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Penn Charter finishes season sweep of Germantown Academy, maintains distance in Inter-Ac

01/20/2023, 9:45pm EST
By Owen McCue

Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)
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EAST FALLS — Bella Toomey doesn’t remember too many details about her first two encounters with Germantown Academy.

She does recall that her Penn Charter squads dropped both games during her freshman season against the rival Patriots, who were then in the midst of a run of six straight Inter-Ac titles and a 14-game win streak over the Quakers.

“Our freshman year it was,’GA’s the powerhouse. Try to beat GA. Try to stay within whatever,’” Toomey recalled. “I was like, ‘Oh geez, OK.’ Now to see we’ve beaten them twice this year, we’ve beaten them so many times over my career and it’s just amazing.”


Penn Charter senior Aleah Snead had 17 points in Friday's win over Germantown Academy. (Photo: Owen McCue/CoBL)

The roles have reversed during Toomey’s career. She and fellow four-year varsity player Aleah Snead won five of their last six games against GA, including a 54-39 victory on Friday night to finish off a season sweep. 

Toomey, Snead, Gracie Shoup and Kelsey Bess are the first senior class under eight-year coach Joe Maguire to finish with a winning record against the Patriots and it’s possible they are the first group in the program’s history to accomplish the feat.

“They’ve always been a big competitor even before I was here,” Snead said. 

“We’re actually leaving here at 5-3 against them … it’s exciting to be the only class to do that. We come out here and take pride in every sport GA’s our rival, so to come out here and support for girls’ basketball is huge.”

The Quakers success against their league rivals — who won or shared the Inter-Ac in 20 of the 22 seasons before Penn Charter’s first league title since 1998 last season — shows the growth this senior class has helped the program make.

“They made it normal to beat them. It’s not a big celebration now,” Maguire said. “We expect to compete with them. They’re a great program. She (GA coach Sherri Retif) has done a great job over the years. We just think we can compete with anybody, so we expect to be in every game we play and we expect to be the best team in the league and that’s what we want to be.”

Penn Charter’s seniors led the way in Thursday’s victory as the Quakers (11-8, 7-0 Inter-Ac) led by double-digits for essentially the final three quarters. Snead scored 17 points and Toomey 11. Sophomore Kaylinn Bethea and eighth grader Ryan Carter both added eight, while Shoup did a lot of the dirty work throughout. Junior Isabella Casey had 12 points for the Patriots (11-9, 4-2).


Penn Charter senior Bella Toomey had 11 points in Friday's win over GA. (Photo: Owen McCue/CoBL)

The Quakers held a 20-11 lead after the first quarter, 30-20 lead at half and 47-30 lead heading to the fourth as Snead, Toomey and Carter all knocked down triples during a 17-point third period.

“I think we wanted it more,” Snead said. You just have to want it. We came out here and we played defense hard and that was one of our goals of the game, one of our standards. I think we did that today and that showed in the score at the end of the game.”

Friday’s contest marked a prime opportunity for Penn Charter to take a stranglehold on the Inter-Ac. Still undefeated in league play, the Quakers now hold a two-game advantage on Germantown Academy and Notre Dame with a pair of wins over the Patriots and one over the Irish.

League games against Springside Chestnut-Hill, Epsicopal Academy, Notre Dame, Baldwin and Agnes Irwin stand between Penn Charter and the first consecutive Inter-Ac titles (and just third championship overall) in program history.

“I think there’s equal pressure, maybe more pressure, because it’s harder to do something a second time,” Toomey said. “But I think we’ve gotten GA out of the way. We have Episcopal. We have a few hard games left, there’s definitely the same amount, if not more pressure, but I think we’re gonna do it.”

GA handed Penn Charter its lone Inter-Ac loss last season — a 60-54 defeat in their second meeting of the season. With one big hurdle now out of the way, the Quakers have eyes on not just another league crown but an unblemished league mark.

“We just need to play together and come out every single game, no matter who it is with the intensity that we had today,” Snead said.

There’s plenty they are still chasing to keep them focused as they finish out the regular season.

“We have things that are (unfinished),” Maguire said. “We went 11-1, 12-0’s the goal. Last year we lost in PAISAA by a point, that’s the goal. … I want their career to end on a win. Tears of joy when they leave instead of tears of sadness. That’s something that we’re really looking towards.”

By Quarter

Germantown Academy: 11 | 9 | 10 | 9 || 39

Penn Charter: 20 | 10 | 17 | 7 || 54

Scoring: 

Germantown Academy: Isabella Casey 12, Sam Wade 7, Jess Aponik 7, Kendall Bennett 6, Addison Levensten 4, Jess Kolecki 2, Gabby Bowes 1

Penn Charter: Aleah Snead 17, Bella Toomey 11, Kaylinn Bethea 8, Ryan Carter 8, Gracie Shoup 7, Liv Viera 3.


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