Germantown Academy wins bout between Patriots
By TOM UTESCHER
In a summer league set-to involving two basketball teams with the same nickname, it was the Patriots of Germantown Academy who prevailed last Monday in a 39-33 double-overtime contest again Central Bucks East High School. As in several earlier games in the summer campaign, GA was playing without regular starters Caroline Doty and Jesse Carey.
Many years ago, C.B. East coach Tom Lonergan enjoyed great success when he coached Bishop McDevitt teams that included Mount Airy native Rosemary Magarity. Ironically, it was her cousin Colleen Magarity who deprived Longergan’s current team of a victory during regulation time in last week’s game, hitting a three-pointer at the buzzer to send the bout into OT at 33-33.
Early offense from Magarity (eight points total), Jenna Washabaugh (six), and Tiana North (five) put GA up 8-3 just shy of the ten-minute mark. After C.B. East evened it up at 8-8, scoring from Bri Cowden (eight) and Torie Machikas (seven) helped Germantown regain a modest lead by halftime, 13-10.
Starting the second period with a driving lay-up and four free throws, Central Bucks took over the lead and stayed in front until the end of regulation. Cowden hit a three and Lindsay Freid (five points total) started to score for the Academy, but GA was generally outhustled by East for about the first ten minutes of the half.
Pushing the pace and penetrating to the hoop at will, the Bucks County club extended its lead to eight points, at 26-18, with about 11 minutes remaining. A lay-up by North breathed some life back into the GA offense, and Germantown ramped up its defensive intensity, as well. A short jumper by Cowden made it a two-point affair (28-26) with three minutes left in regulation, and later a put-back by Washabaugh had GA within one with 39 seconds remaining.
East, who’d already been in the double bonus, shot a pair from the foul line with 13 seconds left, making it 33-30. Looking for its outside shooters, Germantown found Freid on the right wing, but with a defender in her face, she swung the ball to Magarity for a shot from the top of the key. The buzzer went off as Magarity’s lob fell towards the hoop, and the ball went through to send the game into overtime.
Neither side scored during the first two-minute OT, but midway through the second segment Machikas nailed the game winning shot, a three-pointer from the left flank. With 15 seconds to go, Cowden made the first of two free throws for a 37-33 count, and Washabaugh rebounded the second shot for GA. With five seconds remaining, Machikas dropped in two foul shots for the 39-33 final.
