Haverford’s Rian Dotsey, left, drives toward the basket as Perkiomen Valley’s Lena Stein defends during the District 1-6A championship on March 4 at the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia. AUSTIN HERTZOG — Medianews Group
By Matt Smith
Haverford had a chance to tie or win its district championship game in the final seconds Saturday at Temple University. The Fords almost erased a nine-point deficit with less than two minutes to play. And they did it on the backs of junior guard Aniya Eberhart and senior forward Caroline Dotsey.
Ultimately, No. 2 Haverford came up short in its first District 1 Class 6A game against top-seeded Perkiomen Valley, which dealt the Fords their first loss of the season and captured the district title with a 48-44 victory at Liacouras Center.
PV’s sudden inability to make free throws allowed Haverford to fight back late in the fourth quarter. Dotsey and Eberhart combined for seven straight points to get the Fords within two, 44-42, with 19 seconds to go. After a timeout, Eberhart attempted a shot from mid range, but the ball rimmed out. PV’s Grace Galbavy took a rebound from Rian Dotsey and the Fords were whistled for two infractions: a personal foul and a technical foul issued to senior forward Mollie Carpenter.
Quinn Boettinger, who battled in the low post with Carpenter all game, made four consecutive free throws to extend PV’s lead to 48-42 with nine seconds left. Eberhart made a basket on the other end, but the Fords ran out of time.