Author: delcohoops

By Owen McCue

Natalie and Ashley Wright are pretty sure most opponents think they’re sisters when they go through their scout team.

Their teammates thought they might be related at one point too, believing the two Haverford girls basketball forwards were cousins when Natalie arrived at the high school a year after Ashley.

Natalie, a 5-10 junior, and Ashley, a 5-11 senior, are both similar in height and wear similar blonde ponytails that even get themselves confused at times.

“When we’re watching film we look at our heads, and I’m like wait I thought that was me?,” Natalie said.

Haverford’s Wrights aren’t sisters — though they did become good friends while swinging for the varsity team two years ago. And they do bring a similar energy and intensity as they showed in Thursday’s night’s 38-27 win over Conestoga.

They were two of the tone setters in a rugged Central League battle that ended the Pioneers’ perfect season and continued to propel a Fords team with sky high ambitions once again.

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By Matthew DeGeorge

Episcopal Academy’s plan Wednesday afternoon was clear from the start.

Haverford School would likely come out in a 3-2 zone defense to try to take away EA’s outside shooters. The Churchmen would have to counter by moving the ball quickly, hitting the extra man and knocking down any opportunities that opened.

When a 10-point first-half edge vanished into a tie game at the break, the answer was to double down on what had worked so well early. EA’s 8-0 run to start the second half created separation on the way to a 60-49 Inter-Ac victory. It was the same recipe that had led to a 14-4 start to the game.

“At halftime, it was all, ‘we need to do what we were doing in the first quarter,’” wing Timmy Dennis said. “We got off to a hot start. … We just needed to keep pushing. At halftime, we were talking about getting it to the middle.”

What worked for EA early was still effective late. The Churchmen got six quality looks from 3-point range on their first six possessions of the game. It yielded 14 points, with four makes and one in which Kevin McCarthy was fouled and hit two at the line.

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By Josh Verlin

When Anthony Lilly was still just a middle schooler, his parents had an idea of how his eventual high school career would go. Anthony had already made it clear he would be following his older brother Paul to Father Judge, basketball the tall youngster’s sport of choice. 

“They kept saying to me, my senior year, I think you guys will make it to the Palestra,” Lilly recalled.

At the time, that seemed a little optimistic: Judge wasn’t exactly a basketball powerhouse in a league full of them, hadn’t been to the Catholic League semifinals — hosted at the Palestra, the venerable gym on Penn’s campus that’s become the mecca of Philly high school basketball — since the 1998-99 season. 

As it turns out, Kathy and Paul Lilly might have been onto something.

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Ja’Mya Muhammad scored 22 points and grabbed 12 rebounds as Chester moved to 5-0 in the Del Val League with a 61-45 win over Penn Wood late Tuesday.

Imani Dorsey added 17 points, eight rebounds and 10 steals. Shyne hall scored 14 points for the Chippers (8-7).

Kailyn Freeman led Penn Wood with 14 points. Elisia Lawrence scored six points and secured 11 rebounds.

Boys Basketball

Dave Bertoline made the game-winning layup as time expired to lift Marple Newtown over Conestoga, 45-43, in Central League action Tuesday.

PJ Esposito scored 15 points. Ryan Keating added 13 points and 10 rebounds for the Tigers.

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By Matt Smith

When Debbie Black returned to her hometown in Bucks County, coaching high school basketball was the last thing on her mind. But then she heard from a friend that Marple Newtown had an open spot on the bench. Shortly thereafter, then-head coach Ryan Wolski asked if she would be interested in an assistant’s position.

“And I said, ‘Sure, but here’s my deal: I have never coached high school,’” Black said after Monday’s game against Lower Moreland.

Oh, that wasn’t a dealbreaker.

Black, who starred at Archbishop Wood and Saint Joseph’s, was a 15-year pro in various leagues including the WNBA until retirement in 2005. She was named the WNBA Defensive Player of the Year at 35 years old. Years later, she became head coach at Eastern Illinois from 2013-17 and spent time on staffs at Vanderbilt, Ohio State and Chattanooga.

Black became the head coach at Marple after Wolski stepped down. She has enjoyed opportunity to develop players at this level.

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By Matthew DeGeorge

As the shots continued not to fall and the deficit on the scoreboard persisted Tuesday night, Hamza Clay and his Chichester basketball teammates dug into their bag of solutions.

Problem-solving on the fly has become a thing for the Eagles, after losing the vast majority of production from last year’s states-qualifying squad. Through 16 games, they’ve handled the challenges at a .500 level.

But trailing at halftime to Interboro, whom Chichester had only beaten by two points in the first matchup, probably wasn’t envisioned among those challenges. Though when confronted with it on home court, Clay and company found a solution.

Chi turned up its defense to force 12 of the Bucs’ 30 turnovers in the third quarter, and Clay led a dogged rebounding and defensive effort in finally overcoming the greatly improved Bucs, 74-60.

The final score line will flatter the Eagles (9-8, 3-2 Del Val). This was a one-point game through three quarters, until the Eagles’ shooting awakened to go 12-for-18 from the field in the fourth, including makes on seven of the first nine attempts.

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By Josh Verlin

Echoes of last season still resonate in the gym at Radnor High School. 

The 2023 graduating class lifted the Raptors to new heights — a Central League title, District 1 5A championship and state quarterfinals appearance the culmination of a couple years of hardwood dominance. But with Jackson Hicke, Charlie Thornton, Danny Rosenblum and Cooper Mueller off to their respective schools last fall and a new coach taking over in Tim Smallwood, outside expectations dropped significantly for a program that wasn’t traditionally a hoops powerhouse.

Instead, the Radnor boys are back — and, while maybe not better than ever, still pretty darn good. They were impressive in a dismantling of a quality West Chester East side on Monday night, getting contributions from up and down the roster in a 60-35 win.

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Dave Bertoline made the game-winning layup as time expired to lift Marple Newtown over Conestoga, 45-43, in Central League action Tuesday.

PJ Esposito scored 15 points Ryan Keating added 13 points and 10 rebounds for the Tigers.

Elsewhere in the Central League:

Radnor 68, Ridley 62 >> Harry Pierce and Kessy Cox each posted career highs for the Raptors. Pierce totaled 29 points and Cox 21.

Austin McCaughan tallied 22 points for the Green Raiders.

Springfield 62, Upper Darby 45 >> Colin Treude (16), Pat Flaherty (15) and Jake Adams (14) reached double figures in scoring for the Cougars.

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Agnes Irwin School’s Simone Harvey poured in 31 points and hit six 3-point shots in the Owls’ 77-64 Inter-Ac League win Tuesday over Springside Chestnut Hill Academy. The freshman guard added five steals.

GG Seibert recorded 13 points and seven rebounds, while Milan Harvey contributed eight points for AIS.

In the Central League:

Radnor 53, Ridley 43 >> Kate Gallagher poured in 27 points and grabbed eight rebounds for the Raptors, who snapped the Green Raiders’ five-game winning streak.

Anna Reger compiled 10 points, four rebounds and four assists. Caroline Monahan had nine points and six rebounds, while Blayse Jennings ended with seven points and six boards.

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By Matthew DeGeorge

Jake Sniras wasn’t in a celebratory mood Sunday afternoon.

The Garnet Valley wing had led his team with 16 points. Along the way, he’d achieved his 1,000th career point with plenty of basketball left in his junior season. But the balance between individual accolades and team achievement is one of many Sniras is trying to strike this year. And a 45-35 Central League loss to Springfield wasn’t it, no matter what signs and balloons awaited him.

“It’s awesome, yeah,” Sniras said. “But my main focus is on winning games and being in the playoff hunt all the time. We’re not there yet. It’s frustrating.”

Sunday’s performance from Garnet Valley (8-6, 4-5 Central) is the kind Sniras fears. He got his points, 16 in total, nearly half of the Jaguars’ output. His seven made baskets accounted for more than half of the Jags’ 13 on the day.

But GV shot just 25.5 percent from the field, and an unsightly 3-for-23 from 3-point range. That took the steam out of the layup Sniras hit a minute into the third to become just the eighth player in program history to hit 1,000 points and just the fifth to score all 1,000 at Garnet Valley.

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