City of Basketball Love

Andrew Robinson (@ADRobinson3)
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COLLEGEVILLE — Quinn Boettinger feels pretty badly about the way she’s treated Grace Galbavy since becoming teammates at Perkiomen Valley this season.

Galbavy, who transferred to PV from Upper Perkiomen over the summer, has been nothing but generous this winter looking to find Boettinger in the low post and giving the talented sophomore opportunities. The problem, and this is what really bugs the 6-foot-3 Boettinger, is that she’s been missing way too many of those shots and usually scoring on a putback after she gets her own rebound.

Tuesday, it was fittingly a pass from Galbavy that got her the bucket for her first 30-point game in high school as the Vikings defeated short-handed Methacton 70-44 in a key PAC Liberty game.

“She’s always so good at finding me and getting me the ball and there’s a running joke that she  has these really nice passes and I sell the layups most of the time and get my rebound,” Boettinger said. “The joke is that I’m padding my stats. She can always find me and she tends to give up her shot numerous times a game to pass me the ball; it’s very generous on her part, and I try to give it back as much as I can.”

Everybody was giving Boettinger the ball on Tuesday once  the Vikings saw who wasn’t on the floor for Methacton. Warriors forward Mairi Smith, who at 6-foot-2 would have given Methacton some needed size against the Vikings’ twin six-footers, was unable to play after dealing with a bad stomach bug Monday night and all day Tuesday.

Methacton coach Craig Kaminski said Smith tried everything, even twice attempting to make it to school during the day but ultimately had to declare herself out and didn’t make the trip. Naturally, that changed a lot of things for both teams, with the Warriors looking for a steady diet of 3-pointers on offense and hoping their zone could at least limit PV.

Three is worth more than two, but if No. 33 was scoring more twos than the threes could keep pace with, it was an equation that wasn’t going to add up.

“I knew I had a large size advantage and we had anticipated them playing a zone, so without Mairi there in the middle, that opened up me and Grace in the middle,” Boettinger, who eclipsed her previous career-high of 24, said. “It showed, I think that’s what really got our offense running.”

Methacton’s threes and a couple rim attacks by Cassidy Kropp, who more than did her part for the Warriors with 24 points, actually had the visitors ahead 16-11 with 3:12 left in the first quarter. Over the next three minutes, Galbavy and Boettinger would combine for 12 straight points, the Vikings feeding the ball inside over and over as Perk Valley took a 23-16 lead.

Perkiomen Valley's girls pose with the fourth graders who came to see them play and play their own halftime game. (Photo: Andrew Robinson/CoBL)

On top of the stakes in the PAC Liberty — PV and Methacton entered the night tied with Spring-Ford at 4-1 after a pseudo rock-paper-scissors setup the first time through had see PV beat Methacton, Methacton beat Spring-Ford and Spring-Ford beat Perk Valley — the Vikings also had some esteemed guests in the house. The Perkiomen Valley Youth Basketball’s fourth grade travel team sat behind the home bench, played a very entertaining halftime game and posed for a collective team photo with the Vikings after the varsity game.

“We have done these youth clinics since August and we all really know these kids, they’re all so fun,” Boettinger said. “They all look up to us and we’re proving to them, this is where you can go if you work hard. It’s always amazing, they were cheering us on and they’re all such nice girls so having them coming to support us is a nice feeling.”

The first quarter ended with Boettinger hoisting and hitting a buzzer-beating three that gave her 15 points in an emphatic start. She said taking that kind of shot is something she’s worked to be more comfortable with and with the clock running down, she knew she was the best option to put it up.

Boettinger nearly hit her old career mark by halftime, but the sophomore was amazed postgame to hear she had put up 22 as the Vikings took a 37-28 lead to the break. She did still manage a good number of offensive rebounds, with five of her eight rebounds coming off PV misses but it was the assertiveness on offense that the sophomore was most proud of.

“I really had a mental struggle during AAU, I was very pass-first, I didn’t really shoot and I was very timid with the ball,” Boettinger, who made 12-of-17 attempts Tuesday, said. “I played volleyball, so I wasn’t at as many fall workouts as I wanted to be but I knew coming into the season I needed to put my foot on the pedal and just go.

“I wanted to prove to myself I could do everything I didn’t do and I deserved to be on the court and don’t have these false expectations.”

Tuesday, with defenders all but hanging on for dear life as she set up in the post and put up shot after shot, Boettinger didn’t lose her cool as she absorbed some contact on a few of her finishes.

“I think all of a sudden, something just switched,” Boettinger said. “I don’t know if it’s the new presence of Grace coming to our team and this new atmosphere, obviously losing Grace Miley (to a knee injury) really hurt and that was tough, so adjusting without her, I knew I had to take a bigger step up.”

Methacton’s night didn’t get much better with Smith already out. Sophomore Abby Arnold, who has been an emerging player for the Warriors, went down hard with 2:49 left in the second half when she was in the middle of a three-player collision going after the ball. Arnold was able to sit up, then walk off the floor but she did not return to the game.

With two starters out and a lot of the team in foul trouble, Kropp did about everything she could to try and keep the game from slipping away. The senior scored 15 of the Warriors’ 16 second half points, adding eight rebounds, two assists, two steals and two blocks in a tenacious effort with senior Morgan Coupe, pressed into starting service, finishing with 10 points.

Boettinger had six points in the third, although her best play of the frame was a nice pass from low block to low block that got Galbavy a layup. Galbavy, who found Boettinger with 6:50 left on a high-low pass for her 29th and 30th points, posted 16 points, 11 rebounds, two assists and a pair of steals. Both have Division I offers already, with more sure to come.

Lena Stein also knew to get the ball inside, the guard racking up six assists while playing her usual strong defense with three steals.

Boettinger was certainly popular with the 4th graders, but guard Bella Bacani was the clear favorite, getting a big hug from each travel player as they exclaimed her name upon seeing her. Bacani sent her young fans home happy too, going off in the fourth quarter for 13 points on a perfect 5-of-5 shooting to finish with 21 for the night.

“Incredible,” Boettinger said of her classmate’s barrage. “I can always trust her to hit a shot and when she gets into a rhythm, she’s going to go. The one play, Grace set that backside zone screen, I knew that was going in.”

By Quarter
Perk Valley: 23  |  14  |  16  |  17  ||  70
Methacton:  16  |  12  |   9   |   7   ||  44

Scoring
PV: Quinn Boettinger 30, Bella Bacani 21, Grace Galbavy 16, Julia Smith 3

M: Cassidy Kropp 24, Morgan Coupe 10, Reana Torres 6, Abby Arnold 4