DOWNINGTOWN – North Penn led for all but one minute and thirty-one seconds of their game Friday. It happened to be the last minute and thirty-one seconds.
A 15-2 run in the fourth quarter by Downingtown West (22-4) was finally enough for them to catch up to the Knights (13-13) after trailing the whole game, with the Whippets winning 45-42.
“I think Downingtown West played a fantastic game, and we tried our best to weather the run they went on but just ultimately fell short, ” head coach Bri Cullen said to SOL Sports.
North Penn was visibly playing aggressively to start the game, with two steals in the first minute before starting to press Downingtown West up the court. Senior Cam Crowley headed the first quarter run with 8 points.
Downingtown West scored off an inbound play with 7 seconds left in the quarter to keep the North Penn lead in single digits, but the 15-6 score at the end of the quarter seemed to have the home Whippets, seeded 8 places higher than the visiting Knights, taken aback.
The Knights kept the Whippets to one basket through the last 5 minutes of the first quarter, and the first 3 and a half minutes of the second quarter, while adding two Lily Brown steals and a Leah Mikulski block in that time. The offense saw Mikulski nail 2 of her 3 total threes in the quarter, while sophomore Mehya Godhania added one of her own.
Downingtown West’s Hayden Blair began to knock down some threes of her own, and the Whippets were starting to see shots fall as halftime came into view, although North Penn still held a commanding 30-14 lead.
Draining exclusively 3 three-pointers in the first three minutes of the third quarter from three different players, Downingtown West brought the game within 7 quickly. North Penn called timeout, and the Whippets began to fullcourt press immediately after.
Mikulski led the Knights in scoring in the third quarter as both teams were finding the basket consistently, but North Penn began to slow down as Downingtown West was speeding up and feeding off a rowdy home crowd.
The fourth quarter was all Whippets, and Crowley had North Penn’s only two points in the quarter off free throws. Downingtown made 3 threes in the quarter and paired with two steals and a couple of turnovers from North Penn, the game was slipping away.
The Knights were able to call timeout with 2.2 seconds left in the game and drew up a play to get Cam Crowley to fire off the last shot of her high school career. Coming off a screen and dribbling through traffic, Crowley’s three was just right of the basket and Downingtown West secured a spot in the State tournament as North Penn’s season came to an end.
“I am so incredibly proud of how hard we worked this season. I don’t think anyone expected us to accomplish the things we did. This is the first senior class I am getting to see all the way through, so they hold a special place with me,” Cullen said to SOL Sports. “The message after the game was when we have tears at the end of a season it means we created a culture and family worth missing. I am honored to be their coach and have the group that we have.”
Downingtown West (45): Blair 18; Schurtz 12; Young 6; Meenan 5; Grant 4.
North Penn (42): Mikulski 15; Crowley 12; Brown 7; Smink 3; Godhania 3; Sperling 2.
