City of Basketball Love

By Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)
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NORRISTOWN — After Spring-Ford booked its trip to the PIAA Class 6A title game Monday night with a 61-42 semifinal win over Garnet Valley, Anna Azzara played the accomplishment off pretty cool at first.

“It’s not done yet, so we have to get ready in practice,” Azzara started. Then she relented.

”It’s a big deal. It’s a big deal.”

Azzara and the Rams’ five other seniors, including fellow starters Aaliyah Solliday, Mac Pettinelli and Katie Tiffan, will end their careers with a trip to Hershey when they face Cardinal O’Hara on Friday night in the Class 6A state championship game.

It doesn’t get much bigger than that in Pennsylvania high school girls basketball.

Azzara led Spring-Ford (27-6) with 19 points, Solliday followed with 16, Tiffan added nine and Pettinelli chipped in seven points, 12 rebounds, two assists and a block to get the Rams back to Hershey for the first time since they were freshmen, falling to North Allegheny in 2021.

“I feel like a lot of teams don’t get to experience this, so we really have to take in the opportunity that we have, but we know we gotta work twice as hard to achieve that accomplishment,” Pettinelli said.

Junior Kareena Preuss was also huge for Spring-Ford, finishing with eight points and 10 rebounds. Junior Christian Tiffan came in to spell Preuss and Solliday and provide defense. Azzara, Pettinelli and Katie Tiffan didn’t leave the floor Monday night until the clock wound down under a minute and coach Mickey McDaniel felt he could take his starters out.

Garnet Valley junior Haylie Adamski and her sister freshman Addison Adamski both had 12 points for the Jags (25-7), who couldn’t quite keep up with Rams in the second half to get back to their first state title game since 2019.

“Mick does a great job defensively. They’re strong, very physical,” Garnet Valley coach Joe Woods said of Spring-Ford. “We’re playing a lot of young players who aren’t as strong as them. And they’ve got 3-point shooters who can shoot lights out. They take it hard to the basket, and they’re just a really, really good team.”

Garnet Valley made five first half-threes, taking a 19-18 lead on a triple by senior Emily Olsen with 6:15 left in the second quarter. That marked the Jaguars’ last bucket of the half as Spring-Ford went into the break up 24-19. 

Azzara and Katie Tiffan scored the first five points of the third quarter to push the Rams’ lead to double digits. After the Jags got back within six, Spring-Ford went on a 15-1 to stretch its advantage to 41-24 with 1:23 left in the third. Solliday scored the last seven points of the stretch, which was only interrupted by a free throw from Garnet Valley junior Kylie Mulholland (eight points).

“I feel like Aaliyah cannot only shoot really well, but she can also get to the basket as much as she wanted,” Pettinelli said. “Having that range of motion and that movement on offense really helps us a lot.”

Spring-Ford's Anna Azzara (R) drives to the hoop while Garnet Valley's Kylie Mulholland defends. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Solliday wasn’t on the varsity squad during the trip to Hershey in 2021. She was key during a quarterfinal run in 2022, but tore her ACL and missed last season’s state playoff run, which ended with a three-point loss to O’Hara in the second round. 

She’ll be out on the floor for the rematch in Friday’s title game.

“I’m excited,” Solliday said. “I’m ready for the experience.”

Addison Adamski hit a pair of threes in the first quarter and added two more in the fourth to cut Garnet Valley's deficit to 47-40 with 4:25 left. Azzara quickly answered the first triple. Pettinelli responded to the second as the Rams kept things from getting any tighter.

After falling to league rival Conestoga in the district quarters and Haverford in the district playback bracket, Garnet Valley outlasted both its league rivals and almost the entire rest of the District 1 field in the state tournament.

Led by Haylie Adamski and Mulholland, the Jaguars will have a strong core back next season to try and make another deep run, but they will also miss Olsen, a Randolph Macon commit who returned this season after multiple knee injuries of his own, and fellow seniors Layne Zipperlen and Jordan Daubenberger.

“We had a lot of fun all year, but we worked hard in practice and we got better as the season went on, and I’m proud of them,” Woods said. 

“It’s always disappointing when your season ends. It’s just the way it is, a lot of tears, it’s gonna end sooner or later for somebody. It wasn’t our night tonight, but all the credit to Spring-Ford. They made it that way. They’re an excellent team.”

For Spring-Ford’s seniors, Friday will mark the eighth championship game appearance during their careers (three PAC, three District, two PIAA) with two title game wins already in their possession.

The Rams’ young core played a supporting role on a district champion and state runner-up team in 2021. They showed promise in 2022 when they won a PAC title and went to the District 1 title game. Solliday said ambitions of bringing home the program’s second state championship (2013) began to form heading into their junior campaigns.

“Even though we were so young, we were mature enough to know that is a big deal and losing that, we may never get back there,” Pettinelli said. “I think being where we are now as seniors, knowing that we only have one more shot at a championship, it brings all the fuel.”

By Quarter

Spring-Ford  13 | 11 | 17 | 20 || 61

Garnet Valley  13 | 6 | 10 | 13 || 42

Scoring

Spring-Ford: Anna Azzara 19, Aaliyah Solliday 16, Katie Tiffan 9, Kareen Preuss 8, Mac Pettinelli 7, Haley Prophet 2.

Garnet Valley: Haylie Adamski 12, Addison Adamski 12, Kylie Mulholland 8, Emily Olsen 4, Savannah Saunders 4, Kylie Adamski 2.