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By Josh Verlin

The area’s high school league conference races are in full swing, so we’re taking a look around the Delaware Valley’s various high school basketball leagues to see where things stand at the moment and what games will determine regular-season champions and postseason spots down the stretch. 

Read ahead for the Central League update.

Girls: Midway through the league slate, there are three front-runners as expected: Conestoga (7-1), Garnet Valley (7-1) and Haverford (6-1) are all at the top, the three 6A schools also the three squads with committed Division I players. In their first meetings, Haverford beat Garnet but lost to Conestoga, who lost to Garnet. Both ‘Stoga and Haverford High have also beaten Radnor (5-2), the only two loss team, which plays Garnet Valley at home on Jan. 21. 

Boys: There’s only one unbeaten team left in all of District 1, and it’s Penncrest. The Lions are 13-0 (8-0) heading into the back half of the league slate, having already beaten the three teams behind them in Conestoga, Garnet Valley and Springfield (Delco.), all 6-2. The top half of the league is really strong, with Lower Merion and Marple Newtown currently tied for fifth at 5-3; Haverford (3-4) is alone behind them, but the Fords haven’t beaten anybody ahead of them in the standings and face an uphill battle against six quality teams to qualify for the postseason. 

(click on this link for the full article and for links to other League synopsis)

By Matthew DeGeorge

Clashes in style may create intrigue in boxing, as the adage goes. But on the basketball court at Chester Charter Scholars Academy Monday night, there were only slight differences in approach to be found between the Sabers and Delco Christian.

Both teams want to move fast. When that doesn’t work, they try moving even faster.

“To be honest, this game was really fun and really interesting to play, because a lot of teams want to slow it down early,” Delco Christian point guard Khamai Orange said. “But I think this helped us even more, because we were able to play as fast as we can. When they speed up, we’re going to get sped up. So making the game faster just helps us.”

Orange might have had fun even if he hadn’t scored 35 points in leading Delco Christian to an 85-75 win in a battle of teams that entered unbeaten in the Bicentennial League. But the win to move the Knights to 11-1 on the year adds a little extra to a speedy day on the hardwood.

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

By Matt Smith

The future looks bright on the court for Strath Haven freshmen twins Kenzie and Maddie Fanning, who are making a name for themselves in multiple sports.

After playing pivotal roles in the soccer team’s run to the PIAA Class 3A championship this fall – Maddie recorded a hat trick in the state quarterfinals – the duo has seamlessly transitioned to basketball, becoming integral members to coach Brandi Johnson’s squad.

“I call them Thing 1 and Thing 2,” Johnson said with a smile. “They have an engine that can’t be taught.”

Maddie shined in the Panthers’ 43-30 win over Ridley Saturday, leading all scorers with 15 points on 6-of-14 shooting from the field. Running the point, she also topped every player in assists (three) and steals (seven).

Kenzie, coming off the bench, made her presence felt on the defensive end with two steals and set up one of Maddie’s buckets in the first quarter.

“We’re each other’s biggest fans, and we always keep each other up,” Kenzie said.

(click on this link for more game stories and scores subscription may be required)

By Owen McCue

Megan Ngo and Emilia Coleman have been teaming up together since third grade.

There was travel ball for Fencor in Fort Washington, and CYO hoops for Saint Alphonsus in Maple Glen. More recently the two have played together in the summer for the Comets Girls Basketball Club.

Coleman arrived at Upper Dublin this year after spending her first two years of high school at Gwynedd Mercy Academy, and she and Ngo are playing together at the high school level for the first time this winter. The years of chemistry are paying off.

The junior duo combined for 17 fourth-quarter points in Sunday’s 50-44 comeback win over Cardinal O’Hara to give the Cardinals another marquee victory to start the new year.

“Having that history has been really good,” Coleman said. “We both know how we both like to play, and we both have a high IQ, so I think we’re able to read each other and we know where we’re going to be and how to get the ball there.”

(click on this link for the full article)

By Andrew Robinson

It’s been a common occurrence in recent years.

Kayla Eberz and Faith Watson have faced off against each other on a basketball court more times than either freshman could count but their matchup on Sunday was one both could take plenty of positives from. Eberz, off to a stellar start at Archbishop Carroll, and Watson, who has picked up her play lately on a deep Friends Central team, were both efficient and effective as their teams met at the CoBL Girls’ Winter Classic.

Thanks to 30 points from Eberz, it was Carroll topping Watson and her 20-point, 11-rebound double-double in a very competitive 60-57 game.

“We’ve played her so many times and she’s gotten so much better,” Eberz said. “It definitely motivates you. You get, not angry, but you’re telling yourself ‘let’s go, you have to bring it.’”

(click on this link for the full article)

By Josh Verlin

Emma Kaercher is well-steeped in Spring-Ford basketball. 

As a third grader in the Royersford-area school district, she went to see Lucy Olsen play for the first time, the future Villanova and Iowa standout then just a sophomore with the Rams. And a spark was lit.

“I was inspired and I just wanted to be just like her, play in front of everyone,” Kaercher said. “It’s been a dream to play and to help bring a PAC championship back there.”

Throughout her elementary and middle school years, she cheered on a Spring-Ford program which won the state championship in 2021, Olsen’s senior year, then developed another pair of Division I prospects in Anna Azzara (Wright State) and Mac Pettinelli (St. Bonaventure). 

(click on this link for the full article)

By Matthew DeGeorge

One way or the other, Saturday was going to be a reset for Radnor’s boys basketball team.

The squad convened for practice Friday after four wins in 12 games, including seven winless in the Central League. Somehow, a mostly new group had to devise ways to shake off those disappointments.

“We’ve had a pretty rough go in the first couple of games in the Central League, and we came into practice yesterday and we were like, all right, new season,” wing Zach Niederer said. “It’s 0-0. Let’s just win as many games as we can. Focus on now, don’t worry about what just happened.”

That ability to shake off struggles in the long run came in handy on a smaller scale Saturday, for Radnor and Niederer.

Radnor led Upper Darby for three quarters, then trailed by six points in the final minute before Niederer’s 3-pointer with 2.8 seconds left gave the Raptors a 57-56 win.

(click on this link for more game stories and scores subscription may be required)

By Ed Morrone

Had the Pottsgrove basketball program faced early deficits of 8-0 or 25-10 over the past few seasons, the game would have been curtains. Languishing toward the bottom of the PAC Frontier Division and out of the postseason conversation, the Falcons were either starting too slow or failing to close out close games that should have been wins.

Now? Those days are long gone.

Despite slipping into an immediate eight-point deficit and falling behind by 15 in the second quarter on Saturday afternoon at fellow formidable District 1-5A foe Sun Valley, these Falcons kept fighting and ultimately rallied after halftime to claim a satisfying 43-39 team victory. Gregory Rosenberger scored all 13 of his points in the first half to keep Pottsgrove in the fight despite a sluggish start filled with turnovers, and four of Julius Marshall’s six points came during the closing minutes of the fourth period to help the team win for the 12th time in 14 games this season.

(click on this link for more game stories and scores subscription may be required)

By Matthew DeGeorge

TJ Valletti learned quickly on the job as a freshman last year.

The Springfield forward saw an offense running through a pass-first big man in Colin Treude, saw the way the senior made himself indispensable to the Cougars by being unafraid to put the ball on the floor or pull the trigger on an open 3-pointer.

As a freshman, Valletti worked up from an understudy to an equivalent partner, able to push many of the same actions or force teams lacking one post presence to contend with two.

With Treude having graduated, Valletti has a larger share of ownership over Springfield’s offense this year, and it’s working wonders.

“I need to start taking on that role more,” Valletti said Thursday after keying a 65-48 win over Ridley. “And I think I’m going to start getting used to that. I’ve got to let it come to me more, kind of like I did in this game.”

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

By Andrew Robinson

Archbishop Carroll just had to let it all out.

After giving up a big second half lead and losing to Archbishop Ryan in overtime on Wednesday for a third straight loss in the Philadelphia Catholic League, the Patriots took it out on each other in a focused and physical practice Thursday. The shared pain turned into shared wealth on Friday as Carroll went on the road to La Salle, set the tone and shot the lights out.

An energized, connected effort combined with a barrage of threes aided the Patriots in an 80-66 win over the Explorers for their first PCL victory.

“Sometimes, you want to get anger out and get aggression out and I think we competed, used our legs, used our bodies, walled up and had a physical practice,” Carroll coach Francis Bowe said. “Nothing got out of control, these kids are mature enough to understand that we’re not doing this to hurt anybody, but we need to rewire our brains and get back to where we were at 4-0 and looking really good.”

(click on this link for the full article)