City of Basketball Love

Andrew Robinson (@ADRobinson3)
––

FORT WASHINGTON — Kaitlyn Flanagan is a little squeamish when it comes to surgery, or depictions of surgery, to the point the Plymouth Whitemarsh senior doesn't even watch medical dramas on television.

While the point guard isn't considering a career as a surgeon anytime soon, she's been pretty surgical with a basketball for the Colonials this season. Tuesday night, Flanagan and the Colonials had their next procedure to perform and they had extra reason to make sure this operation was a successful one.

Behind Flanagan's scalpel-like passing, Abby Sharpe's aggression and a proficient transition game, the Colonials turned a second half surge into a dominant half as they downed Perkiomen Valley 56-31 to advance to the PIAA 6A semifinals.

"Medical stuff is not for me, I won't even watch Grey's Anatomy," Flanagan said laughing. "Maybe I can find something else that requires precision."

Sharpe turned in another robust postseason effort, scoring 20 points with three steals mostly on strong, aggressive takes to the rim. Senior Lainey Allen posted another double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds; Erin Daley had nine points, seven boards and three blocks; and Fiona Gooneratne had two points, making the start for the shorthanded District 1 champions.

The extra motivation for Flanagan, Sharpe and everyone else in the Colonials program was to get Jordyn Thomas one more game. Thomas, the Colonials' defensive anchor who had started every game this season, was sidelined on Tuesday due to a non-COVID illness.

Luckily, PW had some experience playing shorthanded this year due to Sharpe missing their three-game swing in Delaware back in December, but there were no illusions that it would take a little more from everyone to fill in for Thomas. It even saw a little more offensive output from Flanagan, who piled up 14 points on top of her seven assists with pretty much one thought behind each and every one of them.

"That's what I was thinking about before the game and all during the game, I did not want to lose and for (Thomas) to never be able to play with us again," Flanagan said. "We wanted to win so she could get back on the floor."

Perk Valley, which was making history playing in the program's first state quarterfinal, played stronger than the final score indicated. The Vikings, who played five freshmen in their top eight rotation players for the bulk of the season, weren't fazed by the full house crowd or PW's experience and forced the Colonials into a few adjustments.

The Vikings withstood an 8-0 PW run to close the first and were within 19-16 when talented freshman Quinn Boettinger hit a difficult shot in the lane with 1:44 left in the first half. Then, Sharpe and Flanagan got going.

First, Flanagan picked off a pass in the corner and hit a long outlet that Sharpe took in strong for a layup. Allen came up with a steal on the next possession and again Flanagan hit Sharpe in stride for a take and finally, Sharpe did it herself turning a steal into a bucket for a nine-point lead. PV ended the half with a score to snap the run, but the Colonials had the burst they had been looking for.

"That was huge, that was great momentum going into the second half," Sharpe said. "Kaitlyn just throws dimes, she really does. She's so good at looking up the floor and getting that pass perfect. Having that little bit of a lead going into the second half did calm us a little bit."

At the break, the Colonials continued to adjust. Flanagan noted PV's perimeter defenders were playing very aggressively up on her or anyone who had the ball so she started looking to rip through and go to the rim, looking to draw Boettinger over in help then lay off a pass to an open post.

On the defensive end, PW also made a tweak by switching Daley on Boettinger in the post. The Vikings have been a very good offensive rebounding team all year, but the Colonials again wanted to play their opponent's aggressive mentality against them.

"It was a great decision by (assistant coach TJ) DeLucia. He said, 'let's try it' and it absolutely worked," Colonials head coach Dan Dougherty said. "We thought it would invite them throwing the ball in to her and us anticipating and getting some easy baskets out of it."

If Perk Valley was going to crash, Plymouth Whitemarsh was going to run. It may have seemed counter-productive for a team down a starter trying to push the pace as much as possible, but its a style the Colonials are comfortable with and in many ways, built for.

Flanagan may not want to be a doctor, but she's on her way to a PhD in outlet passes and the Holy Cross recruit just kept putting the ball on a rope to her teammates, running the floor as PW turned it up in a 13-2 run over the final 3:15 of the frame. Her best pass of the game came in the fourth when she drove, pulled three defenders to her and wrapped it around to a teammate, but the Colonials weren't able to cash it in for a basket.

"When you have Flanagan, Sharpe, Daley and Lainey Allen in that open floor, they are elite athletes, they are Division I athletes for a reason," Dougherty said. "That run at the end of the second quarter when we got some transition points, Abby's ability to finish in transition was special. Extending it into the third quarter, Flanagan's decision-making was just incredible."

Sharpe, who played the game with a scowl of determination on her face, followed up her eight-point second quarter with six in the third.

"I really wanted those layups," Sharpe said. "I wanted that lead. It's something I've had to work on in terms of gathering myself and going up on those layups, so to see them go in was really big and really big for the team, so, yeah, I was pretty fired up about it."

The Vikings have a lot of reasons to be optimistic about the future with so much of their roster coming back, but they also got a chance to give their two seniors who guided the team to new heights a last ovation in the final minute. Emma Miley, who scored 10 and Jennifer Beattie, who had seven, subbed out together to share a hug with coach John Russo as the PV crowd behind the bench rose to applaud them.

PW is cautiously hopeful Thomas will be able to return Friday when the Colonials face an excellent Cedar Cliff team in the state semifinal round after the Colts topped Pennsbury 42-36 on Tuesday. It will be the Colonials' first semifinal appearance since 1985 and while the team has maintained a mission-oriented focus with each step this season, it's still an accomplishment to take pride in.

"It's an amazing honor to be there, but we want to win a state championship so, so badly," Dougherty said. "We still tell them, it doesn't define you as people and what you've accomplished already. You're already the greatest girls' team we've ever had, your legacy is set and now it's up to you to get that prize you've worked so hard for four years to try and get."

By Quarter

Plymouth Whitemarsh: 12 | 13 | 17 | 14 || 56
Perkiomen Valley:          6 | 12 | 12 |  7  || 31

Scoring

Plymouth Whitemarsh: Abby Sharpe 20, Kaitlyn Flanagan 14, Lainey Allen 10, Erin Daley 9, Fiona Gooneratne 2, Rhianna Gooneratne 1

Perkiomen Valley: Emma Miley 10, Quinn Boettinger 10, Jennifer Beattie 7, Lena Stein 2, Bella Bacani 2