City of Basketball Love

By Joseph Santoliquito (@JSantoliquito)
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HAVERTOWN — Sky Newman hated the dribble drill. Haverford coach Lauren Pellicane placed her speedy senior point guard in the corner and had her dribble full court matched one-on-one against either Aniya Eberhart or Mya Foley.

At first, Newman couldn’t stand it.

In time, she grew to understand it.

“Coach Pellicane prepared me more for the district playoffs with stuff like that,” Newman said. “It made me handle pressure better. There were times I couldn’t occasionally stand her (laughs), but coach Pellicane has made me so much better. I’m definitely grateful for what she did and how she prepared us for what was to come.”

What was to come has arrived.

Haverford remained undefeated with a rather easy 43-21 victory over visiting No. 11-seed Pennsbury Wednesday night in the PIAA District 1 Class 6A semifinals. The No. 2-seed Fords (27-0) will now play No. 1-seed Perkiomen Valley (26-1) at 4 p.m. on Saturday at Temple University’s Liacouras Center in the District 1 Class 6A championship.

It marks the first time a Haverford High School girls’ squad ever reached the district finals and much of the credit, though she is very reluctant to take it, belongs to Pellicane.

Newman and Eberhart, for example, were bench players whose games have grown exponentially under Pellicane in a year’s time. Senior Mollie Carpenter, who shared scoring honors against Pennsbury with sophomore Rian Dotsey, each with 12 points, has seen her confidence soar under the Fords’ six-year coach.

“I knew I had the ability to be a starter, but coach Pellicane pushed me to want more,” said Eberhart, a junior guard for the Fords. “She is always giving me challenges, and she’s helped me change my game. I was more of a big in grade school, and here, I’m handling the ball more. There’s been a big difference from last year to this year, and coach Pellicane gives us the freedom to open up our games.

“Getting to the district finals is history, and our defense is what got us here. We stress defense and the offense comes. I’ve never been on an undefeated team before, and being with people that I love, playing with and going on this journey with them is incredible.”

Newman, a senior guard who plans on attending North Carolina A&T with the intention of making the basketball team as a walk-on, struggled a year ago.

“I wasn’t starting and I had seniors ahead of me, and this year, my confidence has grown, and it’s coach Pellicane and the coaching staff are the ones who pushed to be better,” Newman said. “Now, we’re making history. We spoke to each other about how proud we are of ourselves for the work that we put in. We earned this and we have to finish this.”

Haverford never trailed Pennsbury, reaching 12 points with 7:33 left in the first half on a Natalie Wright bucket. The Falcons didn’t score their 12th point until there was 7:28 left to play in the game.

Falcons’ legendary coach Frank Sciolla has seen his undersized team make great leaps this season. But climbing the Fords has been a steep task for every team they’ve faced.

“We tried to hang in as long as could against them, Haverford is very good, and very well-coached, so our game plan was defensively to pack the lane,” Sciolla said. “We’re one of the smaller teams in District 1 and they’re one of the biggest. We were able to pack the lane, but they were able to make mid-range shots, which you don’t see a lot of high school teams do.

“They made all of those bank shots, and they got us to the point where we had to rush things a little. We were having a magical-type season, and eventually, you’re going to run into someone who is going to make it difficult. Offensively, they defended well. When we got good shots, we weren’t able to knock them down.”

Pellicane does not want to take credit for anything. She’s been coaching for 18 years, and she’s had great teams in the past — though nothing like this team, going undefeated and reaching the district finals.

“I think the Garnet Valley loss in the Central League semifinals last year, we kind of locked in after that and we came back early in the fall and a lot of kids showed dedication,” Pellicane said. “We have individual talent, but as a whole, this is a special group that has really come together. Plus, this Haverford area has been a special community, even when I started at Lower Merion.

“I’ve never had an undefeated team. I’ve never coached a district champion. Tonight might have seemed easy, but coach Sciolla is a great coach, and (Pennsbury’s) Sofia Vitucci is a great player. It’s why we zoned in on her tonight.”

The Fords have two days of practice ahead before the district finals. This time when Pellicane puts Newman in the corner again to dribble up court against pressure, she’ll welcome the heat that comes with it.

Newman and Haverford have dealt with it successfully a school-record 27 times so far.

By Quarter

Pennsbury (20-7):  4  | 4  |  3  | 10 ||  21

Haverford (27-0):  10   | 17  |  4  |  12 ||  43

Scoring

Pennsbury: Sofia Vitucci 12, Oliveah Gilchrist 3, Daniella MacDonald 3, Danielle Sherman 3.

Haverford: Mollie Carpenter 12, Rian Dotsey 12, Caroline Dotsey 10, Aniya Eberhart 5, Natalie Wright 4.

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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.