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Young C.B. South, senior-led Great Valley earn wins at Garnet Valley Invite

12/27/2022, 9:15pm EST
By Owen McCue

Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)
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GLEN MILLS — Jordana ‘Yoyo’ Samayoa could feel the glare in the back of her head as soon as she let the shot fly.

If this one didn’t go in, she knew she’d hear it from coach Beth Mattern.

Luckily for the Titans and their captain, Samayoa’s shot went through. The late fourth-quarter three proved to be the biggest shot of Tuesday’s 35-31 win over Downingtown East at the 42nd annual Garnet Valley Varsity Club Invitational Tournament..

 “I just got the ball and shot it,” Samayoa said. “It was more of an instinct thing. Once it was gone, I felt her stare in the back of my head. I was so happy I made that.”

“I was kind of wanting her to restart the offense, but she did knock down the big three. It was a big moment and ultimately was kind of what put us over the top at the end.”


C.B. South junior Yoyo Samayoa is captaining the young Titans team this season. (Photo: Owen McCue/CoBL)

There aren’t too many moments where Samayoa’s decision making draws the ire of her coach. 

The three-year starter is the one player on the Titans (2-6) Mattern has coached for multiple years.

“She’s tough and she has a great work ethic,” Mattern said. “She has expectations for herself and she’s the hardest on herself more than anyone else can be. She just leads by example, by hard work and she’s an encourager. She tries to get teammates involved. From that aspect, she’s a good leader.”

When senior Jenna McCartin tore her ACL in the preseason, Samayoa became the only CB South player with significant varsity action under her belt.

Junio co-captain Casey Balkir, sophomore forward Mia Klein, sophomore guard Ella Wheeler and freshman forward Jules Tropea make up the rest of the CB South starting lineup. Balkir and Klein were swing players a season ago, but it’s been up to Samayoa to make sure this group understands Mattern’s expectations.

She is there to field questions before and during practice and makes herself available for help off the court as well, sometimes diagramming plays on her phone for other players.

“It was an adjustment at first I would say because I’m used to being the youngest and having everyone else be the leader,” Samayoa said. “But I like having a young core of girls because I think they show a lot of energy. Maybe we might not be the sharpest all the time, maybe they need reminders. But I think with heart, they all want to go because they want to prove something being young.”

The Titans came into Tuesday with five-straight losses. They trailed by seven early in the fourth quarter before rallying to take a 24-23 lead heading into the fourth. Wheeler sparked them with six of her game-high 12 points in the fourth.

C.B. South tied it at 29-29 late in the fourth before Wheeler hit a three and Samayoa followed with another to make it 35-29 with 1:51 left. 

In a game where points were at a premium, the six-point deficit proved too much for the Cougars to overcome.

“It was big momentum, but all the girls were contributing, rebounding, getting those second-chance opportunities that we had in the last quarter,” said Samayoa, who scored all five of her points in the fourth.

Klein finished with 10 points and Tropea eight for the Titans. Freshman Chloe Aldridge, a 6-foot point guard, led the Cougars (3-6) with nine.

The Titans will likely take a few more lumps in a loaded SOL Colonial Division this season after starting 0-5, but Mattern is excited about the growth this group can take throughout the rest of the season and beyond.

“This group’s exciting because they’re definitely further along than the last group I had that was really young like this,” Mattern said. “Some of the things I see them do, just naturally playing and they're fun. I’m looking forward to there hopefully being a pay off someday with some more success than this year’s brought.”

By Quarter

C.B. South 8 | 4 | 12 | 11 || 35

Downingtown East 9 | 8 | 6 | 8 || 31

Scoring

C.B. South: Ella Wheeler 12, Mia Klein 10, Jules Tropea 8, Yordana Samayoa 5.

Downingtown East: Charlotte Aldridge 9, Grace Hodges 7, Ariana Smuda 6, Eileen Hewitt 6, Callie Ardoline 3.

~~~


Forward Lauren Frederick is one of seven seniors on the Great Valley roster. (Photo: Owen McCue/CoBL)

Great Valley seniors clicking early

Lauren Frederick has had her father as one of her coaches for pretty much her entire basketball career.

If you went to a Great Valley practice, however, you wouldn’t be able to pick out assistant Todd Frederick’s kid.

“He’s coached pretty much all of us,” Lauren said. “It’s like they’re all getting coached by their dad almost because they’ve played under him for years.”

The Patriots (8-1) have seven seniors on the roster. Their three senior captains, Laura Lum (13), Frederik (12) and Gia Sioutis (10) led the charge in a 41-34 win over Garnet Valley on Tuesday.

Frederick has seen her role expand significantly as a senior, going from someone who came off the bench every game as a junior to a starter and captain.

“I think it’s just my team,” Frederick said. “I feel really confident with my team. We always play well together. Having teammates that lift you up (helps).”

The Patriots offense runs through her in the high post and her 12-point, 10-rebound, two-block, two-assist outing on Tuesday highlighted the multiple ways she can impact a game.

“She played great today obviously with post moves, going to the basket and then when it was really important she hit key foul shots at the end,” Great Valley head coach Paul Girone said. “We run a high post man-to-man offense, so she’s perfect for the spot because you have to do something with the ball when you get it and she can do that. She’s somebody who pays attention, knows the offense as well as anybody.”

Things were tight throughout Tuesday’s contest against the Jaguars (4-5), who were led by sophomores Kylie Mulholland (15) and Haylie Adamski (12). Great Valley distanced itself in the fourth quarter, getting up by as many as eight before Frederick helped seal the game with six fourth-quarter points, going 4-of-6 from the stripe in the final period.

The victory was a bounceback for the Patriots after a 46-25 loss to Unionville on Dec. 22 marked their first defeat of the season. After Tuesday’s title game against C.B. South, Great Valley will have another tough Ches-Mont contest against the league’s defending champion West Chester Rustin on Jan. 5.

“Now, we’re getting to the part of the schedule where we play the toughest teams,” Girone said. “We want to be able to compete. If we bring it down to the end of the game, we think what we run will help us. So we’ll see.”

By Quarter

Great Valley 9 | 10 | 9 | 13 || 41

Garnet Valley 8 | 7 | 9 | 10 || 34

Scoring

Great Valley: Laura Lum 13, Lauren Frederick 12, Gia Sioutis 10, Julia Curran 2, Mia Maslowski 2, Taia DiPrinzio 2.

Garnet Valley: Kylie Mulholland 15, Haylie Adamski 12, Mia Zebley 4, Savannah Saunders 3.


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