City of Basketball Love

Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)
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FAIRVIEW VILLAGE — The Methacton girls basketball team dropped its postseason home opener in each of the past two seasons. In 2021, that meant the end of the Warriors season. Last year, they were able to respond with a win streak through the district playback bracket to keep their season alive.

On Friday night, the do-or-die stakes were back as 15th-seeded Methacton was on its home floor against 18th-seeded Coatesville in the first round of the District 1-6A tournament.

A shorthanded Raiders squad showed some early fight, but seniors Cassidy Kropp and Mairi Smith ensured their careers will have at least two more games, guiding the Warriors to a 58-38 win.

Smith had 19, Kropp had 17 and sophomore Abby Arnold chipped in 10  in the victory, while Alexis Fields’ 25 points kept Coatesville feisty early. The Warriors travel to No. 2 Haverford in the second round Wednesday.

“We knew we had to play for our lives really,” Kropp said. “It could have been the end of our season. Obviously, we had to play a good game and pull out the win.”

Fields reeled off seven straight points out of the gates for the Raiders, who finished their season at 14-10 with an appearance in the Ches-Mont semifinals. Due to PIAA transfer rules, Coatesville was missing three players, including leading scorer Dejah Morris. 

With his team trailing 7-0 early, Methacton coach Craig Kaminski called a timeout. Smith and Kropp said he gave them a not-so subtle reminder of what was at stake.

“Your season’s going to be over,” Smith said, relaying part of what was said in the huddle in her best Coach Kaminski impression.

“We needed it.”

The Warriors responded with nine straight points, including six from Kropp, to go ahead 9-7. They took a 12-10 lead into the second quarter and after a few more minutes of a tight ball game, took control when they went up double digits in the middle of the period. 

“Craig kind of gave us a quick little wake up call,” Kropp said. “We were playing pretty bad in the beginning of the game, so we knew we needed to pick it up. Thankfully, we got something going in.”

Smith hit a fadeaway at the buzzer to give her team a 31-17 lead, and Methacton kept its foot on the gas with eight in a row to start the third and by the end of the period, the running clock was in effect.

“I think the energy was great tonight,” Smith said. “It was hard to come into this game with their situation with the starters. We were kind of coming in blind, but after we adjusted after the first quarter, we just knew it was all or nothing so everybody pulled together.”

As the 15th seed, it’s unlikely the Warriors will get to host another playoff game. If that’s the case, seniors Kropp, Smith, Reana Torres and Morgan Coupe will have ended their careers with four straight postseason victories on their home floor — something they can take with them after this season.

“I think we played a good game together,” Kropp said. “We usually do. It was good that we were able to score the ball tonight and play good defense in case it was our last home game.”

By Quarter
Coatesville 10 | 7 | 10 | 11 || 38
Methacton 12 | 19 | 23 | 4 || 58

Scoring
Coatesville: Alexis Fields 25, Fancy Wah 7, Alexa Shumate 4, Najae Reese 1, Bella Dimatteo 1

Methacton: Cassidy Kropp 19, Mairi Smith 17, Abby Arnold 14, Morgan Coupe 4, Margaret Toaso 4.

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Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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PERKASIE — The Garnet Valley playoff magic is back.

Last year, the Jaguars made a run to the Central League championship as the No. 5 seed, then won at Methacton to make it to the state tournament, a stretch that coach Joe Woods admits was “unexpected” after a much-more-expected dominant squad a couple years before. 

Though most of the GV rotation is different from last year, with three sophomores in the starting lineup, the Jaguars aren’t done making noise in February. Despite trailing big early at Pennridge, the Garnet girls bore down on defense and found their shot, two of those sophomores leading the way to a 45-42 comeback win.

Kylie Mulholland finished with 16 points, including two fourth-quarter 3-pointers and the game’s final points, a pair of foul shots in the final 30 seconds to help the Jaguars hang on. Haylie Adamski added 13 points, including the go-ahead triple with 1:44 left, breaking a 40-40 tie. Adamski’s triple was a quick one in transition, the 6-foot guard pulling up from the right wing and draining her fourth trey of the day.

“She’s got a little space, she can fire it,” Woods said. “We don’t have a whole lot of players like Haylie, obviously.”

Though Garnet went 6-of-14 from deep in the second half (8-23 overall), it was Pennridge who came out firing. The No. 13 seeded Rams took advantage of the No. 20 seed Jaguars’ coming out in a 1-3-1 zone and hit four 3-pointers in the first quarter, jumping out to an 18-5 lead after one quarter. 

Garnet switched to a man-to-man defense and immediately held Pennridge to five points in the second quarter, though it was still a 23-12 game at halftime.

“We were just like we have to lock up on defense, we were focusing on defense, we know they’re a super-aggresive team so if we got together on defense we would come out with the win,” Mulholland said.

“We did say if we can hold them to 40 or under, we’ll have a shot, so we were kinda there,” Woods said.

The plan was to be within five points after three quarters; thanks to a couple Adamski triples and one by Savannah Saunders, the third sophomore starter, it was a 35-32 game going into the fourth.

Despite just having one senior in the rotation, team captain Mia Zebley (3 points, 6 rebounds), Garnet played like a veteran team down the stretch, especially on the defensive end, as they forced 10 second-half Pennridge turnovers, Mulholland coming up with eight rebounds, four assists and three steals to round out a terrific performance from the 5-4 guard.

“It feels like [we have] experience,” Mulholland said. “Me, Haylie and Sav have been playing together since CYO, since we were young, we played in the fall together for AAU, so our chemistry is just there.”

Pennridge was led by a 21-point outing from senior Katie Yoder, who added seven rebounds, while sophomore Ella Brown scored 10 points and grabbed eight boards.

To qualify for states, Garnet Valley has a date with the district’s No. 4 seed, Souderton. Lynn Carroll’s group, led by Northwestern commit Casey Harter at point guard, is tall all around, which is going to present a challenge for an undersized Jaguars squad. If Garnet can’t get past Souderton, they’ll go into the playbacks, where they again only need to win once to earn a state playoff berth.

“To be perfectly honest, [what I know about them is] nothing,” Woods said. “I know they’re very strong. They’re always an excellent team, very well-coached. So we’ll have our hands full, just like we had our hands full tonight, but we’ll come out ready to play.”

By Quarter
Pennridge:       18  |   5   |  12  |   7   ||  42
Garnet Valley:   5   |   7   |  20  |  13  ||  45

Shooting
Pennridge: 15-35 FG (8-18 3PT), 4-4 FT
Garnet Valley: 15-51 FG (8-23 3PT), 7-11 FT

Scoring
Pennridge: Katie Yoder 21, Ella Brown 10, Anna Coyle 8, Olivia Poole 3
Garnet Valley: Kylie Mulholland 16, Haylie Adamski 13, Katie Dwyer 7, Savannah Saunders 6, Mia Zebley 3

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District 1 6A First Round (Girls)
16) West Chester Henderson vs. 17) CB East — 2/18, 1 PM
9) Unionville 50, 24) Downingtown West 44
21) North Penn 59, 12) Great Valley 57
15) Methacton 58, 18) Coatesville 38
10) Conestoga 61, 23) Kennett 24
19) Upper Dublin 53, 14) Council Rock South 48
11) Pennsbury 48, 22) Penncrest 12
20) Garnet Valley 45, 13) Pennridge 42

District 1 6A Second Round (Girls) — Weds., Feb. 22
1) Perkiomen Valley vs. TBD
8) Neshaminy vs. 9) Unionville
4) Souderton vs. 20) Garnet Valley
5) Spring-Ford vs. 21) North Penn
2) Haverford High vs. 15) Methacton
7) Springfield (Delco.) vs. 10) Conestoga
3) Plymouth Whitemarsh vs. 19) Upper Dublin
6) Abington vs. 11) Pennsbury