SOLEBURY Solebury School’s basketball teams have made an impressive showing in the first few weeks of the season, coming into the New Year with the boys carrying a 7-1 record and the girls 7-3.
The boys got off to a great season with a win at the Western Reserve Basketball Tournament. This is Solebury’s third consecutive win in this tournament.
The team defeated Western Reserve in the first game by a score of 71-62. Malcolm Ingram of Philadelphia led the team with 28 points and eight rebounds. Na’sheed Linton of Trenton chipped in with 18 points and 11 assists. Andre Hines of Denver tossed in 11 points and 14 rebounds.
Solebury met Lake Forest Academy in the championship game and defeated Lake Forest 63-34. Ingram had another outstanding game, scoring 24 points. Linton chipped in with 15, and Arin Dunn of Hanover, N.H., scored 11.
Ingram and Linton were named to the all-tournament team. Ingram was named the tournament’s most outstanding player.
Dec. 6, Solebury beat The Peddie School, 88-66. Ingram was unstoppable with 30 points and 17 rebounds. Dunn chipped in with 22 points, including three three-pointers. Takaya Ota of Shizuoka, Japan, finished with 14 points. Hines had 11 points and 13 rebounds.
During the weekend of Dec. 9-11, and after seven years of frustration, the boys won the Peddie Tournament.
It started Friday when Solebury beat The Lawrenceville School 35-37. It was not a good shooting game for either teams, but Ota led Solebury with 15 points all by way of three-pointers.
Next up was The Hun School. Solebury won 51-46 in a close and thrilling game. Ingram provided the spark by scoring 16 points and grabbing eight rebounds. Linton chipped in with 11 points, and Hines grabbed 11 rebounds.
Solebury saved its best for the championship game. It beat Peddie 72-62 with Ingram scoring a career-best 36 points and pulling down 11 rebounds. Hines had six points to go along with 16 rebounds.
Linton was named to the all-tournament team, and Ingram was the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player.
Then came the Trenton High School Christmas Tournament Dec. 27 and 28.
The first game against Overbrook started Solebury off right with a 64-32 win. Ingram led the team with 26 points and seven rebounds. Linton contributed 15 points, and Dunn added another 10.
Hines scored two, but managed to pull down nine rebounds.
Unfortunately, in the second tournament game, in which Solebury met Trenton High, Solebury’s undefeated streak was broken. The team lost to Trenton High School in the tournament finals, 45-39.
Hines finished with 13 points and 12 rebounds. Ingram gave the team 10 and Dunn, eight points. Ingram and Hines were named to the all-tournament team.
Although the girls’ basketball season started with a loss against The Pennington School, 34-23, they quickly bounced back and beat Life Center Dec. 8 in the second game of the season with a decisive win, 54-16.
Tocarra Lynch of Morrisville had 14 points, Janae Weldon of Trenton scored 13, and Paige Stewart of Newtown scored 10. Mia Brown of Trenton had eight, and Anna Franzini of Lambertville scored four.
The Academy of the New Church Basketball Jamboree is a series a "mini-games" in which the girls came away as champions.
In the first game, Solebury played the Academy of the New Church team and won 32-28. The second game, Solebury met St. Mary’s Hall and won 29-8. The third game, the Spartans came up against Friends Central and won a very close game, 22-21. For the championship, Solebury played George School and won 21-18.
In a stunning game Dec. 12 against St. Mary’s, the girls dominated the court, winning 66-19.
Weldon scored 28, Lynch had 16 points, Cynthia Hui of Hong Kong had six, Kerry Toole of Doylestown scored four, and Franzini, Stewart, Jen Barbo of Carversville and Bronwyn Krug of Ottsville each had two points.
Dec. 14, the girls came away with another decisive victory, this time against Villa Victoria, 66-28.
This time, Lynch was Solebury’s leading scorer with 26, with Weldon following with 19. Mia Brown and Kerry Toole each scored six. Linda Thach of Camden scored her first points ever in the fourth quarter.
Dec. 27 and 28, the girls fielded seven players half their roster and took part in the Eastern State Catholic Invitation Tournament hosted by Trenton Catholic.
In the first game, Trenton Catholic took the lead early and never looked back, beating Solebury by a final score of 72-30. Solebury was simply outmatched.
Weldon, the only Solebury player named to the all-tournament team, scored 14 of the teams 30 points in the loss.
In the consolation game, Solebury took on a very impressive Northern Burlington team. Solebury lost 45-24.
Weldon was the team’s leading scorer with 11.
