Delcohoops.com

By Josh Verlin 

Savannah Saunders will be rooting for Rian Dotsey in the fall. The two are both headed to Saint Joseph’s next year, Saunders for lacrosse, Dotsey for basketball. 

For now, however, Saunders has a different job: shut Dotsey down and send her home empty-handed. 

The Garnet Valley senior wing was one of the key defenders on the Haverford High star in a battle atop the Central League on Thursday night, GV knowing it needed to limit Dotsey’s effectiveness to gain revenge on its only loss of the season. And with Saunders doing her part in an impressive defensive team effort while also leading the Jaguars in scoring, Garnet Valley came away with a key 43-26 win over the Fords.

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By Matt Smith

Archbishop Carroll junior Alexis Eberz shared a quick low-five celebration with her freshman sister, Kayla, after Kayla’s tight defense on an inbound pass forced a five-second violation on Cardinal O’Hara in the closing seconds of Thursday’s game.

At that moment, the Eberz sisters knew the Patriots were going to hold on for 45-41 victory over their rival, maintaining third place in the Catholic League standings with just over a week remaining before the postseason tournament.

It was a small but meaningful gesture – one neither sister takes for granted, especially in light of the recent injury to their sister, Kelsey, who is likely out for the season. Kayla and Kelsey are twins.

“They mean a lot,” Alexis said of these moments. “I think they mean more to my parents.”

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By Andrew Robinson 

There’s a poise about Abbie McFillin’s game that prompts teammates to look to her in chaotic moments.

Given that McFillin is only a sophomore and in her first season playing point guard, it could be a lot to ask but all the motivation she needs is sitting a few seats down from the coaches on Archbishop Carroll’s bench. Thursday night, McFillin knew she needed to keep a level head in a rivalry game that once again had more than local bragging rights at stake.

McFillin kept the door open, then Alexis and Kayla Eberz used that opening to lead Carroll to a 45-41 comeback win at Cardinal O’Hara in a game that had plenty on the line in the PCL.

“We knew coming into this game that we had not won a close game that we’d needed to win,” McFillin said. “We beat Friends Central, but we hadn’t won a game that really mattered in the Catholic League, so we knew in this game that we had to play our game, run our plays and play good defense.”

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By Matt Smith

The Central League race is heating up, and the usual contenders are right in the mix.

For the third straight season, Conestoga (15-4), Garnet Valley (18-1) and Haverford (15-2) sit atop the standings, each with one league loss. The Fords, reigning back-to-back champs, are chasing a rare three-peat, having taken down Conestoga in the title game the last two years.

This final stretch will decide the top seed, with each squad facing off one more time. Garnet Valley hosts Haverford Thursday night 7 before welcoming Conestoga Saturday for a 1 o’clock tip off. Haverford travels to Conestoga next Tuesday to close out the regular season. The league tournament tips off later that week, with the final on Monday, Feb. 10.

All three teams have at least one 1,000-point scorer in their arsenal – Conestoga junior Ryann Jennings, Garnet Valley seniors Haylie Adamski and Kylie Mulholland, and Haverford senior Rian Dotsey. Each team has taken down one of the others, proving there’s not a clear favorite.

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By Josh Verlin

Delco Christian doesn’t have enough girls to have an offseason basketball program.

With most of the roster playing fall and spring sports at the 700-student, K-through-12 private school nestled in between the Main Line and the more rural parts of the suburbs, the Knights coaches had to wait until the preseason begins in mid-November to even start to see what they had to work with. And despite coming off a sub-.500 season, with most of the starting lineup turning over, it didn’t take Jake Godino long this fall to sense he had something good brewing.

“The first three weeks of any season for me are very structured,” said the Knights’ head coach, a 2008 Delco Christian grad and former Temple walk-on. “You put in this offense, this defense, you do this, you do that. And then all of a sudden I started to see something coalesce, but I wasn’t sure how far we could take it.”

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By Josh Verlin

As Beau Lyren noted, the last stretch before scoring a thousandth point can drag out.

The Delco Christian senior had been aware of the progress he’d been making towards the milestone, the Knights’ coaching staff not shy about sharing such numbers with their players. His classmate Khamai Orange, on pace to set the program’s scoring record (currently 1,369 points), had already reached the milestone early this season. 

So when the 6-foot-3, 180-pound guard picked up his fourth foul midway through the third quarter against MaST Charter and headed to the bench, knowing he was just two points shy, Lyren 

“That was part of our conversation when he came to the bench — ‘coach, I won’t get any more fouls,’” Parks said, chuckling.

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