City of Basketball Love

Andrew Robinson (@ADrobinson3)
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ROYERSFORD — The ball went through the net and right away, the swagger started to come back for Mac Pettinelli and Spring-Ford.

Sure, the Rams had gone ice cold the last three minutes of the second quarter and stayed frozen over for almost seven minutes to start the third. Yes, they had given up 18 straight points on their own court and trailed rival Perkiomen Valley with their streak of five PAC titles starting to look in jeopardy.

But as soon as Pettinelli scored on a drive late in the third to snap that scoreless spell, the swagger came back and the Rams ignited.

A couple bold shots by the Spring-Ford sophomore sparked a fourth-quarter turnaround as the No.5 seed Rams rallied past the third seeded Vikings to capture that fifth straight title with a 43-36 win Wednesday night.

"Watching the ball go in the net gave me so much more confidence and I think hyped everyone else up," Pettinelli said. "Our shooting, we've shot better in the past but once we start rolling it really gets our team pumped up and full of energy."

Spring-Ford celebrates the 2022 Pioneer Athletic Conference championship, the Rams' fifth straight. (Photo: Andrew Robinson/CoBL)

In a lot of ways, the Rams and Vikings are similar teams. Neither has an overwhelming amount of varsity experience amongst its key rotation players, both rely heavily on some skilled underclassmen and each team is pretty stout defensively and capable of big bursts on offense. Meeting in the final was maybe a bit of a surprise due to fifth-seeded Spring-Ford upsetting top seeded Methacton, but after splitting their own regular season meetings, a back-and-forth PAC title match shouldn't have been a shocker.

A deflection by Siena Miller led to a steal and run-out by Pettinelli that staked the Rams to a 12-10 lead after a quarter and Spring-Ford, wearing its road blue uniforms and listed as the visitor despite playing on its home floor, carried the run into the second. A three by sophomore Aaliyah Solliday, who also factored heavily in the fourth quarter, put Spring-Ford in front 17-8 with 3:02 remaining in the first half.

Then, the well went dry and PV's own underclassmen standouts started to go off.

"We're a team that tends to get out early then have troubles in the second half a little bit," Pettinelli said. "We knew they'd have a run in the third quarter. We needed to respond in the fourth and I think our energy really boosted us and got us running."

Senior Emma Miley scored seven straight to close the second quarter, hitting a three, getting three the hard way at the line after getting fouled on a long jumper and splitting a pair at the stripe to make it a two-point game at the break. The Vikings, who had a huge second half comeback against Owen J Roberts in the PAC playoffs' opening round, put together six-and-a-half impressive third quarter minutes on Wednesday.

Quinn Boettinger, PV's 6-foot-2 standout freshman forward, took control in the frame. She scored four straight points to put the Vikings ahead 19-17, then assisted a three by freshman Grace Miley that made it 25-17 and in between found time for four rebounds and a couple blocks.

All the while, Spring-Ford couldn't score and saw its former nine-point lead turned all the way around into a nine-point deficit. Earlier in the season, the Rams may have tried to shoot themselves back into the game only to totally shoot themselves out of it.

That was then. This is the now, a team wizened by a full season of games together looking pretty solid heading into the District 1 6A playoffs.

"We are encouraging each other," Solliday said. "We're not putting anyone down. We're hyping each other to shoot the shot and if we miss, it's fine. We're always there for each other."

Pettinelli's driving layup kicked off a 6-2 run to end the quarter, then she made a great pass early in the fourth quarter that set up Solliday for a corner that made it a one-point game. The two sophomores would combine for four 3-points in the final frame, but it was more the manner they took them that stood out.

There was no hesitation by either guard to pull on those shots, due in part to the collective swagger the Rams have built up this season and due in part to an encouraged forgetful mindset coach Mickey McDaniel and his staff have instilled in the players. Early in the season, McDaniel knew his team had potential to be pretty good and right now, the Rams are rewarding that vision he had.

"Our coach always tells us 'point-three seconds, be a goldfish,' we all take that very literally and move on to the next," Solliday said. "It's trust in myself and trust in my teammates. If I miss, I trust they're going to get the rebound or they're going to get back on defense and we're going to get the stop."

PV scored on a put-back for a 40-36 lead with six minutes left. That was just the challenge Pettinelli needed.

While the sophomore had been disruptive on defense up to that point, she hadn't produced much offensively and knew it was time to change that. So on the next trip down, Anna Azzara shoveled a pass that Pettinelli immediately put up from three-point range and buried with the sophomores exchanging an emphatic hand-slap before getting back on defense.

Pettinelli out-did herself on the following offensive possession. Solliday drove and kicked to Pettinelli at the top of the key, where she jab-stepped - which actually allowed the defender to get closer - before burying the go-ahead trey with 4:11 left then immediately forced a Perk Valley turnover before Solliday hit her own ambitious three to cap a game-changing 12-2 run.

"Once I face a challenge, I realize in my mind I have to get going and I have to start attacking," Pettinelli, who finished with 10 points, four assists and four steals, said. "I want that kind of focus, because I know I can't slip-up in those types of moments.

"I wasn't really contributing much in the first half, so I knew to get us back in it, I was going to have to start giving us something."

It wasn't a flawless finish, with an ill-advised three giving Perk Valley an extra possession but the Rams overcame any youthful miscues with some poised execution and got a fitting clincher when their lone senior, Kamryn Pufko, knocked in a pair of free throws with 19 seconds remaining.

While there's a fearlessness and energy with the way this team plays, it's also worth remembering most of its key players aren't all that experienced. Azzara, who led the Rams with 14 points, Pettinelli, Solliday, who had 11 off the bench, Siena Miller and Katie Tiffan are all sophomores and Megan Robbins, who gave S-F valuable minutes on Wednesday, is a junior.

Asked if she was impressed with the way her team has established an identity and mindset over the course of the season, Solliday was firm in her answer.

"I really am," the guard said. "We have very little varsity experience and with Kam being our only senior, I'm a little bit surprised we're all doing so well as sophomores. I would say it started in practice, we were seeing it every time and it's a team thing, if one person has energy, it flows through the rest of us."

One thing last year's Rams team that won a district title and made a state final also had in bundles was swagger. There was just a way that team, led by current Villanova point guard Lucy Olsen, played that presented an air of confidence and self-assured control over any situation.

Pettinelli, who was a big part of that team as a freshman, feels like that aura has been passed down to her and the rest of her teammates. Winning PAC titles has become a tradition at Spring-Ford and Pettinelli knew if she wanted to lift her first PAC tournament championship, she would have to do like her mentors did.

"I think I inherited some of their traits on and off the court," Pettinelli said. "I knew from watching last year what it would look like when it was time for me to step up."

By Quarter
Spring-Ford:  10  |   7   |   6   |  20  ||  43
Perk Valley:    8   |   7   |  13  |   8   ||  36

Scorers
SF: Anna Azzara 14, Aaliyah Solliday 11, Mac Pettinelli 10, Megan Robbins 4, Kamryn Pufko 2, Katie Tiffan 2

PV: Emma Miley 13, Quinn Boettinger 9, Jennifer Beattie 6, Grace Miley 6, Lena Stein 2