Author: delcohoops

In Class 5A, PIAA, D1:
Upper Moreland 52, Strath Haven 36 » The 12-seeded Panthers put up a light through three quarters but the shots didn’t fall as the Bears outscored the visitors, 17-9. to advance to the quarterlinals against fourth-seeded Gwynedd Mercy next Tuesday.
Upper Moreland shot 9-for-10 from the free throw line in the linal period. Holly Gohl led the way with a game-high 18 points. Mikel Lancit pitched in with 13 points.
Laura Shea topped Strath Haven with 13 points. Olivia Voshell grabbed seven rebounds and Maryella Gill made four steals.

Bicentennial Athletic League championship:

TCA 37, MaST Charter 36 » Christian Academy received 10 points each from Elle Cryan and Amy Bullard, and a critical 3-pointer from Leah Sareyka in crunch time to hold off MaST Charter in a Bicentennial Athletic League championship game Thursday night.
TCA had trailed much of the game until with about four minutes left, a jumper from Teah Maikai gave the Crusaders their first lead at 34-32. That set the stage for Sareyka’s big trey.
Anyi Washington scored a game-high 13 points for MaST.

By Matt Smith

Carly Coleman’s role on the Cardinal O’Hara girls basketball team is always evolving.

The junior has started all season for the Lions,  joining classmates Joanie Quinn and Greta Miller as first-year starters after all were key reserves on last year’s Catholic League and PIAA Class 5A championship squad.

O’Hara coach Chrissie Doogan has been thrilled with the progress of all three juniors. Quinn is a scoring point guard and Miller can play lockdown defense and pop a 3-pointer from the corner. Coleman, the tallest of the three, plays all over the floor.

“She’s becoming somebody I can’t take off the floor, quite honestly,” Doogan said of Coleman following O’Hara 54-29 win over West Catholic in the first round of the Catholic League playoffs Thursday. “She’s somebody that brings energy and is unselfish … and she’ll make the extra pass. She fills her role nicely.

(click on this link for the full story)

By Matthew DeGeorge

Danny Rosenblum and Charlie Thornton walked off the court at Unionville three years ago, not needing the reminder that better days lay ahead.

It was Feb. 26, 2020, and Radnor had just lost a District 1 Class 5A playback game to end its season. For a group that played two freshmen heavily, a 15-win season felt ahead of schedule. They fell in the quarterfinals as heavy underdogs to eventual champ West Chester East, then were summarily dismissed in their bid to get back into states.

But had you told either Rosenblum or Thornton then what would be in the program’s future, you would’ve been met with confident affirmation.

“Honestly, I would’ve believed it,” Rosenblum said Monday, after the 24-0 Raptors wrapped up the program’s Central League title over Lower Merion. “I trust these guys so much and we’ve been through so much together. This has been our goal the entire time.”

(click on this link for the full story)

By CoBL Staff

The District 1 5A bracket is finalized with game times announced. The 12-team boys and girls tournaments begin Friday with four opening round games in each tournament as the other four squads earn byes. 

Six teams earn spots in the PIAA field so the winners head to next Wednesday’s second round and have at least two more games left in their seasons, while the first round losers shut the doors on their 2022-23 campaigns..

Here’s a look at each of next Friday’s first-round games, which will all take place at 7 PM (unless otherwise noted) at the higher seed; second-round games will be Wed., Feb. 22, also at higher seeds, who host through the championship game: Saturday, March 4 at Temple University:

Boys

8) Sun Valley vs. 9) Marple Newtown
Winner play No. 1 Radnor

The Vanguards have four starters who played in last year’s district tournament, opening with a win as the 8-seed before falling to top seed Radnor in the second round and 12th-seeded Chichester in the first playback game. 

(click on this link for the full playoff review)

West Point recruit Taylor Wilson scored a game-high 33 points, leading Archbishop Carroll to a 57-41 victory over Neumann-Coretti Thursday night in a Catholic League quarterfinal game. The Patriots (8-3 PCL, 11-12 overall) led by only two points entering the fourth quarter but tripled up the Saints 21-7 in the fourth quarter to win going away. Brooke Wilson supported her sister and the team by adding 15 points for Carroll, including six free throws down the stretch. Sophomores Amya Scott and Carryn Easley scored team-highs of 12 points each for young Neumann-Coretti (6-5, 9-14). Agnes Irwin 47, Germantown Friends 27 » Simone Harvey scored 15 points and CG Seibert and Sarah Shelton added 10 each as AIS won this PAISAA Commonwealth Cup semifinal game. The Owls move on to the Commonwealth Cup final to take on Springside Chestnut Hill on Friday at 4.

SCHA 62, Barrack Hebrew 45 » Freshman Zoe Thompson scored 16 points and Faith Scally added 13 for Springside-Chestnut Hill in the win. Mikayla Trajtenberg scored 14 and Eden Singer added 12 for Barrack.
Boys Basketball

Episcopal Academy’s Kevin McCarthy scored 31 points to boost the Churchmen to a 71-54 victory over Abington Friends in a PAISAA Commonwealth Cup semifinal game Thursday.

By Matt Smith

If you say the word “undefeated” to a Haverford player, you are unlikely to get a response. A smirk or shrug of the shoulders, but that’s about it.

The Fords are 24-0 and fresh off winning the team’s first Central League championship in 11 years. They are led by Delaware County’s top scorer, senior forward Caroline Dotsey, who is averaging around 18 points per game. They have three dominant forwards in Dotsey, her  sophomore sister Rian and senior Mollie Carpenter, all of whom stand six feet or taller. Their starting guards, senior Sky Newman and junior Aniya Eberhart, are the energizers.

The Fords know they’re good, but going into the District 1 Class 6A tournament as the only undefeated team in the district means very little to them. It doesn’t mean they are cocky or overconfident. They approach every game like it will be their last.

(click on this link for the full story)

By Matthew DeGeorge

It wasn’t long into the third quarter Wednesday night that Izaiah Pasha picked up his third personal foul. The moment could’ve placed the Catholic League first-round game between Cardinal O’Hara and Bonner & Prendergast on a knife’s edge.

Bonner & Prendie, chasing the whole game, was within eight. O’Hara was one hand-check away from having to play without its point guard and do-everything creator. The same conundrum hit later in the quarter when Pearse McGuinn, limited by foul trouble in the first half, was whistled for his third.

But in tune with his maturing team, O’Hara coach Ryan Nemetz kept both players on the floor. And he let them lead O’Hara to the Catholic League quarterfinals. McGuinn scored 11 of his 16 points in the third, then Pasha supplied 12 of his 18 in the fourth as seven-seed O’Hara held off No. 10 Bonner, 69-60.

The first possession after Pasha’s third foul was telling. Two free throws from Deuce Ketner brought Bonner to within 34-26. Pasha responded by driving to the arc and flipping a pass over his head to McGuinn in the left corner to can a 3-pointer.

(click on this link for the full story)

By Josh Verlin

Archbishop Carroll has come close to pulling off some big upsets in the Catholic League quarterfinals under Francis Bowe.

In Bowe’s first year on the Carroll sidelines, 2018-19, the seventh-seeded Patriots took a 17-point lead into the fourth quarter at No. 2 seed La Salle, only to suffer — according to hoops historian Ted Silary — the largest come-from-behind-after-three-quarters victory in PCL quarterfinal history as the Explorers won 49-47. The following year, just ahead of the pandemic, Carroll almost pulled the 8-1 upset at Archbishop Wood, the Vikings taking advantage of a backcourt violation late in regulation to force overtime and win 82-78 in the extra session.

If a couple plays go a couple different ways, it’s possible that Bowe wouldn’t be aiming for his first trip to the Palestra, but his third. Now once again the No. 8 seed and going on the road to face the Catholic League regular-season champs, Neumann-Goretti, in the quarterfinals on Friday, Bowe has some history to lean on.

(click on this link for the full story)

By Matthew DeGeorge

Charlie Thornton exited the locker room at Harriton High School Monday night wearing sunglasses. Given the blinding shooting night he and his Radnor teammates had just inflicted on Lower Merion, it was probably better safe than sorry.

Thornton hit six 3-pointers to tie a career-high with 26 points, the Raptors scorched the nets to a 20-for-30 shooting performance and Radnor ran away in the second half, winning the Central League title with a 60-46 decision.

“I told Jackson (Hicke) a few days ago, I haven’t felt like I couldn’t miss in a while,” Thornton said, his shades neatly tucked away. “And today was one of those days. My guys find me wherever I needed to be found. They know where I like my spots, and they put me in those positions to make plays.”

Accessories aside, Thornton is the first to defer credit. Which makes sense, because that’s how Radnor has gotten to 24-0, lifting what is believed to be its first title in the Central League, which dates to the mid-1960s. Radnor’s brilliance is predicated on that one extra pass – always selfless, always looking for the next man, always getting the ball to the player in the best position to help the team.

 

Webmaster’s note:  If you missed the game or simply want to listen again click on our Archived Broadcast page.

(click on this link for the full story)

By Matt Smith

Twenty-seven seconds separated Haverford from its first Central League girls basketball championship in 11 years when Caroline Dotsey stood at the foul line with the Fords leading by one point Monday.

The senior forward made the first shot before Conestoga took a timeout in an attempt to ice the Fords’ outstanding senior forward.

In the midst of a dominating 23-point performance, Dotsey’s second free shot was short. Rian Dotsey, Caroline’s sophomore sister,  jumped inside the lane, raised her arms and grabbed the rebound. In one motion Rian sent the ball back in the air and into the basket.

The Fords’ bench and every one of their fans in attendance at Harriton High erupted.

Rian Dotsey’s shot sealed No. 1 Haverford’s 41-37 win over second-seeded Conestoga for the Central League title. In addition to claiming their first league crown since 2012, the Fords (24-0) have tied a program record for consecutive victories.

Webmaster’s note:  If you missed the game or simply want to listen again click on our Archived Broadcast page.

(click on this link for the full story)