Marple Newtown Varsity Girls Basketball Goes to Final Buzzer

Wallingford—Despite Strath Haven having possessed the lead for most of the game, the girls' last basketball game of 2010 remained close enough to keep things exciting.

After the first quarter, the Marple Newtown Tigers found themselves down 12-7. At halftime, they were only down 21-19.

Some highlights from the first half:

• Devon Miller, despite being the smallest player on both teams, showed fantastic quickness and hustle the entire game. She was able to showcase that hustle when she went to the ground and outmuscled a larger Strath Haven player for the ball.
• Melissa Levy was a strong presence under the net all game. At one point late in the second quarter, Marple Newtown tossed the ball in from out of bounds at half court. It went from Miller to Denise McKeown to Levy for the layup in about 3 seconds, showing what the Tigers could do when they have their passing game down.
• McKeown deftly stole the ball and broke the length of the court for 2 points, leaving opponents far behind. This was only the first of many during the game.

In the third quarter, the tide seemed to finally be turning. Maiya Brown was strong on the free-throw line, and Madison Collins nailed two consecutive three pointers to give the Tigers their first lead of the game at 26-28.

Miller had lost the ball, but again showed her hustle and fast hands by snatching it right back. Strath Haven kept the pressure on, though, and regained the lead 33-30 at the end of the quarter.

The fourth quarter saw another flashy steal by McKeown who dashed the length of the court for another basket, and a third steal that she missed when a defender caught up to her at the last second, drawing a chorus of cries from the Marple Newtown side of the bleachers for what they felt was an uncalled Strath Haven foul.

McKeown hit a three pointer soon after to make it a tied game with 5 minutes and 30 seconds left at which point they hit a drought. The Tigers had trouble sinking the ball for a couple minutes. With one minute to go, they suddenly came roaring back to threaten Strath Haven's lead.

Down by three, just as time ran out, the Tigers threw one last long-range prayer shot into the air that fell short. With a final score of 48-45, Marple Newtown and Strath Haven both ended up with 2-4 records of the season.

The Tigers showed their spirit the entire game, never once playing like the win was out of range, and each player showed their strengths–enough to believe that they're a better team than their record, and could very easily turn things around this season.