Delcohoops.com

By Andrew Robinson

It was some of the very first advice Carly Coleman got when she started playing basketball, and it served her well over and over again Friday night.

The Cardinal O’Hara girls basketball senior has always believed, thanks to her dad’s direction, there’s no better way to get the ball than to rebound it. When those rebounds come off her own teammates’ misses, it’s all the better, especially during a PIAA quarterfinal game against a top team in the state.

O’Hara’s relentless rebound, dogged defense, opportunistic offense and general toughness powered the Lions as they ended Perkiomen Valley’s season, 49-35 in the Class 6A quarterfinals at Norristown High School.

“It’s the heart for me,” Coleman said. “My dad always tells me to go up for rebounds because you never know. Nobody’s going to make every shot they take, so I think knowing there are extra possessions and extra points you can get is a huge deal.”

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By CoBL Staff

All the local participants in the girls’ 2A and 3A state playoff brackets have been eliminated — but the 6A field is more than picking up the slack. 

Six of the eight state quarterfinalists are from the Philly ‘burbs, including four teams from District 1 — Perkiomen Valley, Spring-Ford, North Penn and Garnet Valley — and two from District 12, Archbishop Carroll and Cardinal O’Hara. That means each of the four quarterfinals feature at least one local squad, including two all-local matchups.

Here’s a close look at all four:

Girls 6A: 1-1 Perkiomen Valley vs. 12-2 Cardinal O’Hara (6 PM, Norristown)

This year’s 6A bracket is a little strange: typically Catholic League squads wouldn’t be both the first and second seed out of District 12 6A; the District 12 championship game is usually Catholic League vs. Public League, but a forfeit by Northeast High bumped O’Hara up from the 12-3 spot into 12-2, Dobbins sliding up to take the final spot in the state tournament. So instead of a PV/O’Hara matchup taking place in the second round, it comes in the quarterfinals, PV having beaten Manheim Township and then Haverford High to advance a round further than it did a year ago.

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By Owen McCue

The Spring-Ford boys basketball team moved into unprecedented territory with each state playoff win last season.

Prior to the 2022-23 campaign, the Rams had just one PIAA victory in program history. They quadrupled that number to four with last season’s run to state semis. 

A 45-32 win over Springfield (Delco.) in Wednesday’s PIAA 6A second round gave the Rams a sixth state playoff victory and a second straight run to the quarterfinal round — something they are not taking lightly even though they made it look routine.

“Tomorrow’s not promised,” Spring-Ford senior guard E.J. Campbell said. “We could have lost this game. We could have not had practice tomorrow. I’m thankful we have practice tomorrow. We just want to keep having practices and having games. … I’m one of two seniors, so I just go into each game going this could be my last game, so I’m going to give it everything I’ve got.” 

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Webmaster’s note: If you missed the game or would like to watch it again go to our Archived Broadcast page.

By Matthew DeGeorge

Spring-Ford did not have the District 1 Class 6A tournament it had anticipated this year.

A state semifinalist last year with most of its squad back, winner of 17 games in the regular season and the third seed from district – a quarterfinal exit was not what a team harboring title aspirations had hoped for.

The results in states are better, if the basketball remains laborious given the Rams’ talent.

Against a Springfield team that had battled tooth and nail in de facto elimination games since the end of January, Spring-Ford rode the brake pedal in neutral to a 45-32 win in a PIAA Class 6A quarterfinal game at Norristown High School Wednesday night.

Springfield (14-15) stuck within single digits until early in the fourth quarter despite not scoring in double figures in any quarter until the fourth. Spring-Ford got zero made field goals from Jacob Nguyen, one of two Rams with Division I offers, and Springfield hustled to the tune of 15 offensive rebounds out of sheer determination.

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Webmaster’s note: If you missed the game or would like to watch it again go to our Archived Broadcast page.

By Matt Smith

Those who follow the Garnet Valley girls basketball team are not surprised to see it have success in the PIAA playoffs.

Under longtime coach Joe Woods, the Jaguars have competed for, and won, a District 1 championship in the state’s highest classification. They win a lot of games and make a run in states every season. Five years ago the program played for a Class 6A title in Hershey.

So here the Jags are preparing for a Class 6A quarterfinal round matchup with North Penn Friday night at Bensalem. They are one of three girls teams from Delco left standing, alongside Archbishop Carroll and Cardinal O’Hara.

As the sixth-place team from District 1 the Jags have survived this long while their two Central League rivals Haverford and Conestoga were eliminated in the second round. All of Garnet Valley’s six losses came courtesy of those two squads.

The Jags are on the opposite side of the state bracket and began the tourney traveling to unfamiliar territory. In their first-round game at Easton, District 11’s second-place team, the Jags found themselves trailing 16-2 after one quarter, but clawed all the way back and won in overtime.

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