City of Basketball Love

Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)
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NORTH PHILADELPHIA — Perkiomen Valley coach John Russo had to abandon his late-game free throw portion of practice earlier this season. While the Vikings have some terrific foul shooters on their roster, it became routine that they couldn’t come up with the necessary makes to put an end to the sprints in between.

“I decided not to run it because it felt like I was punishing them,” Russo said. “That was not my point, I was trying to put a little pressure on them and have them make shots.”

The Vikings couldn’t come through in their first two late-game free throw opportunities Saturday at Temple’s Liacouras Center on Saturday afternoon in the District 1 6A championship game. Then Quinn Boettinger stepped to the line with 9.1 seconds to play. Her teammates wouldn’t have to run if she didn’t make two in a row, but Haverford might be able to tie or take the lead. 

The 6-foot-3 sophomore forward has spent some extra time at practice at the charity stripe as she nurses a foot injury. It showed as she knocked down four in a row to clinch a 48-44 victory over the Fords, and the Vikings' first District 1 championship since 2016.

The Perkiomen Valley girls basketball team celebrates with its District 1 championship trophy and medals following Saturday's win over Haverford. (Photo: Owen McCue/CoBL)

“At the beginning of the season, I definitely struggled at the line, our whole team did,” Boettinger said. “That always sat with me that, ‘These are supposed to be the ones I make.”

“I have always been very good at free throws in pressure situations both here and in AAU. At the end of the game, I just really wanted it to be done, so I could take off this tape that was suffocating my foot.”

Boettinger led the way with 17 points for the Vikings, while classmates Grace Galbavy and Bella Bacani added 14 and 10 respectively. It’s a group that started five sophomores — Lena Stein and Julia Smith the other two — with just one senior (Ella Stein) coming off the bench.

“We’re such a young team, and I forget that we are sometimes,” Galbavy said. “We do have a really bright future. I don’t know if a lot of people thought we could make it this far, obviously with me fitting in and co-existing. … For us to mold that quick and in our first year make it to the district championship, I never really thought this could happen, but I think our coaches did, and our parents did and our supporters did.”

The two top dogs in the district knew they were in for a battle Saturday afternoon, entering with a combined 53-1 mark. They went into halftime tied 21-21 before the top-seeded Vikings (27-1) grabbed a 35-29  lead entering the fourth and led the second-seeded Fords (27-1) by nine, 44-35, with about two minutes left when Boettinger sunk her first two free throws of the night.

“During halftime we just had to come out hard again,” Bacani said. “They were playing harder than us, boxing out better than us, so we just knew it was all about effort.”

Haverford senior Caroline Dotsey knocked down a three and junior guard Aniya Eberhart drove in for two tough hoops to cut the lead to 44-42 with 40 seconds left. Dotsey led the Fords with 17 and Eberhart added 15, including nine in the fourth.

“We knew we were very similar coming into play,” Haverford coach Lauren Pellicane said. “I really thought we played on our heels throughout the game. Offensively, we finally got it going with a sense of urgency which brought us back late in the game, but I think it was a little bit too late.”

Galbavy missed the front end of a one-and-one before Eberhart’s bucket. Bacani missed a pair after the second to give the Fords the ball back with a chance to tie. The Fords stuck with the hot hand, getting Eberhart an open look at the free throw line that rimmed out. Rian Dotsey grabbed the offensive board, but Boettinger’s sixth block of the game ended up in Galbavy’s hands with a little less than 10 seconds to play.

“We’re just trying to not foul,” Galbavy said of the defensive stand. “If they took a three or made a two, it is what it is, but we were trying to play smart and not give them any extra plays or defensive fouls.

“They caught back up, and I got that rebound and we’re lucky Quinn can step up and can shoot those for us and make her ‘layups,’” Galbavy said. “It’s just great to have her on the team obviously in those moments and to make those shots.”

After Galbavy secured the board, Perk Valley called timeout where the instructions from Russo were, ‘Get the ball to Quinn. She’s gonna make them.’ Boettinger was quickly fouled and Haverford picked up a technical too to give Boettinger four attempts to try and turn the contest into a two-possession game. 

“We're always going to try to battle to the end, to the horn, that's all I can ask,” Pellicane said. “It absolutely did not come down to that last play. With that said, we didn't want to put them on the line four times, get the ball back under 10 and at worst down three.”

Boettinger knocked down the first two and the next two were gravy. She’s been in pressure situations before both with the VIkings and her AAU team. Four shots with a District 1 championship on the line was nothing compared to the possibility of making her teammates run.

“Honestly, I would say when they had to run because then they would all hate me,” Boettinger said of which had more pressure. “There’s pressure in both situations, but you kind of have to ignore it and sink them.”

Perk Valley went to the PAC championship then the district and state quarterfinals a season ago with Boettinger, Bacani, Lena Stein, Smith and Grace Miley all in the rotation. They lost two big senior pieces and then Miley with a season-ending injury but added Galbavy to the mix.

The Vikings won their league title earlier this winter and now with District 1 gold already in their grips, the future is indeed bright.

“If I can have two more of these, it would be a great feeling, but life works the way it works and I know it will work out whether if we have two more of if we get the state … but we can do whatever if we can keep working this hard,” Boettinger said, clinging to her gold medal.

By Quarter

Haverford 9 | 12 | 8 | 15 || 44

Perk Valley 7 | 14 | 14 | 13 || 48

Scoring

Haverford: Caroline Dotsey 17, Aniya Eberhart 15, Mollie Carpenter 6, Rian Dotsey 4, Sky Newman 2.

Perk Valley: Quinn Boettinger 18, Grace Galbavy 14, Bella Bacani 10, Lena Stein 4, Ella Stein 2.