Author: delcohoops

By Mike Mayer, Webmaster

In 2017 we created this web site for two main purposes.  First was to maintain a sort of one-stop web page for news on high school basketball in Delco.  We have some of the best high school basketball teams, boys and girls, in Pennsylvania and we wanted to make it a bit easier for people to track their favorite teams in the news and in the standings.

The second was to bring a LIVE game broadcast (audio originally) to fans, family and players once a week, known as our Game-the-Week.  It was a successful format that allowed high school basketball fans to listen to a live game without getting the school.

When Covid hit in 2020 high schools began installing automatic camera systems in their gymnasium so that family and friends could watch a game as they were not allowed into the gym to watch.  Almost every public and private high school had these cameras installed.  While it was great for the high school basketball community (and still is a great feature) it took the wind out of our sails when it came to broadcasting.  For us to spend money for a full broadcast and technical crew to broadcast a game seemed redundant since the equipment was already in place and easy to use.  We thought that schools may want to bring in our broadcasters for special games and contests but there was no interest.

Finding sponsors to fund a county-wide high school web site also proved difficult.

We will continue to keep these pages available for the near future (the links to schools, scores and schedules will automatically update) but we will no long republish links to articles in the Delco Times, Inquirer or City of Basketball Love.

If anyone is interested in taking over the web site as their own please contact me at delcohoops@aol.com.

We’ve had a good time these last few years but the world has changed and it’s time for us to say, goodbye!

By Andrew Robinson

It was really the only way it could have ended.

A generational team in Perkiomen Valley had put on a generational performance in the PIAA Class 6A title game Friday night in Hershey, a stunning score leaving the team’s senior core ample time to sit and reflect on their time together. But the nature of how the game had gone had also denied a real opportunity to give that core a proper final send-off so with 30 seconds left, they went in together and ran out the clock together.

A journey three years in the making ended the best way possible at the Giant Center, Perk Valley putting on arguably its best-ever performance as a group and winning its first state title 58-27 over Upper St. Clair.

“It was so special, getting to end that way with all of them, all I can say is special,” PV’s senior point guard Bella Bacani said. “I think we all started to realize this was our last game together, last time sharing the court together, so it was emotional but they were all happy emotions.”

The culmination of four years at Perk Valley but many, many years before that even had the normally stoic Quinn Boettinger unable to stop the tears. Boettinger, a 6-foot-3 center bound for Navy, walks onto the court with a game face on and it rarely deviates, even as players climb all over her trying to slow her down.

(click on this link for the full article)

By Joseph Santoliquito

That Monday in mid-February, Carl Arrigale gathered his team around him on the court named after him, under the nine PIAA state titles and 12 Catholic League championship banners he brought to Neumann-Goretti, and proceeded to break one of his personal tenets: He reminded his team that he had won a few games here and there.

The legendary Neumann-Goretti coach never likes to talk about his success. This time, though, coming off a Catholic League playoff quarterfinal loss to eventual league champion Father Judge, in which the Saints had an NBA number dropped on them, he felt it necessary.

He spoke about a reset. He reminded his team that they might not even qualify for the state playoffs, before any thought of a state championship went dancing in their heads.

It was a hard, emphatic message late in the season. It was a message that had to be said—and had to be absorbed.

(click on this link for the full article)

CoBL has a great series of previews on the girl’s and boy’s PIAA Championship game starting tonight through Saturday: (click on blue link for each article)

Boys 6A – Father Judge vs. Roman Catholic

Girls 6A – Perkiomen Valley vs. Upper St. Clair

Girls 5A – Archbishop Wood vs. South Fayette

Boys 5A – Neumann-Goretti vs. Hershey

Girls 4A – Neumann-Goretti vs. Lansdale Catholic

Boys 3A – West Catholic vs. South Allegheny

By Matt Smith

There were two key takeaways from Archbishop Carroll’s season-ending 52-45 loss to Perkiomen Valley in the PIAA Class 6A semifinals Friday night.

First, this is clearly Perk Valley’s year. They boast one of the best starting fives you’ll see in the state, led by their stars, the imposing power forward Quinn Boettinger and the versatile Grace Galbavy. The Vikings, who have claimed three consecutive District 1 titles, enter the championship game Friday in Hershey as heavy favorites against District 7 champion Upper St. Clair. And with good reason. They have the potential to put the game away by halftime.

The second takeaway is a bright one for Carroll. While the Patriots’ season ended in heartbreaking fashion, they remain a force – it’s Carroll girls basketball, after all – and will likely be one of the favorites heading into next year. The team will return the talented Eberz sisters, Alexis and Kayla, who were a lethal tandem throughout the Patriots’ 19-10 season. Freshman Kayla particularly stood out Friday, leading all Carroll players with 12 points and earning high praise from coach Renie Shields.

(click on this link for the full article, subscription may be required)

By Matthew DeGeorge

Kylie Mulholland trudged to the bench at James Buchanan High School with 28.1 seconds left Friday night and buried her head in the top of her Garnet Valley jersey.

When Savannah Saunders joined her less than eight seconds of game clock later, the comeback they had tried to inspire definitively dashed, they comprised a poignant symbol of how the Jaguars’ run ended.

The Jaguars struggled to meter their physicality in the PIAA Class 6A semifinal against Upper St. Clair. Combined with a stellar shooting performance from the Panthers from 3-point range, Garnet Valley’s journey ended one win shy of Hershey with a 53-49 setback.

“I mean, it was 5-0 in both quarters on fouls, which didn’t help us,” Mulholland said. “Sav was on the bench most of the game, which we need her in the game. Having those fouls on us, they were very frustrating and flustering, and I think we kind of got off our game a little, and we didn’t play our best.”

Mulholland, Garnet Valley’s sparkplug point guard, wields the information as explanation, not excuse. Garnet Valley was whistled for 21 fouls to Upper St. Clair’s 10. The Jaguars committed the first 10 fouls of the second half, in the estimation of the officials, the District 7 champion’s defense judged pristine from halftime until 1:57 remained in regulation.

(click on this link for the full article, subscription may be required)

By Andrew Robinson

Grace Miley was going to shoot, right up until she didn’t.

Instead, the Perkiomen Valley senior saw Quinn Boettinger and in a show of what’s made this Vikings team so good, Miley gave up the ball at the biggest juncture of Friday’s PIAA Class 6A semifinals. Boettinger drew a foul in a tie game, stepped to the line and knocked down two free throws for a PV lead it wouldn’t give back.

It took every measure they had in them, but the Vikings were finally able to put away Archbishop Carroll 52-45 at Plymouth Whitemarsh, securing their first trip to Hershey and a PIAA title game after an exceptional high school basketball game Friday night.

“We all just know, some of our shots may be good, but there are always better shots,” Miley said. “In a game like this, when it’s so close, taking the best shot is the most important thing. You might have a good shot, but you also have to know if someone else has a better shot because that’s the one more likely to get what you want.”

(click on this link for the full article)

By Matt Smith

Archbishop Carroll was a bounce away Friday night from potentially returning to Hershey for the PIAA Class 6A title game for the second time in three years.

With 1:15 left in regulation and the Patriots down a bucket, junior star Alexis Eberz attempted a 3-pointer that hit off the back of the rim and out. Perkiomen Valley corralled the rebound, then began the process of pulling away at the free-throw line.

After two straight seasons falling short against Catholic League opponents in the state tournament, the Vikings got over the hump, earning a 52-45 victory in the state semifinals at Plymouth Whitemarsh. They will face Upper St. Clair, which defeated Garnet Valley in the other semifinal, at the Giant Center next Friday at 6 p.m.

The Patriots finished with a 19-10 record.

“They’re a great team,” said Eberz, who accumulated seven points, seven rebounds and five assists. “We gave everything we had. Back in December, we never thought we would be in this position right now. We played our minds out, gave it all that we could, but we just fell a little short.”

(click on this link for the full article, subscription may be required)