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Spring-Ford, Perkiomen Valley advance to PAC girls championship

02/12/2022, 8:15pm EST
By Josh Verlin

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)

ROYERSFORD — After four years of Lucy Olsen-led dominance, this was supposed to be a year of retooling for Spring-Ford. Mickey McDaniel’s ninth squad was chock-full of talented youngsters, but without Olsen, now in her freshman year at Villanova, and three other starters graduated from the PIAA Class 6A runner-ups, there were plenty of question marks for the first time in a while on the Rams’ sideline.

Though it was a successful regular season, Spring-Ford took its lumps, finishing as the No. 3 seed in the Pioneer Athletic Conference and an unofficial No. 10 in the District 1 6A, not the clear-cut favorites they were a year ago, the top seed in both en route to a pair of titles.

But don’t count these young Rams out. 

Led by its stellar sophomore class, Spring-Ford advanced back to the PAC championship game yet again, downing Methacton 49-33 on Saturday afternoon.

“They played with a lot of heart today, a lot of heart,” McDaniel said of his Rams, who lost both regular-season matchups to their archrival. “The assistant coaches had a fantastic game plan and the girls followed it to a ‘T.’ What more could you ask for?”

Mickey McDaniel (above) improved to 190-60 in his nine years as Spring-Ford's head coach. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Though the Warriors (20-3) were the top seed in the PAC and wearing their home whites, it was the No. 5-seeded Rams (18-5) who had the advantage of playing on their home court, S-F hosting the league playoffs annually due to its facilities and capacity.

Spring-Ford certainly looked comfortable at home, knocking down shot after shot all game long, from all over the court. It was a far cry from when the teams met in January, when Methacton dropped 70 in an 11-point win, though the second matchup — a 47-44 Warriors’ win on Feb. 1 — was a sign things were getting closer.

This one saw Spring-Ford playing downhill most of the way, from getting out to an 11-4 lead which hit double figures in the second quarter, the edge 36-20 by halftime, by which point Spring-Ford had already connected on six of its seven 3-pointers.

Methacton started the third on a 10-0 run to get back into competition, but Spring-Ford scored the last bucket of the third quarter and quickly got its lead back into double digits in the fourth, maintaining it from there.

“We had to weather it; they really battled, Methacton battles,” McDaniel said. “They never pull away, man. They just come after you no matter the score, and that’s because of their coach and the leadership they have. Kudos to our girls for weathering that storm.”


Katie Tiffan (above) was one of four sophomores who scored at least nine points for Spring-Ford. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Katie Tiffin led the Rams with 12 points, including a pair of 3-pointers, while adding seven rebounds and tight defense on Methacton senior Cassidy Kropp (4 points). Anna Azzara popped in 11 and four boards while chasing around Nicole Timko, who had to work hard for her 19 points. Siena Miller hit three 3-pointers on four attempts for her nine points. 

The glue holding it all together was Mackenzie ‘Mac’ Pettinelli, who stuffed the stat sheet from start to finish. The 5-foot-9 guard joined Tiffin and Azzara in double figures with 11 points, with seven rebounds, and four assists, getting in the mix on seemingly every possession.

Certainly something that should cause foreboding for the rest of the league: Tiffin, Azzara, Miller and Pettinelli are just sophomores. Only one senior, Kamryn Pufko, who had four rebounds and three assists against Methacton, is in the starting lineup.

Perhaps most impressively: Methacton had nine turnovers, and Petinelli had seven steals. Even the PA guy caught on, playing ‘Return of the Mack’ over the system after one early stretch where she ticked off just about every column.

“She’s really stepped up the last half of the season, two-thirds of the season, especially the last two week…she had to step up and she’s relishing that role right now,” McDaniel said. “We talked in the beginning of the year, the four girls [...] who were coming back with varsity experience, what they needed to do. And she understood what her role had to be; now she really understands it.”


Mackenzie 'Mac' Pettinelli stuffed the stat sheet with 11 points, 7 rebounds, 7 steals and 4 assists. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

“That’s my main ideal is to be spread out,” she said, “not so much focused on, ‘oh I had blah blah blah points,’ I want to contribute in every single aspect of the game.

“I kinda just knew that since Anna was going to be doing a lot of hard work on defense, that someone oughta step up offensively,” she said, “and I knew I was going to have to take over some of the responsibility, taking up the ball, handling more, since she was going to be so focused on her defense on Timko.”

Pettinelli was one of several of the young Rams who got experience last year, coming off the bench, while Azzara is the team’s only returning starter. But they got just enough playoff minutes that this was a familiar setting, even if there wasn’t a PAC playoffs last year.

“I think it was a whole lot of remembering last year,” Pettinelli said. “We didn’t have as much responsibility, because we had our core seniors, but we just got the same feel as last year, and it all came back when it needed to happen.”

“We had some of the least varsity experience we’ve ever had returning, and the kids have worked,” McDaniel said. “Our goal here is to get better by 1% every day, so then we’re 22% better as a team. And to their credit, that’s what they’ve been doing.”

By Quarter
Methacton:    7   |  13  |  10  |   3   ||  33
Spring-Ford: 14  |  22  |   2   |  11  ||  49

Shooting
Methacton: 13-48 FG (2-14 3PT), 5-8 FT
Spring-Ford: 19-47 FG (7-14 3PT), 4-4 FT

Scoring
Methacton: Nicole Timko 19, Mairi Smith 8, Cassidy Kropp 4, Kayla Kaufman 1, Tori Bockrath 1

Spring-Ford: Katie Tiffin 12, Mac Pettinelli 11, Anna Azzara 11, Siena Miller 9, Megan Robbins 4

~~~

Game Two: Perkiomen Valley runs away from Pope John Paul II

Perkiomen Valley head coach John Russo challenged his young Vikings early, scheduling non-league matchups against the likes of Garnet Valley and Souderton, wanting to test a group that he had a sense could be pretty good. What’s impossible to replicate, of course, is the tension that comes with playoff atmospheres, meaning Russo still had a question left unanswered.


Jennifer Beattie (above) had 12 points, four steals, three assists and three rebounds for Perk Valley. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

At least, before this week. The Vikings didn’t look fazed by the moment in the slightest, putting their collective foot down early against Pope John Paul II in a dominant 55-20 win in the second semifinal.

”We definitely were unsure of how they would respond, because our two seniors and our junior that contribute have never been here before, because they didn’t make it the first two years, and we had the COVID year, and we have all the freshmen,” Russo said. “Our schedule wasn’t a wimpy schedule, we played some good team, [...] they proved that they could play in a more hostile environment than it was today. So I knew they would play well today, I felt it.”

No. 3 seeded Perk Valley (19-4) didn’t allow a field goal from PJP II (11-10), the Frontier Division champions and thus No. 2 seed in the tournament, in the entire first quarter, going out to a 17-1 lead after eight minutes, with all five starters finding the scoring column. It was a 35-6 edge by halftime, and the second half was played entirely under a running clock. 

The Vikings got a balanced attacking, with senior Jennifer Battie (12 points/3 rebounds/3 assists/4 steals), freshman Julia Smith (11 points) and freshman Grace Miley (11 points/10 rebounds/2 assists) all finishing in double figures, followed closely by senior Emma Miley (7 points/3 assists/2 rebounds) and freshmen Quinn Boettinger (6 points/2 rebounds) and Bella Bacani (6 points).

“Every other team has an 18-20 point scorer, and we have girls capable of doing it,” Russo said, “and they’ve chosen to be team basketball players and know that we have four, five, six, seven, eight girls that can play and share the ball with them, and it’s led to victories.”

In facing Spring-Ford in the championship, Perk Valley will be chasing its first PAC championship since 2016 and first under Russo, in his second year running the program. The two teams met on Spring-Ford’s court on Jan. 24, with Perk Valley picking up a 55-48 win, revenge for an earlier 54-39 Rams’ win on the Vikings’ court. Knowing they’ve beaten the defending champs once already should give the Vikings a nice boost of confidence that they can do it again Wednesday night at 7 PM.

That doesn’t mean it’ll be easy.

“They have really good basketball players, and we have to be able to play our best to compete with them,” Russo said. “First game, we didn’t play our best, and they took it to us. Second game, we played our best and it was a close game and we were lucky enough to come out on top. We have to play our best to compete with Spring-Ford, and we know that, and it’s home-court advantage for them, but I feel like when we play our best, we’re just as good as them.”

By Quarter
Perkiomen Valley:   17  |  18  |  11  |   9   ||  55
Pope John Paul II:   1   |   5   |   8   |   6   ||  20

Shooting
Perkiomen Valley: 21-42 FG (7-16 3PT), 6-9 FT
Pope John Paul II: 5-26 FG (2-12 3PT), 8-12 FT

Scoring
Perkiomen Valley: Jennifer Beattie 12, Julia Smith 11, Grace Miley 11, Emma Miley 7, Quinn Boettinger 6, Bella Bacari 6, Allie Matasich 2

Pope John Paul II: Nadia Platt 8, Amelia Kennedy 6, Tess Crossen 4, Bella Tammaro 2


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