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Bensalem senior Mary Beck scored 12 points in a 53-29 win over Conwell-Egan (Photo: Matt Allibone\/CoBL).<\/p>\n
\u201cIt might seem like a silly tradition, but it\u2019s something the girls look forward to,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cWhat we\u2019re really honing in on this year is celebrating each other\u2019s success. It\u2019s a really close-knit group of players and they\u2019re so fun to be around.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
It\u2019s easy to have fun when you\u2019re winning, and the Owls are off to a 6-1 start this season. Bensalem hasn\u2019t won a league title since 1991 and has only made the District 1 playoffs three times in the past decade, but the Owls look like a team to be reckoned with in the Suburban One League despite graduating three starters from a lineup that went 12-10 last season.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Johnson admitted he expected the Owls to be \u201cabove .500\u201d this season but didn\u2019t necessarily think they would \u201cstart this hot.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The key to the Owls success has been unselfishness and maturation across all ages. They have a pair of sophomores, Mischa Ellzy and Kamiya Alexander, splitting time at point guard. Freshman guard Falyn Savage is already playing key minutes and sophomore Kaleaya Wingate is a key shooter off the bench. Junior Jordyn Bell is a captain already.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Seniors Grace McShane, Gianna Creque and Beck have emerged as leaders after taking a backseat last season.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur mindset has been staying together as a team and passing up good shots for great shots,\u201d Beck said. \u201cWe need to be role models for the younger players. We\u2019re trying to win the SOL and hopefully make the state playoffs.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Monday\u2019s win was a perfect example of Bensalem\u2019s depth and team-first mindset. McShane, a 5-foot-10 wing who is expected to play college basketball, entered the night entering 20 points per game. She had scored a career-high 31 in an opening-night win over West Chester East.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But she picked up four early fouls and wasn\u2019t able to generate her usual offense, finishing with just two points. McShane continued to cheer her teammates on from the bench when she was taken out due to foul trouble.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Beck and Savage led the Owls with 12 points each while Wingate added eight and junior Sydney Daut had six.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThey realize it\u2019s bigger than just one person,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cEven when it\u2019s not Grace\u2019s best day, she can still cheer on someone else. That has to come from the top down and the energy on the bench has been great all season long. They\u2019re just really positive.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
This group of Owls have learned lessons from the previous teams they\u2019ve been on. The seniors were sophomores when current Division I Buffalo player Amber Howard was finishing her standout 1,000-point career. They watched Talia DiMichele earn first-team SOL honors and\u00a0 fellow 2025 senior Devon Bell pick up an honorable mention nod last season.<\/p>\n
Those teams finished with winning records, but didn\u2019t go on extended postseason runs. While McShane is clearly the go-to player this season, the Owls hope to be more balanced so they can beat teams in multiple ways this season.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Beck, who has always been a lights-out shooter, has embraced taking more shots and being the focus of opposing defenses after coming off the bench last season.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s not used to being in the limelight, but she\u2019s always been a great shooter,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cThings are tougher for her now because other teams scout her now. She\u2019s getting more shots, but teams know who she is. She has the potential to shoot like this every game.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The 31-year-old Johnson likes to point out that he wasn\u2019t alive the last time the Owls won the SOL in 1991. Bensalem has made the playoffs twice since he\u2019s been with the program, losing to Pennsbury by 20 points in the first round two years ago and by 20 points to Souderton in the first round in 2020.<\/p>\n
He knows it will be difficult to win a league title this season. The Owls lone loss this season came by 22 points to an undefeated Pennsbury squad. But Johnson\u00a0hopes the team can earn a home playoff game and advance past the first round.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But that isn\u2019t the focus right now. The Owls are striving to improve while having fun with each other.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThese guys mess around with each other nonstop and they don\u2019t miss a beat,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cThey\u2019re never quiet at practice. They\u2019re always making fun of my outfits and saying I wear the same colors or no-show socks, which they think is the worst thing ever. Just a very positive and fun group to be around.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bensalem senior Mary Beck scored 12 points in a 53-29 win over Conwell-Egan (Photo: Matt Allibone\/CoBL). \u201cIt might…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":68608,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[191,193,192,194],"class_list":["post-90030","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bensalem","tag-bensalem","tag-bensalem-headlines","tag-bensalem-news","tag-bensalem-township"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90030","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90030"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90030\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}