Delcohoops.com

By Matt Smith

Emma Rowland and the Haverford girls basketball team spent a lot of time practicing their foul shooting this week. The Fords have been inconsistent in that area this season.

“Two practices ago, all we did was practice our foul shots,” said Rowland, a senior guard. “If we missed, we ran.”

A trot around the gym seems like the appropriate penance for a missed freebie, especially a team intending to make a run at a Central League championship.

It had been a long while since Haverford (or anyone else, for that matter) had beaten the Cougars. Prior to Friday, they had won 25 consecutive Central League games dating to the start of the pandemic-shortened 2021 campaign.

The last time the Fords defeated the Cougars was Jan. 17, 2018.

“A long time,”  Maddie Williams said.

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

Gaeli Keffer-Scharpf saved 11 of her team high 18 points for the second half to pace Episcopal Academy to a 44-30 nonleague victory over Villa Maria.

Keffer-Scharpf scored eight of those points in the third quarter. Riley Cassidy pitched in with 16 points for the Churchwomen.

CARDINAL O’HARA 55, BISHOP SHANAHAN 28 » Reigning Daily Times Player of the Year Maggie Doogan paced a balanced attack with 15 points. Freshman Molly Rullo added 12 points and Joanie Quinn chipped in with eight.

In the Del Val League Thursday:

INTERBORO 44, CHESTER 43 » Sophomore Alaina D’Angelo hit two free throws with 2.3 seconds left in overtime to give the Bucs their first win of the season. Shakira Orr paced Interboro with 12 points and

seven steals.

In the Catholic League Thursday:

BONNER-PRENDERGAST 30, LITTLE FLOWER 27 » Riley Donohue made a 3-pointer as time expired to give the Pandas a thrilling win Thursday night. Donohue finished with a team-high eight points and Laila Farmer chipped in with six.

PENNCREST 61, UPPER DARBY 53 » Saahir Lee collected 25 points, five assists and five rebounds as the Lions used a fast start to top the Royals.

Penncrest jumped out to a 21-6 lead in the first quarter and took a 41-31 advantage into the final period. Ben Stanton chipped in with 18 points, four assists and three rebounds. Nadir Myers paced UD with 20 points. Alexander Ings added nine points.

Elsewhere in the Central League:

MARPLE NEWTOWN 49, RIDLEY 35 » Jonny Small posted a double-double for the Tigers with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Matt Cantwell tallied seven points and pulled down 14 boards. Justin DiBona contributed six points and five assists.

In the Inter-Ac League:

Episcopal Academy 55, Haverford School 54 > Kevin McCarthy tossed in 20 points and Jake Jaszcz added 13 to help the Churchmen hold off the rival Fords. EA had a 40-27 lead going into the fourth quarter but were outscored 27-15.

In nonleague action Thursday:

PENN WOOD 52, HOLY GHOST PREP 51 » The Patriots outscored the Firebirds, 18-13, in the fourth quarter to erase a 38-34 deficit. Anthony Murray led the way with 19 points and six assists. Evan Borward pitched in with 13 points and had a double-double.

By Matthew DeGeorge

Vince Wildrick felt the pressure and knew just how to react.

It was a rare frantic possession by Chichester in the second quarter Thursday night against Academy Park. The ball found its way to Wildrick near the top of the lane, where he’d been camped all night in the soft middle of a 2-3 zone that Chi eventually forced the Knights to abandon. When his man overplayed him on his right, Wildrick dug into his bag of tricks, hitting his defender with a spin move and banking a left-handed shot off glass and in.

It was an early sign that everything was going the way of Wildrick and Chi.

Behind a pair of 15-2 runs in the first half, Chichester created early distance on the way to a 68-30 rout of a green Academy Park side. Widrick’s role in Chi’s patient and thorough dismantling of AP showed in that roll to the glass and in so many smaller instances on the night.

“That’s one of my go-to moves,” Wildrick said. “If they’re pressuring me, I go by and drop step. It’s one of my favorite moves. I just felt the pressure, I felt them overplay me, step through and it’s just natural.”

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

By Andrew Robinson

Grace O’Neill wasn’t thinking about payback.

Revenge isn’t a valid motive, it’s an emotional response, so the Archbishop Carroll senior wasn’t thinking about the agonizing loss she and her team suffered last year in Archbishop Wood’s gym in the PCL semifinals. Well, maybe it did cross the Drexel recruit’s mind once or twice, but it was more the feeling of being on the other side as she and Brooke Wilson led a ferocious fourth-quarter charge.

This wasn’t vengeance, it was just a really good win over a really good team as the Patriots delivered an early haymaker to the PCL standings with their 44-38 win over the defending champion Vikings on Thursday night.

“Just being focused on this game was all we were trying to key in on,” O’Neill, who scored 18 points, said. “I know the feeling being, I think we were up two, so I know that feeling of seeing it slip away but that can’t be where you focus. Brooke did a great job finishing off her foul shots and that definitely helped us get the win.”

(click on this link for the full story)

By Josh Verlin

Springfield (Delco.) already had to replace two 1,000-point scorers coming into this season, with Alexa Abbonizio and Rachel Conran both beginning their college careers at West Chester. Then Ky McNichol’s program suffered a major blow in December, when junior Lexi Aaron went down in the Cougars’ game against Strath Haven, lost for the rest of the season to injury.

“When Lexi went down, it was really sad for the whole team,” McNichol said. “She’s a great kid, she’s a great leader for us.

“We actually all kind of put our heads down for a second,” fellow junior Mia Valerio said. 

Not just one of McNichols’ leaders, Aaron was also the Cougars’ primary offensive option, averaging around 13 ppg. 

(click on this link for the full story)