Boys: Samad West goes “beast” mode on the boards to help Sankofa reach semifinals beating Chester Charter

By Matt Allibone

In the moments after grabbing his 20th rebound, Samad West finally seemed to slow down. 

The Sankofa Freedom Academy sophomore trudged slowly up the court and seemed to lose balance after passing the ball to a teammate. Had West finally been overtaken by exhaustion  after three-and-a-half quarters of full-throttle effort? 

Nope, his shoe had just fallen off. West fixed the issue and was back to dominating the boards. 

It’s likely most high school basketball fans in Philadelphia haven’t heard West’s name before. But they might have to start taking notice. The 6-foot-4, 230-pound forward grabbed an astounding 22 rebounds to go with 11 points and two blocks in Sankofa’s 67-56 win over Chester Charter Academy in the PIAA Class 1A quarterfinals at West Philadelphia High School Friday night. 

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2025 PIAA Playoffs: CoBL-Area Quarterfinal Preview (Fri., March 14)

Korey Francis (above) and Bonner beat Upper Dublin on Tuesday. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Boys 5A
Bonner-Prendergast (12-3) vs. Upper Moreland (1-4)
Norristown HS, 6:00 PM

Korey Francis (above) and Bonner beat Upper Dublin on Tuesday. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Norristown plays host to an all-local doubleheader on Friday, with what should be two high-quality games in the 5A classification. Bonner-Prendergast (18-8) pulled off a big-time win in the second round, Billy Cassidy’s Friars beating District 1 champs Upper Dublin by 22 to reach the quarterfinals for the first time since a state runner-up finish in 2019. Upper Moreland (22-7) is in the state quarterfinals for the first time in program history, the Golden Bears coming back to beat York Suburban in overtime in the second round to continue what’s been a breakthrough season for Dan Heiland’s program. 

(click on this link for all the game previews)

Girls: Olivia Voshell, Strath Haven pull off stunning comeback over Radnor in OT

Strath Haven's (12) Maddie Fanning with the layup basket against Radnor Wednesday night in round 2 of PIAA State playoffs held at Bensalem High School. (PETE BANNAN-DAILY TIMES)

Strath Haven’s (12) Maddie Fanning with the layup basket against Radnor Wednesday night in round 2 of PIAA State playoffs held at Bensalem High School. (PETE BANNAN-DAILY TIMES)

By Matt Smith

The fourth time was the charm for Olivia Voshell and Strath Haven.

After enduring three losses to Central League rival Radnor, including a setback in the District 1 quarterfinals, the Panthers finally exacted revenge Wednesday night at Bensalem High, rallying for a stunning 54-43 overtime win in the second round of the PIAA Class 5A tournament.

Freshman Maddie Fanning recorded a steal with less than a minute to go in regulation and raced the other way before floating in the game-tying basket. In OT, Strath Haven outscored the district champion Raptors 13-2 to seal the improbable win.

The Panthers (15-13) extended their Cinderella run to the state quarterfinals, where they’ll face District 2’s Crestwood Saturday at a site and time to be determined.

Strath Haven trailed by 11 midway through the fourth but closed the game on a 27-6 surge. Senior co-captain Olivia Voshell drove strong to the rim for a go-ahead layup that put Haven up 43-41, a lead the Panthers never relinquished.

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Girls: Strath Haven rallies past Radnor in overtime

By Andrew Robinson

Try. Fail. Learn. Execute.

Three times this season, Strath Haven had tried to beat Radnor and three times, the Panthers failed. Three times, they’d learned from their losses, even if it didn’t show up in the score the next time they faced the Raptors. They’d tried, they’d failed and they learned, so facing a nine-point deficit midway through the fourth quarter Wednesday night, it was time to execute.

Living by its four-word mantra, Strath Haven authored an incredible comeback to defeat Radnor 53-44 in overtime in the second round of the PIAA Class 5A girls basketball playoffs.

“Our coach had the mantra of first you try, you fail, then you learn and last you execute and we took that with us,” Strath Haven senior Olivia Voshell said. “We really locked in on everything she wrote on the board, tried to stick to the little things and really just stay focused.”

(click on this link for the full article)

PIAA Class 1A + 6A: Carroll girls storm past Wilson; TCA boys pull off comeback

Alexis Eberz (above) scored 23 points in Carroll’s second-round win. (Photo: Mark Jordan/CoBL)

By Sean McBryan

Archbishop Carroll junior Alexis Eberz has the rare experience of knowing how it feels to end a season with a win or a loss.

As a freshman, she helped the Patriots win their first state title since 2012. Last year, Eberz and the Patriots fell in the quarterfinal round to Parkland. They prefer the former.

“I won my freshman year, so that’s obviously the goal,” Eberz said. “We want to win it. It’s awesome going [to Hershey’s Giant Center] and playing there in that environment.”

Eberz scored a game-high 23 points to move the Patriots one step closer to the Sweetest Place on Earth with a 60-41 victory over Wilson Tuesday night at Spring-Ford High School in the PIAA Class 6A second round.

Carroll advances to face Central Dauphin, which defeated Parkland 39-23 Tuesday, in the quarterfinals Friday.

(click on this link for the full article)