City of Basketball Love

By Joseph Santoliquito (@JSantoliquito)
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GLEN MILLS — Early in the fourth quarter of Tuesday’s girls’ Central League game between visiting Springfield-Delco and Garnet Valley, there was a pause of less than a second when Lexi Aaron fell to the court. It’s still a little scary each time the Springfield 5-foot-7 senior guard goes down.

Aaron, bound for Towson on a lacrosse scholarship, lost her junior year recovering from a posterior cruciate ligament injury in the back of her left knee that required rehab and no surgery.

She plays with a cumbersome brace over her left leg, though that did not deter her from the fine defensive job she did, along with teammate Mia Valerio, on Garnet Valley’s talented 6-foot sophomore Haylie Adamski in Springfield’s 39-33 Central League victory Tuesday night at Garnet Valley.

Adamski, who is getting some rising Division I interest, still led all scorers with a game-high 14 points, but she needed 15 shots to get there, with Valerio and Aaron taking turns constantly face-guarding her from getting the ball.

The Aaron-Valerio defensive front, coupled with Valerio’s four clutch free throws down the stretch pushed the Cougars to an 8-0 Central League record and 10-2 overall, while Garnet Valley fell to 7-6 and 5-3.

“Coming back to basketball, with the planting, cutting, and sudden stops, and after playing soccer in the fall, it’s been easier mentally than I thought,” said Aaron, who scored three of her five points in a crucial fourth quarter. “It is very nice being 8-0. Haylie is very good. You had to stay in front of her, because she’s very crafty and she can pull up anywhere off the dribble.

“This was a good test tonight. I underwent five months of PT. At times, it’s my head going up for a ball, it gets out of my head, but it’s always a thought (about the knee). I start playing, and it goes away, and in the fourth quarter when I went down, there’s a thought in my head for a second and it goes away.”

Her basketball legs are back after soccer season. Springfield, under coach Ky McNichol, is moving the ball quicker in transition this season. That means more running, more starts and stops, more demands on her legs.

“My hand got a little cut up, but that came from my brace, not the game,” said Aaron, a midfield defender in lacrosse who began playing basketball when she was three. “Basketball was my first sport. This season won’t be easy. Me, Mia and Anabel (Kreydt, who didn’t play against Garnet Valley due to an infection) grew up playing together. This won’t be easy leaving this game.”

Garnet Valley, which came out in a 1-3-1, never led, though the Jaguars tied once, 12-12, and came within 35-33 with 49 seconds left to play after a steal-and-score by Adamski. But the Cougars held Garnet Valley off in the end, without Kreydt.

“They’re the reigning Central League champions and we were playing without Anabel, so this was big for us to come in here and win,” McNichol said. “We’re excited to have Lexi back on the floor for us. She’s a great leader, she’s a great kid, and she takes a lot of pride in her defense.”

It’s something Adamski found out. Valerio, who’s 5-2, and Aaron, who’s 5-7, were giving away considerable height to the rangy Adamski, who has an amazing wingspan. The Springfield senior pair were like two pesky gnats she had to swat away.

“It was difficult and Mia and Lexi play great defense, getting face-guarded the whole time,” Adamski said. “Not getting open was difficult. When we ran our spread offense, it wasn’t really helping. We had four sophomores at one time or another on the court together, and next time we see them, we have to get off to a better start.

“We need to come out with more energy next time against them.”

Jaguars legendary coach Joe Woods sees progress in his young team, and mistakes that are correctable.

“We had too many turnovers in the first half, but overall, we had a good second half, but just made too many fouls,” Woods said. “Every team we play knows about Haylie. In the first half, her shot selection could have been better and sometimes she feels the weight of scoring almost all of the points, and she’s capable of doing that. She has to trust her teammates.

“We’re a relatively young team. It’s coming, it’s coming. We like our group.”

Valerio saw her friend Lexi struggle watching last year unfold. It took as much of a mental toll on Aaron as it did a physical toll.

“Every time our team faced adversity, Lexi watched to jump out and play,” said Valerio, who is going to Richmond on a lacrosse scholarship. “It was hard on her. She’s back now. Lexi and I knew Haylie has such a good shot off the dribble, so we had to deny her the ball. Even though this is early in the season, winning this game sets the tone and we can build from this.”  

By Quarter

Springfield (10-2, 8-0 Central League):  10   | 11  |  4  |  14 ||  39

Garnet Valley (7-6, 5-3):  5  | 11  |  4  | 13 ||  33

Scoring

Springfield: Mia Valerio 10, Kaitlyn Kearney 9, Taylor Hunyet 8, Lexi Aaron 5, Grace Kelly 4, Cora Fattori 3.

Garnet Valley: Haylie Adamski 14, Kylie Mulholland 6, Alana Williams 5, Jordan Daubenberger 3, Mia Zebley 2, Savannah Saunders 2, Sarah Sigston 1.

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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.