SOUDERTON- North Penn and Central Buck West. The infamous cross town rivals went head to head on Monday night, both vying for the SOL Championship Title.

“We see North Penn a lot during our season; it’s always a good game because they are a really good team,” said sophomore Buck Tori Abelson, “We know what they do, and they know what we do, so tonight it was all about executing and having fun.”

The Bucks came from behind to beat the Knights 43-35 in a second half that was all about defence and energy. When asking freshman Maddie Burke what CB West did to clinch title against North Penn, her answer was short, sweet, and to the straight to the point.

“We played the West-way,” said Burke.

In the first quarter, the Knights were the first on the scoreboard, but the Bucks followed right behind. It wasn’t necessarily strong defense from both teams, but rather a lack of rhythm that kept both teams to seven points in the first quarter.

The second quarter was where the Knights began to pull away from the 7-7 tie. North Penn’s senior Irisa Ye was a major component to the Knights’ success, earning 12 points and hustling back on defense. The Bucks never faltered their energy, but they were significantly outscored by the Knights 15-8.

Coming out of halftime, the Bucks were trailing 22-15, but by judging their attitude on the court, it didn’t look like it. The Bucks started the third quarter with the intensity of a team who was ready for the uphill battle they had ahead of them.

“After beating them last time, we knew [CB West] was going to be coming in wanting to beat us. I think they were more aggressive, and we didn’t handle it well,” said senior Sam Carangi.

Led by senior Maggie Rakowsky, the Bucks put up 18 points- but that wasn’t all. The Bucks also limited the Knights to only 4 points, taking the lead 33-26 going into the final quarter. Rakowsky had a lot to do with the Knights being held to 4 points- she was guarding Carangi.

“Maggie is Maggie. She is probably one of the best defenders in the state. For four years now we have been putting her on the best [opponent ],” said West Head Coach Terry Rakowsky.

In the final quarter, the North Penn made a last minute run to try and tie up the game, but CB West stayed tough. The Knights were never able to make the most of their opportunities at the basket due to the many steals and missed rebounds.

“We really tried to stress during time outs to get [our] hands up, get a defection, and be active,” said Coach Rakowsky, “I thought they did a really good job playing defense and shutting down the three [North Penn] shooters.”

The Bucks were able to hold down the Knights for the rest of the final quarter and come out with the SOL Championship title.

North Penn is taking the loss as a way to better prepare for playoffs so that they can work on game improvements and bond as a team.

“We have to take this loss as a team and learn from it. We need to take this opportunity to come together and improve,” said junior Bri Hewlett.

As CB West also prepares for playoffs, they are treating their win more like a well deserved reward rather than a game victory.

“Our mindset coming into the game was just to have fun; our coach told us this game was a reward for all of the hard work during our season,” said Abelson.

SCORING

North Penn 7 22 26 35

Irisa Ye, 16; Bri Hewlett, 8; Jess Huber 7; Sam Carangi, 2; Jess McKenzie, 2

CB West 7 15 33 43

Maddie Burke, 11; Maggie Rakowsky, 9; Tori Abelson, 7; Izzy Treon, 7; Alex Burkauskas, 5; Diane Nicholson, 4