York Suburban girls stifle William Penn

It was a simple recipe for success Monday at York Surburban.

The host Trojans stuck to their plan: playing strong defense, getting it down low to Parker Faircloth-Henise on offense and closing out the game at the free-throw line.

York Suburban forced visiting William Penn into tough shots in the first half, using a zone throughout the game. They held the Bearcats to just 14 first-half points — building a lead that proved insurmountable — en route to a 50-38 victory.

“We wanted to control the tempo. We wanted to really slow them down,” York Suburban coach Jess Barley said. “We thought by utilizing that zone a little bit, we could slow them down. We’re just a defensive-minded team.”

The Trojans had the task of stopping the Bearcats duo of Chyna Steele and Jasmine Beistline, who pace William Penn's offense. Steele and Beistline combined for seven points in the first half.

Steele started to find her groove in the second half, scoring 17 points to keep William Penn in the game late. However, the York Suburban pressure forced her to take off-balance shots in the final minutes.

“We knew who the shooters were and our top two guards up there did a lot of running back-and-forth,” Barley said of her defensive strategy. “They did a good job getting out on shooters and making them take shots that weren’t very high-percentage.”

York Suburban’s Molly Day shot 6-of-6 from the free-throw line to make sure Steele couldn’t orchestrate a shocking comeback.

“Free throws have been kind of an emphasis in practice lately,” Faircloth-Henise said. “When Molly hit them at the end, that was pretty clutch.”

Faircloth-Henise had a big role in the Trojans’ win, as well. They used her 6-foot-plus frame to their advantage.

York Suburban fed Faircloth-Henise throughout the first half, where she scored 11 of her 15 points.

“We practiced attacking the zone that they were going to play, so we knew going in what we had to do,” she said. “I think we executed really well on the offensive end.”

She didn’t hide from the fact that she enjoys the height advantage.

“Yeah it is (nice being tall),” she said.

York Suburban (50)

Embrey-Banks 0 0-0 0, Georgia Dumars 4 2-2 12, James 0 0-0 0, Mooney 0 0-0 0, Babinchak 0 0-0 0, Bulgarelli 0 0-0 0 , McKee 0 0-0 0, Retnecker 3 2-4 9, Parker Faircloth-Henise 7 1-2 15, Gettle 2 0-1 4, Molly Day 1 8-8 10. Totals — 17 13-17 50.

William Penn (38)

Beady 0 0-0 0, Hutchinson 0 0-0 0, Givens 1 0-0 3, Redman 3 3-7 9, Chyna Steele 7 2-4 17, Crosby 0 0-0 0, Kinard 1 0-1 2, Dlamini 0 0-0 0, Condalario 0 0-0 0, Gonzalez 0 0-0 0, Beistline 3 0-0 7, Hampton 0 0-0 0, Fitch 0 0-0 0. Totals — 15 5-12 38.

York Suburban_13_16_8_13_—_50 

William Penn_7_7_9_15_—_38  

3-point goals — YS- 3 (Dumas 2, Retnecker), WP- 3 (Givens 1, Steele 1, Beistline 1)