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High School League Races Update: Jan. 31, 2023 (Girls)

01/31/2023, 1:30am EST
By Owen McCue

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)

We’re in the final two weeks of the PIAA regular season, meaning the various league races around the area are ready to wrap up, teams fighting for regular-season titles and postseason berths all over the Delaware Valley.

Here’s a look at which games will (or could) make a difference in the next fortnight on the girls’ side, broken down by league (If we don’t have a preview on a league, it’s because we didn’t have accurate enough information on schedules and standings to preview the playoff race):


Marah McHugh, above, and Villa Maria have the top spot in the AACA playoffs locked up. (Photo: Owen McCue/CoBL)

AACA
Villa Maria locked up the AACA’s top seed in its four-team playoffs, beating Merion Mercy on Monday night to move to 9-0. Gwynedd Mercy (6-2), Mount St. Joe’s (5-4) and Nazareth Academy (4-4) are also all guaranteed to make the playoffs; MSJ closes with Villa Joseph Marie (2-7) on Thursday to lock up the third seed, while Gwynedd has to beat either Nazareth Tuesday or win at Villa on Thursday to ensure it’s the second seed. 

Bicentennial League
Faith Christian (10-0) sits atop the league, with only a game against winless Dock Mennonite on Tuesday night to secure the top seed in the BAL playoffs. The Christian Academy (9-1) is right in line for the second seed, followed by Delco Christian (8-3), MaST Charter (7-3) and Jenkintown (6-3). A rematch between Faith and TCA, a game that Faith won 39-36 at TCA earlier this month, in the BAL championship seems quite possible.

Catholic League
We’re finally starting to get a little bit of separation at the top: Wood and Lansdale Catholic are both 6-0; they meet next Tuesday at Wood. O’Hara and Neumann-Goretti are both 5-1, with Archbishop Carroll the only PCL team to play seven games so far at 5-2. There are six games that look like they should settle the score in the regular-season race, though nobody cares about anything other than who’s lifting a trophy at the Palestra later in February.

— Neumann-Goretti vs. Archbishop Wood (Jan. 31)
— Lansdale Catholic vs. Cardinal O’Hara (Feb. 2)
— Neumann-Goretti vs. Archbishop Carroll (Feb. 2)
— Archbishop Wood vs. Lansdale Catholic (Feb. 7)

— Cardinal O’Hara vs. Neumann-Goretti (Feb. 7)
— Lansdale Catholic vs. Archbishop Carroll (Feb. 9)


A win over Conestoga on Saturday put Caroline Dotsey, above, and Haverford in great shape in the Central League. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Central League
The only unbeaten team left in District 1, Haverford High (13-0 Central) has a two-game lead on the field with three games to play, with remaining games at home against Upper Darby (0-13) on Tuesday and then at Ridley (6-7) on Thursday and at Garnet Valley (9-4) next Tuesday. They already have tiebreakers over Conestoga and Springfield (Delco.), both 11-2, while Garnet’s in fourth place. Radnor (7-6), Penncrest and Ridley (both 6-7) are in fifth, sixth and seventh, with Marple and Strath Haven still technically alive in the playoff race at 5-8. Radnor has a favorable schedule to lock up a bid, going at Harriton (2-11), at Marple and at home against Strath Haven to close the season out. Penncrest has a more favorite closing trio than Ridley, which has to play Conestoga and Haverford plus Lower Merion (3-10); Penncrest gets Strath Haven, Harriton (2-11) and Springfield (Delco.).

Ches-Mont American
West Chester Rustin (7-0) is close to wrapping up the division crown, with two wins over second-place Unionville (5-2) under its belt; Unionville has to win at Oxford (2-5), Kennett (3-5) and Sun Valley (2-8) to hold off Great Valley (5-3) for the second playoff spot out of the American in the four-team Ches-Mont playoffs. Rustin’s closing trio are at Great Valley, Oxford and Kennett, and considering it beat the last two teams by a combined 65 points in their first meetings, it would be surprising for them to end up anything worse than 9-1.

Ches-Mont National
Bishop Shanahan (9-0) has this in the bag, up three games in the loss column over Coatesville (9-3) with games against WC East (4-6), Downingtown East (2-7) and Henderson (5-4) remaining, the first two at home this week (Tues/Thurs). For Coatesville to hold off Henderson for the final spot in the Ches-Mont playoffs, it just needs to beat Henderson at home on Tuesday, and it won’t matter what happens against Avon Grove next week.

Del-Val
It’s a two-team race at the top between Academy Park (5-0) and Penn Wood (5-1), the Knights with three league games left and the Patriots with two. They’ll play each other one more time, Feb. 7 at Academy Park, in the rematch of a 46-43 AP win at Penn Wood on Jan. 19. If Academy Park wins, the Knights win the league almost certainly; otherwise, they’ll almost certainly split the title.

Inter-Ac
The Inter-Ac doesn’t have a playoffs either, so Penn Charter (9-0) is oh-so-close to wrapping up its second consecutive league title, especially if it beats Notre Dame (7-2) on Tuesday afternoon at Penn Charter; the Quakers took the the first meeting from the Irish 51-43 on the road. All they’d have to do at that point is beat Baldwin (0-7) at home on Tuesday to make it official, but even if they somehow got tripped up by Notre Dame, it’s unlikely they’d lose to either Baldwin or at Agnes Irwin (3-5) next Friday.

PAC Frontier
The PAC playoffs are a six-team affair, with the top two teams from each division getting in, followed by the next two teams — from either division — with the best record in league play, including crossover games. The Frontier’s currently led by Phoenixville (6-2), with Pope John Paul II (5-2), Upper Merion (5-3) and Pottsgrove (4-3) still in the mix. Phoenixville closes with Pottstown (3-5) at home on Tuesday and then visits Pottsgrove on Thursday; PJP II closes with Upper Perk (0-8) on the road Tuesday and then Upper Merion and Pottsgrove at home on Thursday and Saturday. Upper Merion plays Pottsgrove at home on Tuesday before its trip to PJP II on Thursday. In other words, this is still very much up in the air. Phoenixville, by the way, is the only one with a winning record in overall league play (7-4).


Katie Tiffan, above, and Spring-Ford have games against Methacton and Perkiomen Valley this week to decide the PAC's top seed. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

PAC Liberty
This one’s down to three teams: Perkiomen Valley (7-1) and Spring-Ford (7-1) are at the top with Methacton (6-2) right behind them, and all three are basically locks to make the PAC playoffs no matter how the division race shores up. Owen J Roberts (6-5 league, 3-5 division) could end up making it in as well, especially if the Wildcats beat Norristown on Thursday. Spring-Ford has a huge pair of games this week, playing the Methacton squad that dealt it its only loss on Tuesday and then playing at Perkiomen Valley on Thursday; the Rams need to win both to capture the No. 1 seed. 

SOL Colonial
The Suburban One League playoffs go eight deep: the four division winners and then the next four highest according to the District 1’s points formula. In the Colonial, Souderton (12-1) is in the lead, and has second place CB East (10-3) on Friday in a game that would lock it up for sure. CB East currently has a district points rating of 10.208 (13th in 6A), while North Penn (8-5) is a good bit behind at 8.144 (22nd in 6A).

SOL Freedom
Got a two-team race at the top, with Upper Moreland (11-2) and New Hope-Solebury (10-3) the only two still in contention for the division title. Those two face off on Tuesday (Feb. 7) at Upper Moreland in what should be the championship game; Upper Moreland (11.1, 5th in 5A) is in better shape in the district race than New Hope (8.66, 1st in 3A) if it doesn’t get the auto-bid to the league playoffs.

SOL Liberty
This one’s all sorts of interesting: Plymouth Whitemarsh (12-1) enters the home stretch in the lead, but Abington (11-2) and Upper Dublin (10-3) are still in it. UD could force a three-way tie if it beats both PW and Abington this week, as long as a few other chips fall in line, though that would also involve PW losing to Hatboro (5-8) or Wissahickon (3-10). It’s quite possible that all three make it in: PW (13.198, 3rd in 6A), Abington (12.301, 6th in 6A) and Upper Dublin (9.250, 16th in 6A) are all having strong seasons.

SOL Patriot
Neshaminy and Pennsbury are both tied at 10-3, three games ahead of CR South (7-6), and both in good shape in the district; Neshaminy’s got a 11.967 rating (7th in 6A) and Pennsbury’s at 10.635 (11th in 6A). Those two have already had their two meetings, Pennsbury winning both, so Neshaminy needs to win its last three and hope Pennsbury drops one to finish on top. Neshaminy closes at Truman (0-13), at CR North (4-9) and at home against Bensalem; Pennsbury gets Bensalem (2-11) and CR South at home before traveling to CR North. Slight advantage to Neshaminy but they could both close 3-0


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