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Adamski leads Garnet Valley girls to Central League title

02/14/2022, 10:00pm EST
By Joseph Santoliquito

Joseph Santoliquito (@JSantoliquito)
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The chants from the behind the Garnet Valley bench grew louder and louder, “She’s a freshman,” reminding the rest of the Ridley gym that what they were seeing was going to be happening for a few years more.

A few months ago, Haylie Adamski was not as assured where her shot was going each time the ball left her fingertips. On Monday night, the 5-foot-11 Garnet Valley freshman knew where it would go—translating into a game-high 21 points in leading the Jaguars to their sixth Central League girls’ basketball title in the last eight years with a dominant 39-27 victory over Marple Newtown.

The Garnet Valley girls basketball team stands in a gym

Garnet Valley won its sixth Central League championship in eight seasons on Monday night. (Photo: Joseph Santoliquito/CoBL)

The Jaguars (18-7) have now won Central League titles in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019—when they won the District 1 Class 6A championship and finished as state runner-up—and now 2021.

Marple Newtown, led by senior Nikki Mostardi’s team-high 14, was looking to win its first girls’ league title since 1980.

Because of Adamski, Marple Newtown (17-6) never had a chance.

Garnet Valley jumped on the Tigers 6-0, while Adamski smoothly sank three 3-pointers in scoring 11 points in the opening quarter.

It has not always been like that for the guard, who’s already attracted attention from Providence. Adamski had sprained her right ankle and was in a boot for two weeks in November. That placed her behind with her conditioning—and in her confidence.

“That changed because of my team, and they helped keep my confidence up, and from my parents,” Adamski said. “Providence came by one of Garnet Valley’s practices and they came to one of my games. When I let go, I have to think that it’s going in, and that comes right from feeling that off my fingertips.

“It’s nice to know that I have the confidence of my team to play like this.”

Ava Possenti, the Jags’ senior point guard and leader, saw Adamski grow right before her eyes.

“We look for Haylie with the hot hand, and we’re a team that’s grown since the beginning of the year,” Possenti said. “We took this and played this as just another game.”

That could not have been more evident by the way the Jags prepared an hour before game time. Arriving well before the crowd or Marple Newtown, Garnet Valley’s spilled out on to the court as if they were holding a pizza party, sans the pizza. The Jags were loose and relaxed, teasing one another and doing more laughing than shooting.

“It’s the way I want it. Our kids are a loose group and they have fun with each other,” Jags’ coach Joe Woods said. “We try to keep it that way. We put a lot of things up on the board before games as to the keys to the game. One of the things I always have at the bottom for years and years is 'Let's have some fun out there.'”

That translated over into the game.

Garnet Valley never trailed, getting out to a 17-7 lead after one quarter and 24-8 by halftime. Marple Newtown made a run in the third quarter, but that came after the Tigers went 11 minutes and 44 seconds without a field goal, a span that stretched from 2:32 remaining in the first quarter to 6:48 left in the third.

Haylie Adamski stands in a gym

Haylie Adamski (above) has grown into a key player for the Jags in her rookie season. (Photo: Joseph Santoliquito/CoBL)

Compounding that was Adamski’s uncanny calm, raising up to hit 5-of-7 from beyond the arc. The clincher came early in the fourth quarter when Adamski rose up again and nailed a three to give the Jags a 32-19 lead.

“They came out in a zone and we knew that they were going do that,” Mostardi said. “We started shooting our way out of it too late. We didn’t really work the ball inside out and we really didn’t execute everything we practiced. They played a tough game.

“We knew Adamski was coming and she started playing well the last half of the season. This was a tough loss for us and we have the district playoffs ahead.”

Woods saw a transformation. Adamski was forcing shots and was pushed around early.

“A lot of the teams were beating her up in the beginning of the season,” Woods said. “Haylie wasn’t trusting the team and initially she felt a little pressure, ‘I gotta score, I gotta score, I gotta score.’ She was forcing shots, throwing the ball away, feeling she (was) not really running the offense.”

Garnet Valley made 10-of-19 shots by halftime to Marple Newtown’s 2-of-17, including going 0-for-10 in the second quarter.

“I think we’ve come a long way from when we started on Dec. 5,” said Jags’ senior guard Carly DiSabatino. “We started off to a rocky start, but we started against good teams. We’ve built a lot of confidence, and everything starts on the defensive side with us. That gets going, and everything just flows with the game.”

Garnet Valley starts the PIAA District 1 Class 6A playoffs as the No. 14 seed this Friday, opening against No. 19 seed Hatboro-Horsham. The winner will take on Methacton on Wednesday, Feb. 23. Marple Newtown is the No. 2 seed in the District 1 5A playoffs, set to play the winner of Villa Maria Academy and Upper Perkiomen on Tuesday, Feb 22.

“Things are really coming together for us right now,” Woods said.

By Quarter

Garnet Valley:    17 | 7 | 5 | 10 || 39
Marple Newtown: 7 | 1 | 11 | 8 || 27

Scoring
Garnet Valley: Haylie Adamski 21, Emily Olsen 5, Kylie Mulholland 4, Carly DiSabatino 4, Katelyn Dugery 4, Ava Possenti 1
Marple Newtown: Nikki Mostardi 14, Mary O’Brien 8, Ellie DiBona 3, Haley Levy 2

Joseph Santoliquito is an award-winning sportswriter based in the Philadelphia area who began writing for CoBL in 2021 and is the president of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be followed on Twitter here.


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