Maria Tully served multiple roles for a 20-win Abington Heights team that reached the second round of the Class 5A state girls basketball tournament.

Tully was a playmaker, a shut-down defender, a scorer when needed and as one of two senior starters, a team leader.

Most important was her willingness to combine those roles in whatever way the Lady Comets needed at the time, which led to Tully’s selection as this week as William Gerrity Team Player Award.

The award, which was reinstated a year ago, honors one boys and one girls player from the 24-team Lackawanna League. This is the second straight year that Abington Heights has received one of the awards. Jack Nealon was the boys selection last season.

Dunmore’s Steve Borgia was this year’s boys selection. Each recipient receives a $1,000 scholarship.

Tully plans to continue her basketball career while studying in the physical therapy program at Arcadia University.

The senior point guard was pleased that coach Deanna Klingman and others would describe her as a team player.

“Just thinking about what a team player is, and my coach thinking of me that way, means a lot to me,” Tully said.

Tully shared the team lead in assists. She usually took on the most important defensive responsibility among guards, defending a scorer when deemed necessary and the opposing point guard at other times.

“Maria ran the offense, scored and played great defense on opposing teams’ best guards,” Klingman said.

In addition to distributing the ball on offense, Tully was the third-leading scorer on a team that had six players average between five and 14 points per game.

“Our team is special that way,” Tully said. “ … It’s my job to find that player who is on every game. It changes every game, but I try to just find that person.”

Tully was taller than some of her teammates in youth basketball, so she originally played forward. In middle school, she made the transition to point guard. That process was disrupted by a torn anterior cruciate ligament in eighth grade, but the knee injury could not prevent her from being a contributor to two district championships as a freshman and sophomore before becoming one of the leaders of another championship team last season.

Abington Heights lost only to unbeaten Scranton Prep in Lackawanna League play while finishing second in the Lackawanna League this season. It settled for second in District 2 Class 5A after an upset loss to West Scranton, then bounced back to win its state tournament opener, 35-21, when Tully held Bangor’s record-setting, 3-point shooter Casey Walsh scoreless.

The 20-6 season ended with a 45-44 loss to District 3 champion Gettysburg, a state contender with a 28-3 record.

“It was a tough loss, but the way my teammates hung in there until the end, wanting to win that game, made me so proud,” Tully said. “We played our hearts out.

“I wouldn’t want to go out in any other way.”

Abington Heights’ Maria Tully
https://www.theabingtonjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/web1_AJ031120AHGIRLS6-1.jpg.optimal.jpgAbington Heights’ Maria Tully Zachary Allen file photo | For Abington Journal

By Tom Robinson

For Abington Journal