KJ Carson scored 18 points and Jacob Becker added 17 as The Haverford School eked out a 53-52 victory over Marple Newtown in a nonleague game.
Marple’s Matt Gardler led all scorers with 24 points, ably assisted by P.J. Esposito with 12 points.
Bishop Shanahan 41, Springfield 34 >> D. Keenan led the way for the Eagles with 14 points.
For the Cougars, Jake Adams, Pat Flaherty and Colin Treuce all scored nine points.
Chester’s Dominic Toy lays up and in for two against Abington on Friday afternoon. (PETE BANNAN-DAILY TIMES)
By Matthew DeGeorge
Chester’s boys basketball team doesn’t need a reminder of what transpired last year. If only because the Clippers are constantly reminding themselves.
A 12-10 season that left the Clippers unthinkably outside the field of not just states but the District 1 Class 6A tournament did not meet the standards of a perennial, write-it-in-ink states qualifiers.
So this year’s mission is simple.
“Get back time,” guard Dante Atkinson explained Friday. “It’s time to get back.”
That effort will venture into 2024 with a 6-1 record as its platform to launch, after Friday’s 67-51 nonleague win over Abington.
It was not always pretty. It was at clutch moments gritty. But while Chester didn’t always sustain much offensive flow, the game ended with them threatening 70 points and keeping a quality Ghosts side to nine in the fourth quarter.
In much the same way, Keith Taylor’s team has completed the first chunk of its schedule with room to grow, yet already at half of its 2022-23 win total.
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Brielle Wright scored 17 of her 19 points in the second half as Sun Valley won the third-place game of the Upper Merion Holiday Tournament, 40-27, over Daniel Boone on Friday.
Wright hit three 3-pointers. Luci D’Amico was 7-for-10 at the line to finish with 11 points for the Vanguards (3-5).
Cardinal O’Hara 42, Germantown Academy 37 >> BrigidAnne Donohue saved 10 of her 13 points for the fourth quarter as O’Hara outlasted GA.
Molly Rullo also scored 13 points. Megan Rullo chipped in nine points, and Carly Coleman had seven.
West Chester East 61, Academy Park 36 >> Emani Banks and Jayla Davis scored 12 points apiece, but the Knights trailed by 15 points after eight minutes and never quite bounced back. Kiala Bright added eight points.
Radnor 45, Agnes Irwin 35 >> Anna Reger led the Raptors with 12 points, and tournament MVP Nyah Yao was one of three Radnor players with seven points each as the Raptors won their holiday tournament late Thursday night.
Cardinal O’Hara’s Brigidanne Donohue at the foul line late against Germantown Academy during their game on Friday, Dec. 29, 2023. (Andrew Robinson/For MediaNews Group)
By GQLShare
In a game full of upperclassmen, naturally it was a freshman who stole the show.
Cardinal O’Hara’s Brigidanne Donohue, making just her second career start, hit the biggest shot of Friday’s game against Germantown Academy but only after hitting the game’s two other biggest shots on the previous two possessions. Donohue’s back-to-back-to-back threes were part of a 10-point fourth quarter by the freshman and tilted a close game between two quality teams.
The Lions ended their holiday tournament with a win, fending off GA 42-37 on Friday to remain unbeaten on the year.
“The refs were letting us play and that’s what it came down to,” O’Hara coach Chrissie Doogan said. “I told the girls you get into them a little bit and be a little more physical. It was a good game, they have a lot of seniors, we have a lot of seniors, so it was a good way to test the maturity of the team.”
Donahue and junior Molly Rullo tied for the Lions’ (9-0) lead with 13 points each. Sophomore Megan Rullo added nine points, four rebounds and six assists while senior Carly Coleman notched seven points for the Lions, who only got scoring from four players but contributions from all eight who saw minutes.
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Cora Fattori (above) scored 27 of Springfield’s 50 points. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)
By Josh Verlin
The Cardinal O’Hara Holiday Tournament — which, despite the name, is a set-matchup showcase featuring eight local teams — wrapped up its two-day affair on Friday with four highly-competitive games.
Click here to read about who won; read on to discover who stood out:
Isabella Casey (2024 | Germantown Academy)
There’s nobody in the area who’s as good at the stickback as Casey, who makes a habit out of getting offensive rebounds and popping them right back up off the glass and into the hoop. The recent Bucknell commit finished with 18 points and nine rebounds, getting three of those on the offensive end, at least a couple winding back up in the bucket. Casey was 9-of-17 from the floor, hitting a few mid-range jumpers as well as finishing at a high clip around the rim, and she also grabbed a couple steals.
Archbishop Carroll’s Alexis Eberz, right, drives upcourt past Villa Maria’s Emma O’Hare in the first half of Thursday’s game at the Cardinal O’Hara Christmas Classic. (PETE BANNAN-DAILY TIMES)
By Matt Smith
Alexis Eberz played a pivotal role on last season’s Archbishop Carroll girls basketball team.
The sharp-shooting guard was a staple in coach Renie Shields’ starting five from beginning to end, and Eberz scored a game-high 12 points in the Patriots’ victory over Cedar Cliff for the PIAA Class 6A championship, a perfect capper on a freshman year she will never forget.
As expected Eberz has made a big leap this season.
There’s no sophomore slump from Eberz, the daughter of former Archbishop Prendergast and Villanova star Michelle (Thornton) Eberz. No way, no how.
If Thursday’s performance in a 55-32 win over Villa Maria at the Cardinal O’Hara Christmas Tournament was any indication, opposing teams should fear Eberz, who worked to improve specific areas of her game while on the AAU trail last summer.
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