Delcohoops.com

By Matthew DeGeorge

Everybody in the gym at Sun Valley Friday night assumed, with less than a minute to play and the Vanguards trailing by three, that the ball would find its way to Chris Kwaidah.

Unfortunately for the Vanguards, that number included Marple Newtown’s Matt Gardler, the one player with the ability to stop it from happening.

For all of Gardler’s outstanding offense in a 23-point outing, it was a defensive moment – jumping the passing lane, getting fouled and making two free throws – that iced No. 9 seed Marple’s 53-50 win over No. 8 Sun Valley to open the District 1 Class 5A tournament.

“He was on fire the whole game,” Gardler said of Kwaidah. “He couldn’t miss a shot. I knew after I saw the flare screen coming that I didn’t want him to get the ball and shoot that final shot and have someone else shoot it. I just jumped the pass.”

(click on this link for the full story)

In Class 5A, PIAA, D1:
Upper Moreland 52, Strath Haven 36 » The 12-seeded Panthers put up a light through three quarters but the shots didn’t fall as the Bears outscored the visitors, 17-9. to advance to the quarterlinals against fourth-seeded Gwynedd Mercy next Tuesday.
Upper Moreland shot 9-for-10 from the free throw line in the linal period. Holly Gohl led the way with a game-high 18 points. Mikel Lancit pitched in with 13 points.
Laura Shea topped Strath Haven with 13 points. Olivia Voshell grabbed seven rebounds and Maryella Gill made four steals.

Bicentennial Athletic League championship:

TCA 37, MaST Charter 36 » Christian Academy received 10 points each from Elle Cryan and Amy Bullard, and a critical 3-pointer from Leah Sareyka in crunch time to hold off MaST Charter in a Bicentennial Athletic League championship game Thursday night.
TCA had trailed much of the game until with about four minutes left, a jumper from Teah Maikai gave the Crusaders their first lead at 34-32. That set the stage for Sareyka’s big trey.
Anyi Washington scored a game-high 13 points for MaST.

By Matt Smith

Carly Coleman’s role on the Cardinal O’Hara girls basketball team is always evolving.

The junior has started all season for the Lions,  joining classmates Joanie Quinn and Greta Miller as first-year starters after all were key reserves on last year’s Catholic League and PIAA Class 5A championship squad.

O’Hara coach Chrissie Doogan has been thrilled with the progress of all three juniors. Quinn is a scoring point guard and Miller can play lockdown defense and pop a 3-pointer from the corner. Coleman, the tallest of the three, plays all over the floor.

“She’s becoming somebody I can’t take off the floor, quite honestly,” Doogan said of Coleman following O’Hara 54-29 win over West Catholic in the first round of the Catholic League playoffs Thursday. “She’s somebody that brings energy and is unselfish … and she’ll make the extra pass. She fills her role nicely.

(click on this link for the full story)

By Matthew DeGeorge

Danny Rosenblum and Charlie Thornton walked off the court at Unionville three years ago, not needing the reminder that better days lay ahead.

It was Feb. 26, 2020, and Radnor had just lost a District 1 Class 5A playback game to end its season. For a group that played two freshmen heavily, a 15-win season felt ahead of schedule. They fell in the quarterfinals as heavy underdogs to eventual champ West Chester East, then were summarily dismissed in their bid to get back into states.

But had you told either Rosenblum or Thornton then what would be in the program’s future, you would’ve been met with confident affirmation.

“Honestly, I would’ve believed it,” Rosenblum said Monday, after the 24-0 Raptors wrapped up the program’s Central League title over Lower Merion. “I trust these guys so much and we’ve been through so much together. This has been our goal the entire time.”

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By CoBL Staff

The District 1 5A bracket is finalized with game times announced. The 12-team boys and girls tournaments begin Friday with four opening round games in each tournament as the other four squads earn byes. 

Six teams earn spots in the PIAA field so the winners head to next Wednesday’s second round and have at least two more games left in their seasons, while the first round losers shut the doors on their 2022-23 campaigns..

Here’s a look at each of next Friday’s first-round games, which will all take place at 7 PM (unless otherwise noted) at the higher seed; second-round games will be Wed., Feb. 22, also at higher seeds, who host through the championship game: Saturday, March 4 at Temple University:

Boys

8) Sun Valley vs. 9) Marple Newtown
Winner play No. 1 Radnor

The Vanguards have four starters who played in last year’s district tournament, opening with a win as the 8-seed before falling to top seed Radnor in the second round and 12th-seeded Chichester in the first playback game. 

(click on this link for the full playoff review)

West Point recruit Taylor Wilson scored a game-high 33 points, leading Archbishop Carroll to a 57-41 victory over Neumann-Coretti Thursday night in a Catholic League quarterfinal game. The Patriots (8-3 PCL, 11-12 overall) led by only two points entering the fourth quarter but tripled up the Saints 21-7 in the fourth quarter to win going away. Brooke Wilson supported her sister and the team by adding 15 points for Carroll, including six free throws down the stretch. Sophomores Amya Scott and Carryn Easley scored team-highs of 12 points each for young Neumann-Coretti (6-5, 9-14). Agnes Irwin 47, Germantown Friends 27 » Simone Harvey scored 15 points and CG Seibert and Sarah Shelton added 10 each as AIS won this PAISAA Commonwealth Cup semifinal game. The Owls move on to the Commonwealth Cup final to take on Springside Chestnut Hill on Friday at 4.

SCHA 62, Barrack Hebrew 45 » Freshman Zoe Thompson scored 16 points and Faith Scally added 13 for Springside-Chestnut Hill in the win. Mikayla Trajtenberg scored 14 and Eden Singer added 12 for Barrack.
Boys Basketball

Episcopal Academy’s Kevin McCarthy scored 31 points to boost the Churchmen to a 71-54 victory over Abington Friends in a PAISAA Commonwealth Cup semifinal game Thursday.