Kennett’s Mia Matthews, left, battles for the ball with Haverford’s Caroline Dotsey, middle, and Emma Rowland Friday night. (Pete Bannan/MediaNews Group).
By Bruce Adams
It would have been a tall order for No. 24 seed Kennett to defeat host Haverford Friday evening in the PIAA District 1 Class 6A tournament opener. The ninth-seeded Fords had a height advantage on the Blue Demons, led by 6-foot-1 junior forward Caroline Dotsey, 6-1 junior forward/center Mollie Carpenter and 5-8 senior guard Emma Rowland.
Despite a slow start, the Fords used a quick 9-0 run late in the second period to earn a 36-26 win and advance to the tourney’s second round. The Fords will face No. 8 seed Downingtown East Tuesday.
“We knew we had an advantage height-wise against Kennett, and we wanted to take advantage of that,” Haverford coach Lauren Pellicane said. “Defensively our goal was to limit Kennett’s threes, and limit them to one shot. We missed a lot of easy shots, I thought, but we did enough in the second half to finish a few shots and maintain our lead.”
In the first quarter, Kennett forced numerous Haverford turnovers, and the Fords trailed until Rowland’s layup tied the score at 5-5 just before the quarter ended. With a little under three minutes to go before halftime, however, Haverford went on its nine-point run in a span of 96 seconds to go ahead, 16-6.