Author: delcohoops

By Matt Smith

Garnet Valley had one quarter to figure everything out.

Council Rock North’s run-and-gun offense had left the District 1 champion Jaguars catching their breath for three periods Friday night at Norristown Area High School. They were getting beaten down the floor. The fifth option in CR North’s offense was cutting to the basket uncontested and scoring.

On the other side of the court, GV had put up eight points in the third quarter. A 3-for-10 shooting effort from the floor wasn’t good enough. The District 1 champion Jags trailed the District 1 seventh-place finisher by seven points.

But it almost felt like an insurmountable deficit.

Garnet Valley, a team consisting of five senior starters, didn’t panic, even when the Jags were frustrated to the point of screaming. That’s what guard Morgan Falcone nearly did when she was clearly hacked in the process of shooting a buzzer-beating 3-pointer that fell short.

(click on this link for the full story)

By Matt Smith

Cardinal O’Hara’s surprising run in the PIAA Class 6A tournament was halted in the quarterfinal round Friday night.

The District 12 champion Lions couldn’t quite contain Neshaminy senior Brooke Mullin, who collected 11 of her game-high 15 points in the second half to lead the Redskins to a 47-35 victory.

“Brooke Mullin is so good,” O’Hara senior guard Kerry Patterson said. “Alli (Harvey) is a good shooter and their point guard, Kristin (Curley), is a real good player. They have a lot of girls who can shoot and score. They all work really good together, so to guard them was kind of hard.

“Overall, I thought we did a pretty good job, it was just toward the end of the game when we started to get down on ourselves a little bit.”

Which is what happens with young teams sometimes.

(click on this link for the full story)

By Matt DeGeorge

It’ll be a Catholic League building hosting two Catholic League teams Friday night. The only thing that changes when Archbishop Carroll and Bonner & Prendergast collide in the PIAA Class 4A tournament at Cardinal O’Hara High is the stakes: One will advance to the state quarterfinal, one will have its season end.

In a rivalry that doesn’t need extra amplitude, Friday’s date (7 p.m.) provides some.

“You have the rivalry factor,” Friars coach Kevin Funston said. “You always have bragging rights. I think it becomes a little more of a strategy game than a game of, we are who we are and have we taught them enough. Knowing the competition will make it a little more exciting for us.”

The teams met in the regular season at Carroll, a 61-44 win for Bonner & Prendie Jan. 18. But both coaches apply significant caveats to that encounter. Injuries have narrowed Carroll’s roster, burnishing it to a heightened focus that has led to wins in eight of 10. The two losses were to teams still alive in states: An overtime setback to Class 5A squad Archbishop Wood and the PCL quarterfinal loss at 6A side La Salle, where Carroll led by 18 in the second half.

Even so, Funston is careful to point out that the regular-season meeting was a six-point affair after three quarters. So how much of a lesson can be drawn?

(click on this link for the full story as well as other playoff game reviews)

Webmaster’s note:  The Archbishop Carroll vs Bonner & Prendergast PIAA 4A quarter-final game will be LIVE audio broadcast tonight right here on Delcohoops.com.  Our broadcast will begin at 6:45 PM.

By Matt Smith

Cardinal O’Hara’s Erin Welde will never be the player who scores 20 points a game and wows everyone with her offensive wizardry.

Instead she brings so much more to the Lions.

Once a backup to Division I players such as Maura Hendrixson (Drexel), Kenzie Gardler (Villanova) and Hannah Nihill (Drexel), Welde worked to find her niche and earned a starting job on the team her senior year.

O’Hara coach Chrissie Doogan said recently that she cannot take Welde off the court because of her strong defense, energy and leadership. So what if Welde doesn’t bring much on offense — without her, it’s hard to imagine the Lions would still be alive in the PIAA Class 6A tournament.

“I know that I’m not going to be beneficial on offense, it turned out,” Welde said, laughing. “So, I know the only way I can stay on the court is if I’m playing good defense. If I’m not playing good defense, it doesn’t matter if I help out on the offensive end, I won’t be on the court. And I want to play. I just try to bring my best.”

(click on this link for the full story)

By Corey Sharp

The PIAA state basketball quarterfinals have arrived, and the District 1 girls are dominating the Class 6A bracket.

 

By Tom Ignudo

Lynn Greer III stood at the corner of the court and chucked three-pointers during pregame warmups Wednesday night before Roman Catholic’s PIAA Class 6A basketball playoff against Lower Merion at Cardinal O’Hara High School.

 

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By Bob Grotz

 A dunk, not a three-point shot, was the turning point Wednesday in Chester’s frenetic 76-65 triumph over Harrisburg in the second round of the PIAA Class 6A boys playoffs at the Geigle Complex.No one would have thought that possible after viewing the second quarter.

Fortunately for Chester, Akeem Taylor’s emphatic slam with 1:17 to go snuffed out the last bit of hope for three-point happy Harrisburg, advancing the Clippers to the quarterfinals, where they oppose Coatesville Saturday.

The Clippers had to win the game twice after taking a double-digit lead into the second quarter because the Cougars went all Steph Curry on them, draining five three-pointers.

The Clippers were outscored, 30-19, in the frame. With each Harrisburg three-point shot, the crowd was on its feet.

The dunk quieted the sizable Harrisburg following for good. It gave the Clippers a nine-point lead and sent several spectators toward the exits.

(click on this link for the full story)

By Matthew DeGeorge

Delco Christian had a plan on offense Wednesday afternoon. Holy Cross knew it, every which way.

A smaller Crusaders defense understood that in order to mitigate the threat of Obinna Nwobodo and Jacob Bronkema in the post and the lanky Jackson Piotrowski driving to the hoop, they’d have to defend proactively. So a 2-3 zone, with constant post denial against bigger marks, was the order of the day.

Add in foul frustration and the Crusaders’ dogged work on the boards, and it was a long day for DC.

With Piotrowski accounting for nearly half of Delco Christian’s points, the Knights didn’t have enough steam to get past Holy Cross, losing 50-38 in the second round of the PIAA Class 2A boys basketball tournament at Bethlehem Freedom High School.

“We knew (Nwobodo), he’s a really good post player,” Holy Cross guard Tyler Mozeleski said. “So we wanted to get in front of him and make sure he didn’t get the ball as easy as he did in some other games, because if he did, chances are he’s probably going to score. Same thing with (Piotrowski). We wanted to take him out of the game and make him do things he didn’t want to do.”

(click on this link for the full story)

By Matthew DeGeorge

By process of elimination, you could’ve easily arrived at Bonner & Prendergast’s approach against Madison Borum Wednesday.

What the Pandas wouldn’t do, in their PIAA Class 4A second-round contest with Lake-Lehman at Bethlehem Freedom High, was allow the 6-1, 1,000-point scorer to match up with any Panda one-on-one. They wouldn’t try in vain to match her height. So the only logical choice was a variety of zone looks that allowed every Panda, from 5-4 Dakota McCaughan literally on up, to get a chance to stem the tide.

Together, they assembled a superlative performance, Bonner & Prendie muting the District 2 champ into a 54-34 thumping to advance to the state’s Elite Eight.

“It was either to have Alexis Gleason or Ariana McGeary to get in front of her and definitely try to keep her out as much as we can and to block any passes that they were looking for her in the middle,” guard Maeve McCann said. “Every passer was looking for the middle. So the guards were trying to jump and help the big girls, because they were definitely having a game with her. They did a great job on her.”

(click on this link for the full story)

By Bob Grotz

When Archbishop Carroll gets it going, you can’t tell the difference between House and Huss.

You just know you’re in trouble, which was the case Tuesday night when senior shooter Luke House and big Tairi “Huss” Ketner took over the third quarter to lift the Patriots to a 74-62 win over Lancaster Catholic and reach the elite eight in the PIAA Class 4A tournament.

The duo combined for a dozen points in a 17-3 run that turned a four-point lead into a 58-40 wrap entering the final frame.

“I call House-House and then I call Huss-Huss,” Carroll coach Francis Bowe said of the plays he calls from the sideline. “We want to go inside-out with those two. We challenged House in the locker room at the half. We said ‘Luke, get going.’ If Luke gets going, Huss gets going. If we can get outside-inside going all game, that’s when the runs really start happening.”

(click on this link for the full story)