Author: delcohoops

By Andrew Robinson

Pressure? Perk Valley wasn’t feeling any.

Garnet Valley had played an exceptional first half against the two-time defending District 1 6A champions Friday night inside Hagan Arena on Hawk Hill. It would have made sense if the Vikings had gone to their team room with a little trepidation about their chances to make it three straight, but that’s not what this PV team is about.

No. 1 Perk Valley put together another suffocating defensive second half, using its power inside on both ends to grind past a very game No. 2 Garnet Valley 43-30 to capture its third straight District 1 6A title. 

“I don’t think it was any pressure at all to be honest,” PV’s Grace Galbavy said. “It’s an achievement in itself to win one, you want to win three, but doing it one time is an achievement. If we wanted to raise the bar, we did, but I don’t think it was any pressure on us.”

Quinn Boettinger scored 20 points, the 6-foot-3 center adding six blocks while Galbavy posted 13 points, 11 rebounds, five assists, five blocks and three steals. As a team, PV accumulated 11 blocks, the majority of those coming in the third quarter as GV’s drivers found themselves with not much space to operate.

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By Josh Verlin 

Ben Robinson looked up and saw nothing but a sea of green beckoning to him.

The Conestoga student section, decked out in a combination of Eagles and St. Paddy’s Day gear — a nod to the school’s location on Irish Avenue in Berwyn — was silent on the baseline at Saint Joseph’s Hagan Arena, hands raised to the sky, the Plymouth Whitemarsh students roaring at the other end with just under six seconds left in overtime of the 2025 District 1 6A title game.

No. 3 Conestoga was clinging to a two-point lead, No. 5 Plymouth Whitemarsh having come up with an answer every other time it looked like it might be down and out. Robinson, with four decades of pressure on his shoulders, didn’t let his Pioneer peers down.

“I’m not really thinking about what moment I’m in, I’m just thinking about putting the ball in the basket and that mindset helps me,” the Conestoga senior said. “We work on free-throws every day, so I have confidence at the line that I’m going to hit the shots.”

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By Matt Smith

The District 1 Class 6A championship is set, with top-seeded Perkiomen Valley and No. 2 Garnet Valley ready to clash Friday at 6 p.m. at Hagan Arena on the campus of Saint Joseph’s University.

This year’s tournament went as expected, with no major surprises, paving the way for a championship showdown between the top two contenders.

But make no mistake, Perkiomen Valley (24-3) enters as the clear favorite. The Vikings are the standard in District 1 girls hoops, and it’s been that way for a few years now. Garnet Valley (26-1) is more than comfortable in the underdog role.

“I know they are a great team. I know it’s a big stage and there are going to be a lot of people there,” Garnet Valley senior star Haylie Adamski said Wednesday. “I am excited to play Perk Valley.”

Garnet Valley is aiming for its second district championship in program history, having claimed the title in 2019. That team was led by Emily McAteer, the Daily Times Player of the Year, who is now an assistant under head coach Joe Woods.

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By Matt Smith

When Garnet Valley needed a spark to overcome a tough shooting night, senior Haylie Adamski, as she’s wont to do, delivered in clutch fashion.

One of the top players in District 1, the senior Adamski was sensational in the fourth quarter, drilling a pair of 3-point field goals to give the second-seeded Jaguars the lift they desperately needed to push past No. 3 Upper Dublin in a District 1 Class 6A semifinal showdown Wednesday.

With a 46-32 victory, Garnet Valley advances to the district championship, where it will face top-seeded Perkiomen Valley Friday at Saint Joseph’s Hagan Arena. The opening tip is set for 6 p.m.

“Good shooters keep shooting,” Adamski said. “I knew we had to keep the pressure on them. We weren’t making a lot of our shots, but we couldn’t stop going after them. They are a good team and they had some momentum. We had to get out of our own heads and make sure we came away with the win “

Adamski poured in 10 of her game-high 22 points as the Jaguars dominated the final frame, outscoring the Cardinals 16-6.

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By Owen McCue

A few clanks of the rim didn’t dismay Haylie Adamski.

The 6-foot wing, committed to Lafayette, knows sooner or later her high-arcing jumper will find the bottom of the net.

“My shot wasn’t falling in the beginning and all good shooters shoot, so that’s what I was going to do,” Adamski said.

Adamski began to heat up in the third quarter and broke through with a pair of backbreaking triples in the fourth to help second-seed Garnet Valley topple third-seed Upper Dublin, 46-32 in Wednesday’s District 1 6A semifinal.

She had 10 of her game-high 22 points in the fourth and added 13 rebounds to send the Jags (26-1) to their first district title game since 2019, where they will face top seed Perkiomen Valley on Friday at St. Joe’s Hagan Arena.

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By Matt Smith

From the opening tip at Hollinger Fieldhouse Tuesday night, Radnor played with a poise and intensity that made one thing clear: This team wouldn’t be happy leaving without a championship.

Riding the same confidence that has characterized their postseason run, the No. 2 Raptors took control early against top-seeded Gwynedd Mercy, buoyed by a suffocating defensive performance. At one point in the first half, the Monarchs went nearly five minutes without even attempting a shot.

Radnor’s relentless pressure held Gwynedd Mercy to just eight first-half points, and despite a brief surge in the third quarter, the Raptors never wavered. By the final buzzer, Radnor had earned a commanding 48-33 victory, claiming the program’s second District 1 title and first since 2014.

A defining trait of Radnor’s championship run has been its balanced attack. No single player has carried the scoring load, and Tuesday was no different. Sophomore Caroline Quinn stepped up with a major impact off the bench, following in the footsteps of fellow sophomore Bree Simpson, who starred in the Raptors’ semifinal win over Villa Maria.

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By Josh Verlin

We’re on to the District 1 6A girls semifinals. All four of the top seeds have made it through — Perkiomen Valley, Garnet Valley, Upper Dublin and Central Bucks East — to set up a great pair of games featuring a ton of local talent.

There are actually six 6A games on Wednesday night. Two of them are semifinals; two of them are PIAA qualifying games, Council Rock South/Spring-Ford and Downingtown West/Abington t all facing off for the final two spots out of District 1, with the winners of those games both safely in. And then there are two seeding games between four teams who have already locked in state berths but who are just playing for their spots on the bracket.

Here’s a look at all of those games:

2) Garnet Valley vs. 3) Upper Dublin (7:00 PM)

Both of these teams have basically had dream seasons thus far, and this could be one of the best games of the season. The Central League champions, Garnet Valley (25-1) hasn’t lost since Dec. 17, but it’s already gotten Haverford High back for that one on two separate occasions, including 54-44 in Saturday’s quarterfinal round. Upper Dublin (23-4), the Suburban One League champions, took overtime to beat Cheltenham in the district quarterfinals, the Cardinals’ seventh-straight win overall. 

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By Owen McCue 

After a season spent on the freshman basketball team, Plymouth Whitemarsh forward Michael Pereira was the “hypest kid in the stands” when the Colonials went to the District 1 title game during his first year on campus.

Pereira sprouted into a prospect and player for PW in the two years since, helping guide the Colonials back to the area’s top stage.

The 6-foot-9 forward had his third straight 20-point outing in Tuesday night District 1 6A semifinal, putting up 28 points and 10 rebounds to power No. 5 Plymouth Whitemarsh past top-seed Lower Merion, 58-50, and into Friday’s title game against Conestoga at St. Joe’s Hagan Arena.

“I’ve made leaps and bounds this season,” Peirera said. “I’ve leared to play a lot more physical than I was before. I feel like the team’s relying on me in a way that I didn’t see them relying on me earlier in the season. Twenty-eight in the district semis, it’s a great feeling. If I hit a couple more foul shots it’s 30.”

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By Josh Verlin

We’re on to the District 1 6A boys semifinals. All four teams left — Lower Merion, Coatesville, Conestoga and Plymouth Whitemarsh — are amongst the district’s top five seeds, all with about equal chances to be playing for a district title on Friday night at Saint Joseph’s Hagan Arena (8:00 PM).

There are six 6A games on Tuesday night. Two of them are semifinals; two of them are PIAA qualifying games, Phoenixville/Bensalem and Methacton/Downingtown West all facing off for the final two spots out of District 1, with the winners of those games both safely in. And then there are two seeding games between four teams who have already locked in state berths but who are just playing for their spots on the bracket.

Here’s a look at all of those games:

Boys: District 1 6A Semifinals
1) Lower Merion vs. 5) Plymouth Whitemarsh (7:00 PM)

What a surprise — Lower Merion and Plymouth Whitemarsh are deep in the District 1 tournament once again. Yes, we’ve certainly seen both Gregg Downer and Jim Donofrio do this time and time before, though they both took different paths to get here this season. Lower Merion won the district title last year, graduated most of its starting lineup — and finds itself two wins away from a repeat, Downer and his staff pulling off another terrific coaching job with an Aces group that’s on a roll. 

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By Matthew DeGeorge

There were no minced words when Archbishop Carroll coach Renie Shields called timeout two minutes into the third quarter of the Catholic League championship game Sunday afternoon.

Carroll trailed by 13 points, and two free throws from Neumann-Goretti’s Amaya Scott would soon stretch the spread 15. Carroll had endured a woeful shooting first half at the Palestra, and the game was quickly getting away from them.

“There was a lot of tension,” Carroll guard Alexis Eberz said. “We were down a lot, so we knew what we had to do to come back, but just taking it one possession at a time. I think that was a big thing.”

For the next 10 minutes, Carroll executed on offense to make a game of it. But a four-minute drought late in the fourth quarter and Neumann-Goretti’s unerring performance at the free-throw line meant it just fueled more finals heartbreak, the Saints claiming a 50-43 victory.

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