By Jack McCaffery
With decades of results to draw on, there is little Bonner & Prendergast girls basketball coach Tom Stewart hasn’t seen, tried or mastered. So every 20-plus years or so, he figures, he will have the kind of talent that will thrive the way the Pandas did Saturday.
Aware that Bermudian Springs would likely go small for a PIAA Class 4A tournament opener, Stewart would choose to go smaller. Aware that a quick-strike offense would best suppress the Eagles’ upset notions, he would start not one guard, not two, not three, but four.
So he surrounded starting forward Ariana McGeary with unselfish, ball-handling guards Bridie McCann, Meave McCann, Alexis Eagan and Dakota McCaughan, watched the Pandas grab a quick lead and leave neutral-site Cardinal O’Hara with a thorough 59-35 victory.
The Pandas’ ball-control and passing were impressive. And, at least in Stewart’s experience, rare.