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By Matt Smith

Kylie Mulholland packs a whale of a punch for a 5-foot-4 guard, her energy, speed and decisiveness on the floor a vital source of Garnet Valley’s resurgence in the PIAA playoffs.

As the Jaguars continue their improbable run in the Class 6A tournament, reaching the final four as the sixth-place team from District 1, the junior Mulholland has become a breakout star

In the Jags’ 58-51 victory over North Penn in the quarterfinals, Mulholland jumpstarted the scoring with a 3-point field goal, her first of two triples in the opening quarter. She came through at clutch moments driving quickly to the basket and hitting pull-up jump shots.

When the Jags found themselves trailing in the fourth quarter, Mulholland helped lead them back. She scored seven points in the final stanza, and ended with a game-high 21, as the Jags punched their ticket to Monday’s semifinal double header at Norristown Area High School. Garnet Valley (25-6) faces Spring-Ford at 6 p.m.

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By Andrew Robinson

Four teams, two spots in the state title game and one venue to sort it all out.

The final four Class 6A girls’ basketball teams left in Pennsylvania will converge on Norristown Monday to sort out which of them get to face each other in Hershey on Friday night. 

Cardinal O’Hara (12-2) vs Parkland (11-1), 6 p.m.

Monday’s first matchup figures to feature defense, defense, defense and a little more defense.

Parkland’s been extra stingy in the postseason, the Trojans allowing just 32.6 points per game since the end of the regular season. The EPC champions gave up a postseason-high 37 to Archbishop Carroll last time out but even that came with no shortage of frustration for the Patriots.

Seniors Talia Zurinskas and Madi Siggins – the EPC MVP – make it all go for coach Ed Ohlson and despite extra defensive attention their way, the duo has been productive this postseason. Zurrinaskas had 23 against Carroll while Siggins put in 16.

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By Josh Verlin + Rich Flanagan 

The state playoffs are a time where experience and maturity reign supreme.

Just don’t tell Archbishop Carroll’s boys that.

Francis Bowe’s Patriots have what has to be the youngest roster in the state, but they’re right there in the state semifinals on Monday night, a matchup with Scranton Prep upcoming at Bethlehem’s Liberty High School at 7 p.m.

Bowe doesn’t have a single junior or senior under his watch, like the high school version of a junior college roster. His sophomores are the experienced vets leading the freshmen, in a year when most of their basketball-playing classmates around the country are still on junior varsity rosters.

“It’s very unorthodox,” Bowe said. “I don’t know if a lot of coaches can say they’ve been in the same predicament I’ve been in. When you’re worried about what sets you’re running in January and how clean you look on the defensive side of the ball, I’m still reminding guys that you have to be locked in for two hours in practice, you can’t be daydreaming. 

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By Matt Smith

The members of the Garnet Valley girls basketball team are enjoying every moment of their run – many would call it an unlikely run – in the PIAA Class 6A tournament.

The Jaguars pulled off another shocker Friday night at Bensalem High. Their big three of Haylie Adamski, Kylie Mulholland and Emily Olsen combined for the lion’s share of offense in a 58-51 triumph over North Penn in the state quarterfinal round.

One player who didn’t score a single point but made the biggest impact was Savannah Saunders, the Jags’ defensive ace.

Saunders is always told ahead of time that her No. 1 job is to guard the opposing team’s best player. It’s a test she has passed many times over this season. She faced perhaps her toughest challenge Friday against Caleigh Sperling, North Penn’s dynamic senior guard who dropped 30 points in the District 1 playbacks against Haverford last month.

Saunders, a junior small forward/guard, delivered. She came away with three steals in the first quarter and made life difficult for the superstar Sperling, who managed only three made baskets and 11 points on the night. Thanks to Saunders, Garnet Valley’s biggest concern was a non-factor.

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By Bob Grotz

One sequence embodied the heady play of Cardinal O’Hara in its 49-35 win over top seeded and highly regarded Perkiomen Valley Friday in the quarterfinal round of the PIAA Class 6A playoffs.

With the third quarter winding down the Lions were holding a five-point lead and looking for a last shot. For a moment it looked like the Vikings’ frenetic defense had forced a stop. But the Lions skillfully swung the ball this way and that, inside and out until Molly Rullo found younger sister Megan outside the arc.

Faster than you could say, boom, and-1, the shot fell and Megan was fouled on the play. She hit the free throw for a rare four-point play sending the Lions (24-4) into the final frame with a nine-point lead.

The Vikings (29-2), the top seed out of District 1 who had lost only to nationally ranked Gill St. Bernard’s private school in northern New Jersey, never got closer than eight points the rest of the evening.

“They were doubling and we got it into the post,” Megan Rullo said. “Molly kicked it out, I was ready to shoot and let it go. Coach Chrissie (Doogan) always talks about getting your teammate the shot, that it’s not about getting your own shot, reverse the ball. And that’s what we really did. And we knocked down the shots that mattered.”

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By Matthew DeGeorge

There was a look of resignation, however brief, among the Archbishop Carroll girls basketball players after the third, then fourth look rimmed out Friday night.

The clock on its season ticking under two minutes, Carroll players were on the Pottstown High School floor against Parkland, battling for rebounds, stepping over bodies, getting teammates open. Those shots just weren’t falling.

That’s how Carroll’s reign as PIAA Class 6A championship ended Friday night, with a clang of iron multiplied too often and a 48-37 setback to District 11 champion Parkland.

The Patriots (20-9) shot just 13-for-56 from the field (23.2 percent) and 3-for-25 from 3-point range. Even if that was embellished by fourth-quarter desperation, it was end to end frustration for the Patriots Friday night.

“The shots weren’t falling tonight,” guard Alexis Eberz said. “But you’ve got to bounce back. … Especially when we’re down, it’s hard when shots aren’t falling. But you’ve got to keep your head up. You’ve got to keep shooting.”

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