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By CoBL Staff

The PIAA girls basketball brackets, times and pairings were officially unveiled on Sunday. The 6A, 3A and 2A tournaments begin Friday followed by the 5A, 4A and 1A tournaments on Saturday. 

Here are links to the six brackets followed by the times and pairings of the 36 local games on the schedule. All games at top seed unless otherwise noted:

6A

Fri., March 8
12-3 Dobbins Tech vs. 1-5 Haverford, 5:30 PM @ Archbishop Ryan HS
12-2 Cardinal O’Hara vs. 1-8 Upper Dublin,  6 PM
12-1 Archbishop Carroll vs. 1-11 West Chester Henderson, 6 PM
1-1 Perkiomen Valley vs. 3-6 Manheim Twp., 7 PM
2-1 Hazleton Area vs. 1-9 Pennsbury, 7 PM
11-1 Parkland vs. 1-10 Downingtown East, 7 PM
3-2 Dallastown vs. 1-7 Central Bucks East, 7 PM
1-3 Conestoga vs. 3-4 Wilson, 7 PM
3-1 Central Dauphin vs. 1-12 Kennett, 7 PM
11-2 Easton vs. 1-6 Garnet Valley, 7 PM
1-4 North Penn vs. 11-3 Emmaus, 7 PM
1-2 Spring-Ford vs. 3-5 Northeastern, 7 PM

(click on this link for all the brackets and games)

By Joseph Santoliquito

Gregg Downer came out damp from being doused by his team celebrating Lower Merion’s third PIAA District 1 Class 6A championship in four years Saturday evening in the bowels of Temple’s Liacouras Center.

Back in November, the Aces’ legendary coach was not supposed to be here. Lower Merion was not supposed to get out of the Central League, let alone win the championship of one of the state’s toughest districts. But there he was again, doing what Downer has done for the previous 33 years—win.

Only this season comes with a caveat: The 2023-24 Aces are 27-1 and not one college coach has inquired about one player on his team.

The Aces continue to prove they have talent by their 57-49 victory over Garnet Valley in the District 1 championship on Saturday, the fourth district crown for Downer, who guided the Aces to District 1 titles in 1996 (Kobe Bryant’s senior year), 2021, 2022 and now 2024. He has three PIAA state championship crowns, 1996, 2006 and 2013, being the last PIAA District 1 team to win a state title.

But this season may be Downer’s greatest coaching job yet.

(click on this link for the full article)

By Matt Smith

Lower Merion’s John Mobley didn’t have a 3-point shot in his repertoire last season. It’s one aspect of his game he continues to improve.

In the offseason, Mobley trained with professional basketball player and Philadelphia native Jared Armstrong, who has molded Mobley into a better outside shooter. They always meet local LA Fitness. Somewhere in that gym is a basketball court.

“It’s a small one,” Mobley said, “but it gets the job done.”

This time a year ago, you wouldn’t have seen Mobley hit a 3-pointer in the biggest game of his high school career. In Saturday’s District 1 Class 6A final at the Liacouras Center, Mobley pulled up and sank a triple as time expired in the third quarter, giving the Aces a 10-point advantage.

“We would go there at five in the morning, work out three or sometimes five days a week,” Mobley said of his work with Armstrong. “We worked on catch-and-shoot, pull ups and everything like that. I actually have a lot more to work on when (Armstrong) comes back.”

For now, Mobley’s range is more than good enough for the District 1 champion Aces.

(click on this link for the full article, subscription may be required)

By Matthew DeGeorge

By the final minute of Saturday night’s District 1 Class 6A final, the scoreboard rang true in a very specific way for Garnet Valley.

The 14th seed was trying to complete its fourth straight win over a top-six seed, and it had struggled, to put it mildly, against No. 1 Lower Merion. It was shooting south of 30 percent from the field. It had trailed by as many as 15 early in the second half. A tough climb against a 26-1 foe that had beaten them twice this season was steepening by the moment.

And yet, with 25.2 seconds showing on the clock at the Liacouras Center, Garnet Valley was … within five points. One LM mistake, one hot-shooting mini-spurt, one freak high school basketball series of bounces, and maybe things would get interesting.

They didn’t, Lower Merion completing a 57-49 win and lifting the trophy. But for Garnet Valley, in its first district final of this magnitude, had proven a point: Even in a defeat where it was downright displeased with the way it played, the Jaguars belonged.

(click on this link for the full article, subscription may be required)

By Josh Verlin and Owen McCue 

Boys: 1) Lower Merion vs. 14) Garnet Valley (7 PM)

For Gregg Downer’s top-seeded Aces, the District 1 playoffs have been more like the Central League Playoffs, Part Two.

Before beating Chester in the district semifinals on Tuesday, Lower Merion had to go through two familiar faces in Conestoga and Springfield (Delco.), beating ‘Stoga for the third time this season and Springfield for the second. Now it’s matchup No. 3 against Garnet Valley, yet another Central League opponent, the Aces beating the Jags in both their regular-season meetings. 

It’s the first time since the Central League was founded in 1967 that two of its members will meet for a District 1 title. 

“Well, it’s a nice feather in the cap for the Central League, to get two teams to the finals […] it’s a good moment for our league,” Downer said on a Friday phone call. “Truthfully, we’re a little tired of playing league opponents; we would like ideally to play some fresh faces, hopefully we’ll get some fresh faces in the state tournament, but beating a team like Garnet Valley three times is not an easy task.”

(click on this link for the full article which appears at the bottom of the article)

By Matthew DeGeorge

In Mike Brown’s time at the helm of Garnet Valley boys basketball, he’s had teams with more college prospects. He’s had more depth, more shooting ability, maybe more talent man-for-man.

But none of those teams in this era of resurgence has played in a district final.

So what makes the 2023-24 Jaguars, who travel to Temple Saturday night to take on top-seeded Lower Merion for a District 1 Class 6A crown, different?

“I think what makes this team different is how much we all genuinely love each other and how much we play together,” senior guard Jack Krautzel said this week. “If you look at our stats (in the district semifinal), everyone basically had the same amount of points. I think we’re all meshing together, and everyone has the same purpose and same goal of winning, and that’s why we’re winning.”

The amazing balance and adaptiveness that the Jaguars have cultivated is why they’ve risen from the No. 14 seed to the Liacouras Center spotlight, for an all-Central League final against the Aces.

(click on this link for the full article, subscription may be required)