Author: delcohoops

Haylie Adamski went off for 20 points as nine Jaguars scored in Garnet Valley’s doubling up of Strath Haven, 62-31, in Central League action.

Kylie Mulholland scored 14 points. She and Adamski pocketed four steals apiece. Addie Adamski added 11 points.

Eliza Jauregui and Olivia Voshell led Haven with eight points each.

Also in the Central League:

Haverford 44, Springfield 30 >> Haverford turned up the defense by allowing just nine first-half points to build a 15-point lead at the break. Aniya Eberhart led the way with 19 points, including 10 in the second half thanks to an 8-for-8 performance at the line. She chipped in eight rebounds, five assists and three steals.

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By Josh Verlin

It’s hard to believe the 2023-24 regular season is nearly wrapped up — at least, at the high school level, with only a couple weeks left until postseason play begins across the Delaware Valley. The colleges are a couple more weeks behind, but everybody’s gearing up for the playoffs, with just about every game in the area holding importance of some kind. 

Central League
With three games left to play on the boys’ side, Lower Merion (18-1, 13-0) has all but clinched the top seed in the league’s six-team playoffs, though second-place Conestoga (12-5, 10-3) will try to be the first to knock off the Aces in a quality game Tuesday night. Radnor (14-3, 10-3), tied with ‘Stoga, has a quality game of its own Tuesday night at Marple Newtown (9-9, 7-5), which is hanging onto fourth place but has four six-loss teams right behind it: Harriton and Penncrest (7-6), Garnet Valley and Springfield (6-6). Penncrest has a huge week, hosting Harriton on Tuesday and going to Springfield on Thursday, and Marple hosts Harriton on Friday to complete a tough week of its own.

Haverford’s girls (15-3, 10-2) knocking off Conestoga (18-1, 12-1) this week made the race quite a bit more interesting, with Garnet Valley (15-2, 10-2) also in the mix;

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By Josh Verlin

Gregg Downer had been waiting for a Jayden Robinson game. 

The longtime Lower Merion coach had gotten stretches, moments and spurts this season from the 6-foot-5 senior. He knew Robinson could give him more. A big-time Central League matchup against a Garnet Valley squad that always gives the Aces problems was the next potential breakout.

“It’s always a rally cry to ask your big players to get double-doubles,” Downer said. “You think that a guy like Jayden could possibly be capable of that. I reminded him before the game that he hasn’t had 10 rebounds in a game all season.”

He got it Saturday night, Robinson going for his first double-double of the season, his efforts a major reason the Aces were able to overcome a rough shooting night to emerge with a 62-58 win over the Jaguars.

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Senior guard Aniya Eberhart scored all of her game-high 10 points in the first half Saturday as Haverford cruised past Upper Darby, 44-28, in a Central League girls basketball contest.

Behind Eberhart’s hot shooting, the Fords held a 30-9 lead at halftime. Ashley Wright also finished with 10 points and Rian Dotsey scored eight for Haverford.

Mia Wilson and Sage Walters each netted eight points for the host Royals.

Garnet Valley 64, Lower Merion 28 >> Nine players entered the scoring column for the Jaguars led by Emily Olsen (eight rebounds) and Haylie Adamski (six rebounds, two assists), each of whom had 12 points.

Savannah Saunders supplied 11 points and Kylie Mulholland (five steals, two assists) and Addie Adamski chipped in eight points apiece for GV.

Radnor 56, Harriton 39 >> Four starters scored in double digits for the Raptors. Kate Gallagher led with 13 points, Nyah Yao had 12, and Blayse Jennings and Anna Reger tallied 10 each.

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KJ Carson made the go-ahead free throw with less than a minute to play in the fourth quarter and The Haverford School held on for a 51-50 victory over Penn Charter in an Inter-Ac League game Friday.

Silas Graham paced the Fords with 16 points. Jacob Becker added 11 points and Carson finished with nine.

Episcopal Academy 74, Malvern Prep 61 >> Kevin McCarthy powered the Churchmen with a game-high 25 points. Timmy Dennis checked in with 17 points.

In nonleague action:

Delco Christian 62, Renaissance Academy 26 >> Khamai Orange and Beau Lyren scored 13 points apiece to left the Knights.

DCCS (11-4 overall, 8-1 league) was helped by 12 points each by Caleb Jameson and Brad Berwick. For RA, Ed Breazeale scored 13 points.

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By Matthew DeGeorge

It hasn’t been the easiest of decades around Interboro’s boys basketball program. That’s the only conclusion to draw from four winless seasons and three one-win campaigns in the last nine seasons.

But this year, the Bucs have four wins on the ledger before the season enters its final month. They are doing it with a renewed confidence under coach Conrad Kirkaldy.

Among those wins is a 74-64 decision over Academy Park. It’s just the third Del Val win in the last 10 seasons for the Bucs, and it has brought self-belief to a group that has struggled through plenty.

“It’s really important,” senior forward Sean Thomas said Tuesday after a loss at Chichester. “If we don’t play with that mentality, we’re not going to do good. We try to bring ourselves up to get more wins.”

Interboro started the season 3-2, with wins over (an albeit shorthanded) Upper Darby, Kennett and Oxford. It kept within 12 points of Rustin and Boyertown and played Chichester to a two-point loss at home.

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By Matt Smith

Radnor senior Kate Gallagher would preferred to have an easy win Thursday at Penncrest.

“I think it was good we had that right now,” Gallagher said, “because it’s going to prepare us for the playoffs.”

That was a close call, a 38-33 Central League victory for Radnor.

After playing a near-perfect first half of basketball, holding a comfortable (or so everyone thought) 14-point cushion at the break, the Raptors allowed a very good Penncrest squad to fight back and make it a game. Both teams entered the game with 12-4 records, so they are even in a lot of ways. And both were jockeying for a higher seed in next month’s Central League tournament.

Penncrest stormed out of the locker room after halftime, forced five Radnor turnovers, and made the game mighty interesting. Radnor led 30-13, but found itself in a 32-all deadlock when Alex Bruce drilled a 3-pointer with under four minutes to go.

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Make it 15 straight wins for Chester boys basketball.

The Clippers tallied 60 points in the first half on the way to a 97-51 demolition of Academy Park Thursday.

The Clippers (16-1, 6-0 Del Val) led by 41 points at the break. Calvin Williams had 31 points in the first half and added 12 rebounds. Daron Harris scored 10 points, and Dante Atkinson added nine points. Chester had 11 players score, and 10 scored at least five points each.

Anthony Blue led Academy Park with 15 points.

In the Central League:

Radnor 43, Penncrest 30 >> Kessy Cox and Elijah Sellers scored 13 points each as the Raptors overturned a four-point halftime deficit and avenged a loss to start the league slate.

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By Joseph Santoliquito

They were a team full of stars a year ago that grinded. This year, the Radnor Raptors are a team full of grinders that grind. There is nothing flashy about them. There is no one dominant player that is athletically superior.

They are a dribbling, defending, floor-diving, sum-is-better-than-the-parts team.

Radnor boys basketball, which entered Thursday night’s Central League play the No. 3 team in PIAA District 1 Class 5A play, avenged an earlier-season loss to pesky, disciplined Penncrest 43-30 behind the team-high 13 points each from Kessy Cox and Elijah Sellers.

The Raptors (12-3, 8-4) still carry that mantle of the defending District 1 Class 5A champions. They have carried the weight of that well, as emphasized by the word on the back of the warm-up shooting shirts: “Proof.”

New coach Tim Smallwood has not thrown a lot at this group. He has kept simple mantra: “Compete.”

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Natalie Wright and the Haverford girls basketball team handed Conestoga its first loss of the season Thursday night.

Wright, a junior forward, scored a team-high 14 points in the Fords’ dominating, 38-27 win.

Haverford, which led from the opening tip, avenged a December defeat to Conestoga. The teams are tied for first place in the Central League.

Rian Dotsey finished with nine points for the Fords (14-3). Ryann Jennings had 10 points for the Pioneers (17-1).

Garnet Valley 49, Ridley 24 >> Haylie Adamski accumulated 18 points, eight rebounds, two assists and two steals for the Jaguars, who are one game behind Haverford and Conestoga for the top spot. Kylie Mulholland piled up 15 points, four assists and three steals.

Savanah Saunders (five points, three steals) was excellent on defense for the Jaguars. Kailyn Bell scored a team-high nine points for the Green Raiders.

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