Delcohoops.com

By Matthew DeGeorge

Alexa Abbonizio putting up big numbers on the basketball court isn’t new around Springfield. But the Cougars’ perennial pursuit of Central League and District 1 titles is often chronicled in terms of veteran leadership.

Once, Abbonizio was the underclassmen counterpoint to those leaders. Now as a junior, she’s on the other side of the age divide, and she’s providing the clutch plays to prove it.

Abbonizio scored a game-high 18 points, including all eight of the Cougars’ points in the fourth quarter, as the top seed held off No. 6 Harriton, 40-32, in the Central League semifinal Monday at Strath Haven.

Springfield (19-4) advances to Tuesday’s final at Harriton, where it takes on No. 2 Ridley.

Abbonizio supplied the only offense Springfield needed in the fourth, with two baskets and a perfect 4-for-4 from the free-throw line.

Webmaster’s note: Listen to the Central League Boy’s and Girl’s Basketball Championships tonight, LIVE, right here on Delcohoops.com!

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By Josh Verlin

The first time Penncrest faced Lower Merion, Mike Doyle admitted, his team wasn’t ready. Hence the 24-point January defeat, by far the Lions’ worst of its five this season.

“The moment was just too big for us,” Doyle said. “We weren’t ready for it. But I think we’ve matured.”

If Monday night was any indication, Doyle’s thoughts are correct. A day short of four weeks after getting blown out by Lower Merion, Penncrest took the court against Gregg Downer’s bunch in a Central League semifinal at Strath Haven and did its best to return the favor.

The final score of Penncrest’s 56-48 victory doesn’t tell nearly the whole story of how Doyle and the Lions finally got past Lower Merion for the first time in any situation, regular season or playoffs, since 2013-14. 

How the third-seeded Lions jumped out to a 30-10 lead on the second-seeded Aces, spending the first 15 minutes landing shot after shot against an Aces squad that played shell-shocked, air-balling shots and committing uncharacteristic turnovers. 

Webmaster’s note: Listen to the Central League Boy’s and Girl’s Basketball Championships tonight, LIVE, right here on Delcohoops.com!

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By Matt Smith

Dakota McCaughan had a few words of encouragement for teammate Amirah King at halftime of Ridley’s Central League semifinal against Haverford High.

“I went to Amirah and I said, ‘Turn me up,’” said McCaughan, the Green Raiders’ electrifying senior point guard. “I felt like my shot wasn’t falling, so I knew that if I got them the ball, they were going to finish.”

In this case, McCaughan was referencing King and Madison Chapman, each of whom played a critical role coming off the bench in the Green Raiders’ 34-23 triumph.

No. 2 Ridley advances to the Central League final to play top-seeded Springfield Tuesday, 6 p.m. at Harriton High.

It’s hard to imagine the Green Raiders having the opportunity to play for their first Central League title in more than a decade without the contributions of King and Chapman, who were excellent in the second half.

Webmaster’s note: Listen to the Central League Boy’s and Girl’s Basketball Championships tonight, LIVE, right here on Delcohoops.com!

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By Mitchell Gladstone

You looked up at the scoreboard after one quarter and thought there was some kind of malfunction.

Haverford 8, Garnet Valley 0.

It just didn’t seem right. No points for a Jaguars team that had steamrolled through the Central League, scoring at least 50 points in its first 21 games of the season, seemed infeasible. 

But you only had to look back to last Thursday — a 51-48 home loss to these very same Fords — to know that you weren’t crazy.

With a defensive performance as impressive as any all season long, Haverford upset top-seeded Garnet Valley 36-30 in a Central League semifinal matchup Monday night at Marple Newtown, sending the Fords into Tuesday’s title game.

Coach Keith Heinerichs didn’t necessarily want to make too much of what’s certainly become Haverford’s identity, but when you hold one of the area’s top teams to just eight made field goals on 48 attempts and two quarters of six or fewer points, it’s an outing more than worthy of recognition.

Webmaster’s note: Listen to the Central League Boy’s and Girl’s Basketball Championships tonight, LIVE, right here on Delcohoops.com!

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By Bob Grotz

There’s a lot more to the connection between Mike Doyle and Gregg Downer than their Penncrest roots.

These capable, ultra-competitive Central League basketball coaches know what it’s like to stare down their own mortality.

Doyle literally, as he’s battling leukemia. In so many ways, every game is a victory, not just a teaching moment for the fiery Penncrest coach.

For Downer, who played on the great Lions team of 1979-80, there is intense grief. Like Doyle, the Lower Merion coach’s world turned upside down in a very personal way when Kobe Bryant, his former player, friend and hero, perished in a helicopter crash.

You wouldn’t know any of that from the way Doyle and Downer got after it in the semifinal round of the Central League tournament Monday evening at Strath Haven High School. For four quarters and 32 minutes, the basketball gods cleansed them of their burdens. It was almost like group therapy.

In the waning moments of the game, the decision all but final, Doyle congratulated each of the Lions as he walked down the sideline. Seconds later his family joined in, the Lions having snapped a 10-game losing streak versus the Aces with a 56-48 triumph.

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By Matthew DeGeorge