City of Basketball Love

Lochlahn March (@lochlahn)
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(Ed. Note: This story is part of CoBL’s “Prepping for Preps” series, which will take a look at many of the top high school programs in the region as part of our 2022-23 season preview coverage. The complete list of schools previewed thus far can be found here.)

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Perkiomen Valley’s girls turned heads last season. 

Propelled by a stacked freshman class, they put up 23 wins, finished runner-up in the Pioneer Athletic Conference, and made a Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) quarterfinal appearance for the first time in school history. Those freshmen are sophomores now, returning one year older and more experienced. And they want to run it back. 

“I feel like now that we know that we’re capable of playing and making it that far, we’re all just feeling more confident,” sophomore Quinn Boettinger said. “I know that every single one of us wants to make it farther, and we all know that we can so we really just have been working really hard to do that.”

This year’s Vikings’ offense will likely be built around Boettinger, a 6-foot-3 center who averaged 10.2 points per game as a freshman. A true center with great hands, footwork, passing and finishing ability, Boettinger received her first Division I offer from Drexel after a recruiting visit in October. With one year of varsity under her belt, the post player plans to elevate her game even further this upcoming season. 

“Last year I was very inside-heavy, and being a post, that’s common,” Boettinger said, “but I’ve been told that I have a nice shot and I should take it, so I’m working on getting the confidence to take that.”

Sophomore guard Bella Bacani has stepped up this offseason as a leader on the court, setting the stage for an increased role on the team. Bacani and Boettinger have played together since fourth grade, and this summer the duo led their Comets’ 15U squad to the Girls’ Under Armour Association (GUAA) Championship title game. 

According to Perk Valley head coach John Russo, Bacani is ready for a “leap year.” 

The Stein sisters — Lena, a sophomore, Anna, a junior, and Ella, a senior — return for their second year playing together as a trio. Ella Stein is the only returning senior on the roster this year, and will be captaining the team.

“[Playing with my sisters is] an amazing experience,” Lena Stein said. “And it really carries on to the rest of the team, because our relationships are all so close. So it kind of makes it one big family, with the whole entire team.”

Last season, Lena Stein’s game was defined by her stout defense. But over the offseason, she’s been working to build up her offensive game as well, and she hopes to be a scoring threat for Perk Valley this year.  

The team will also have to adjust to some changes in the lineup from 2021-2022. Sophomore Grace Miley led the team in rebounds last year and was shaping up to be a major contributor again this season, but will be sidelined after suffering an ACL tear.  

“We’re losing all of [Grace Miley’s] heart and hustle, and that’s just going to make all of us have to take a little step up, and try to fill the role that she plays so wonderfully,” Boettinger said. 

The team will also feel the loss of Jen Beattie and Emma Miley, who both graduated last spring and were critical to the team’s deep playoff run as senior captains. Beattie averaged 12.3 points per game to lead the Vikings in scoring last season. 

“They were both super important… Jen from behind the three point arc and on the offensive side of the ball, and Emma was a true leader on the team,” Russo said. “Everybody’s gonna have to shoot it. That’s the way the game is now, so hopefully, we can take what Jen did offensively and spread it out through five girls, and make us even harder to guard.”

Though the lack of Beattie and the Miley sisters on the court will be felt, the already impressive sophomore class has also added another piece; Grace Galbavy from Upper Perkiomen has moved districts and will be joining the Vikings this season. Galbavy is already raking in Division I offers from the likes of Penn State, Princeton, Harvard, Temple, Towson, and University of Pittsburgh. 

“[Grace Galbavy] can guard guards, she can guard bigs. She’s long and athletic. She works as hard as anybody we’ve ever seen,” Russo said. “She gets along with all the girls on the team. I think she’s going to have a huge positive impact on our success this season.”

The 6-foot power forward (18.9 ppg last season) was the PAC’s second-leading scorer as a freshman in 2022, and was named first team All-PAC. A main focus of Perk Valley’s preseason has been incorporating Galbavy into the fold.

“We’re all super excited. She’s a great player and a great teammate,” Lena Stein said. “It was an awesome experience to have her during this preseason, so we can all learn how to blend our games together, learn her game. And she really is an amazing player. She’ll definitely be able to help us out this season.”

Though their last season was historic, marking their deepest postseason run ever, Perk Valley came away without one thing — a title. The Vikings are still hungry for a championship victory. But to achieve that, they’ll need to take down Spring-Ford, the five-time defending PAC champions.

The teams’ last meeting, in the PAC championship, ended in heartbreak for the Vikings with a 43-36 loss. Armed with more confidence and a new offensive weapon on the team, Perk Valley is eager for a rematch. The first matchup between the two schools this season will come on Jan. 12. 

“Spring-Ford and Perk Valley will always be rivals,” Boettinger said. “I know they got a lot better. We got a lot better. So I feel like that will be a really good matchup.”