run by scoring the final nine points of the third quarter and first six points of the fourth. Amelia Baldo ignited the uprising with a three-pointer and had nine of her 12 points in that stretch. The senior guard's putback put Palmyra ahead 37-35 with 6:40 remaining in regulation. It was the Cougars' first lead since late in the first quarter. After the Mules' Jenna Dombach made a free throw, Olivia Richardson buried a three-pointer to extend Palmyra's advantage to 40-36 with 6:15 left. Solanco responded right away. Jade Eshelman scored on a driving layup and then hit a jumper. Grace Kreider made two free throws with 4:20 to go to put Solanco back in front, 42-40. After Palmyra made a free throw, a Kreider basket lengthened the lead to 44-41. The Cougars countered quickly, 10 seconds after Kreider's bucket, Richardson drilled a three-pointer to tie it with 2:27 left. With 64 seconds to go, Kreider came up big again to provide the Mules with a two-point lead. Solanco was whistled for an off-the-ball foul with 29 seconds to go and Richardson cooly canned both shots. The Mules had the last possession of regulation, but Kreider's three-point attempt was blocked. "We were hoping to try to get to the basket," McDowell said. "And we didn't get there. Their defensive pressure kept us away from the basket." In overtime, Dombach made a free throw to tie the score at 50. Palmyra's Zoe Smith hit a pair of free throws after being fouled 20 feet from the basket with 26.9 ticks to go. The Mules' Jess Cabrera drew a foul on a drive to the basket with 17.1 seconds left, hit the first free throw, but missed the second. The Cougars' Katelyn Becker then hit two free throws to make it 54-51. Solanco had 7.3 seconds to trek the length of the floor and attempt a potential game-tying three-pointer. The Mules moved the ball across halfcourt and called another timeout with 5.1 seconds. The inbounds pass from the left sideline went to Cabrera, who was moving to her left. Pinned in the corner with two Palmyra defenders closing in, Cabrera hoisted up an-balance heave which was off the mark and the final buzzer sounded while a player from each team was battling for the rebound. "We were looking for a three," said McDowell. "We needed a three-point shot and we were trying to set something up, kind of either get some penetration and kick or get Grace or Jess or any of our shooters [open]. We had four shooters in the game [but] we didn't get what we wanted." Kreider paced the Mules with 20 points. Phillips added eight, Cabrera contributed six, and Dombach and Aleksa Burger each supplied five. Palmyra's largest lead came when they scored the first five points of the game. Solanco buried three three-pointers in the opening quarter – one each by Cabrera, Kreider, and Phillips – and took a 15-11 lead into the second quarter. Kreider made a three-pointer in the final minute of the first half to give the Mules a 25-17 edge at the break. Kreider hit two free throws to start the third quarter and Dombach delivered a basket as the Solanco lead ballooned to 12. Things went mostly downhill after that. "We tried to pressure and get up in them, try to force them to do things they're not comfortable doing," McDowell said. "We were able to do that in the first half. I thought 25 points at halftime was a good number for us. They made some adjustments and we weren't able to keep the pressure up in the second half. They capitalized on our mistakes and we had some costly turnovers, costly fouls at times and they capitalized on them. They're a good team. They're better than a Number 12 seed." Solanco only mustered six points the rest of the third quarter with Kara McClune and Phillips each nailing a trey. "We made a few halftime adjustments, but not many," McDowell said. "We were confident where we were. We were playing at the pace we wanted to play. We were playing the style we wanted to play. They made some corrections and played more their style in the second half." A critical juncture came late in the third quarter when Solanco picked up its seventh team foul of the half, putting Palmyra in the bonus for the rest of the way. "That was crucial," McDowell said. "We committed way too many fouls. To put a team like that [on the free throw line], that shoots foul shots the way they shoot, I think for a team they're like 70 or 80 percent for the season. That was critical for us. We had some fouls that we shouldn't have committed. They called it close and the fouls were there. We were committing them and they went to the line and hit their foul shots. It was a turning point. It was a momentum swing." Palmyra made nine of 10 free throw attempts in the fourth quarter and overtime. The Cougars connected on 13 of their last 14 free throw attempts and hit 14 of 18 for the game. McDowell doesn't expect a carryover into Thursday night's game. "We already talked about it. We talked about moving on," he said immediately following the loss to Palmyra. "It was allowed to sting until we walked out the door. And then once you walk out the door, we got another game to get ready for. We still have more to play for. We still have more games to play and we'll get ready to play Twin Valley." It is the second time Solanco has advanced to the district semifinals. In 2012, the Golden Mules finished fourth in the district after losing to Central Dauphin 41-29 in the semis and dropping a 59-38 decision to Wilson in the third place game. Solanco earned its first-ever state tournament win by topping Central (Philadelphia) 46-39 in the opening round before being eliminated by Cheltenham. Comments are closed.
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