Delcohoops.com

By Sam Istvan

By Matt Smith

Sunday was Linus McGinty Day at Cardinal O’Hara.

The legendary former girls basketball coach was “overwhelmed” to be honored by the school, where he won 557 games and 11 Philadelphia Catholic League championships during his celebrated tenure.

Many former players arrived early for a pre-game gathering before O’Hara’s 47-22 nonleague victory over Academy of Notre Dame. At halftime, a video presentation that originally played during his O’Hara Hall of Fame induction ceremony was shown as McGinty stood at half court with his wife, Diane, in arm. Moments later, a commemorative banner with his name on it was unveiled inside the gymnasium to rapturous applause.

“It was tremendous and so nice to everyone,” said McGinty, holding a bouquet of flower as he exited his beloved gym. “Even some of the (Archbishop) Carroll girls that I coached were here. It was great, it really was tremendous.”

McGinty spent more than a decade at rival Carroll before arriving at O’Hara, where he coached for 24 seasons until his retirement following the 2017-18 season. McGinty earned 824 victories in nearly 40 years of coaching high school girls basketball.

(click on this link for the full story)

Haverford junior Caroline Dotsey produced 17 points on her 17th birthday in Sunday’s 39-31 home Central win over Garnet Valley.

The Fords (15-4) have won eight consecutive games.

Emma Rowland had seven of her 10 points in the second half for the Fords, who held the Jaguars to two points in the fourth quarter. Maddie Williams contributed to the winning effort with seven points.

GV’s winning streak ended at six games. Senior guard Ava Possenti led the Jags with 12 points and freshman Haylie Adamski finished with six.

Boys Basketball

The wins keep coming for Chester High basketball.

The Clippers extended their winning streak to eight games Saturday with a 68-83 decision over Brooklyn Collegiate at the Battle By The Bay in Atlantic City Kevin Rucker scored a team-high 18 points for The High. Brielynd White tallied 15 points and Larenzo Jerkins registered a doubledouble with 14 points and 17 rebounds, which tied a career high.

Terrence Cobb added eight points for the Clippers (13-3).

By Matt Smith

The shots weren’t falling for Jaina Preuhs and Sun Valley in the fourth quarter Saturday afternoon.

Hoping to celebrate senior day with their ninth win of the season, the Vanguards were in a rut for most of the second half. They had allowed a double-digit halftime lead against nearby Christian Academy (Brookhaven) to dissipate. The Vanguards’ offense had gone the way of the outside temperatures: cold and miserable.

However, all the Vanguards needed was one timely basket. Preuhs stepped up and delivered..

The Vanguards trailed by three points with 30 seconds to go when senior guard Alicia Whitfield came up with a steal near midcourt and passed to Preuhs, a junior, who had already made three 3-pointers. Her fourth triple evened the score and forced overtime.

In the extra period, the Vanguards’ Emily Kauffeld made a steal under the basket and threw a strong pass to Whitfield in transition. Whitfield then dished off to forward Melana Timmes, who streaked in for a lay up to put the Vanguards in front for good.

Sun Valley held on for a 37-33 victory over TCA. It has won four consecutive games to pull within one game of the .500 mark.

(click on this link for the full story and more game scores)

Kevin McCarthy was unstoppable for Episcopal Academy in a 70-37 victory over Audubon. The sharp-shooting McCarthy poured in 31 points and drilled seven 3-point field goals to lead the Churchmen to a rout.

In other nonleague games:

MARPLE NEWTOWN 49, POTTSTOWN 37 » Eric McKee scored eight points and dished out six assists for the Tigers.

Jordan Bochanski had a team-high nine points, while Owen Mathes recorded eight points and 10 rebounds.

Matt Cantwell posted eight points and Jordan DiBona tallied seven points, six boards and four assists.

In other nonleague action:

SUN VALLEY 61, ACADEMY PARK 47 » Chris Kwaidah drained four 3-pointers and scored a gamehigh 16 points to lead the Vanguards over their former Del Val League rival.

The Knights’ Nick Gianokoplous added 12 points and Noah Griffin scored 10.

CONSTITUTION 69, CHICHESTER 59 » Ahkir Keys went for 24 points, including a 13 spot in the fourth quarter, but the Eagles fell. Isaiah Diggs supplied 11 points and Eddie Swinton contributed nine.

In the Central League:

HAVERFORD 54, RIDLEY 43 >> Nick Colucci led three Fords (15-3) in double figures with 16 points. JR Newman netted 12 points and Googie Seidman closed with 11.

By Matthew DeGeorge

Without thinking, Saahir Lee walked toward the Penncrest locker room Friday night with the game ball still tucked lightly under his arm. When reminded that he still had it in his grasp, he apologetically tossed it back toward the scorer’s table with a sheepish smile.

The way Lee played Friday, he probably could’ve kept the ball, and stuck around to turn the lights out at the gym. He’d already taken care of just about everything else basketball-related on the day.

Lee was unstoppable, collecting 32 points in leading Penncrest to a 48-35 Central League victory over Springfield.

“In the warmups, I was feeling it so I just kept letting it fly,” Lee said. “I made a few in the beginning, and when they pulled us in for a timeout (coach Mike Doyle) told me, ‘just keep shooting, just keep going.’ After a while, they kept going in, they kept falling. I was shooting the exact same shot.”

(click on this link for the full story and more game scores)