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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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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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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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By Ed Morlock

None of the nine players on Archbishop Carroll’s roster were on the team in 2021 that blew a 17-point lead against Allentown Central Catholic in the PIAA-4A state quarterfinals. The six sophomores and three freshmen weren’t even in eighth grade when that game was played.

But they were on the court Tuesday night and got revenge.

(12-3) Archbishop Carroll overcame a 15-point deficit and rallied to beat (11-1) Allentown Central Catholic, 62-56, in the second round of the PIAA-4A state playoffs at Norristown Area High School.

“Apparently Allentown Central Catholic is our rival now,” Carroll coach Francis Bowe joked, “because I’ve played them now three times in states. One year they beat us, they came back from (17) and they won a state championship. It was like, we’re down … we can come back and hopefully pray to get the same result.

“It’s always a tale of two stories with our guys. We’re freshmen and sophomores, so you’re going to go through these moments where they’re in a fog and then you’re going to be super locked in, turn it on, turn it off… They’re just great kids. They’re competitive. They are what I would call ‘one through nine hoopers.’ They just want to play basketball.”

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By Bryan Davis

A crucial mistake from the Conestoga girls basketball team in overtime provided Archbishop Carroll the breathing space the Patriots were hoping for Tuesday night, and they took advantage to eke out a 37-33 victory in the second round of the PIAA Class 6A girls basketball tournament at Norristown Area High School.

Holding on to a 34-33 lead, Carroll was trying to run out the clock, but senior Marisa Francione made her second fantastic defensive play in a short span, knocking the ball away and causing a held ball with the possession arrow pointing the Pioneers’ way.

Conestoga coach AJ Thompson called a timeout, but it was determined that the Pioneers didn’t have any timeouts remaining. That resulted in a technical foul and the Patriots retaining possession.

Alexis Eberz made one of two for a 35-33 lead with 28.9 seconds left. Brooke Wilson was fouled and calmly hit both from the line for a 37-33 advantage. That proved to be the final margin as the Pioneers (24-4) were held scoreless in the extra session, missing all five field goal attempts.

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By Jared Leveson

Darren Williams hadn’t played basketball in nearly a week. 

He fell ill Wednesday, suffering from chills and aches associated with strep throat that forced him to miss school and Archbishop Ryan boys basketball’s PIAA Class 5A tournament first-round game Friday. 

However, the Florida Gulf Coast Commit didn’t miss a step during Tuesday night’s second-round game. Williams guided the Raiders through a hard-fought first half and helped them take control in the second, defeating Radnor 66-46 at Bensalem High School. 

Archbishop Ryan, looking for its first PIAA title, advances to the state quarterfinal for the second straight season with the win.

“I made sure I got in the gym. I made sure I got shots up before practice and coming into this game,” Williams said. “I knew I had to get back to it and get back in the groove. 

“I was excited to come back, like ready to go [and] anxious to get on the floor and be back with my guys.”

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By Matt Smith

Cardinal O’Hara’s Molly Rullo and Carly Coleman weren’t about to let Hazleton Area pull off a major upset in the second round of the PIAA Class 6A tournament Tuesday night, so they decided to take control in the second half.

Rullo scored 13 of her game-high 17 points and Coleman added eight of her 13 after the break, leading O’Hara to a 55-46 win over the District 2 champion Cougars at Liberty High.

The junior Rullo and senior Coleman each drilled a 3-point field goal on successive possessions in the third quarter after Hazleton had trimmed its deficit to three and four points, respectively. O’Hara (23-4) had led by as many as nine points in the first half.

“I think that’s the difference between us and Hazleton, who are going to be back in this situation,” Lions coach Chrissie Doogan said. “We have a senior-laden team. Molly is basically a senior at this point; she’s played since she was a freshman. They embrace the moment. Molly struggled to put the ball in the basket early … but shooters shoot. She’s got a lot of confidence and did a great job.”

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By Ed Morrone

No Quinn Boettinger for large chunks of a state playoff game? No problem for Perkiomen Valley.

Bella Bacani led four Perk Valley players in double figures with 12 points, as the Vikings pulled away from Haverford during a dominant third quarter en route to an eventual 64-50 PIAA second round victory on Tuesday night at Upper Merion.

The Vikings advanced to Friday’s quarterfinals to face Cardinal O’Hara, the second seed in District 12 and a member of the Philadelphia Catholic League. Perk Valley, the top seed in District 1, ended fifth-seeded Haverford’s season for the second straight year after also beating the Fords in the 2023 District 1-6A title game.

When Boettinger, the Vikings’ star center and Navy recruit, picked up her fourth personal foul with 5:36 left in the third quarter, there was no panic or slumped shoulders — just a next person up mentality, or in Perk Valley’s case, next people up, because every player who saw the court Tuesday had a massive impact on the outcome.

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Delcohoops.com in association with the PIAA licensee, NFHS Network, will be LIVE video streaming this week’s Spring-ford vs Springfield PIAA State Championship Round 2 playoff game on Wednesday, March 13th.  Our broadcast will begin at 7:20 P.M. with tip-off at 7:30 P.M.

NFHS Network is a monthly subscription service. Cost is $11.95 per month which allows you unlimited games to watch from all over the U.S. NFHS Network is the only streaming service allowed during the playoffs so a one month subscription will give you access to all the games available during the PIAA playoffs (not all games are broadcast).  

You can go to NFHS Network by clicking on this blue link: NFHS