skip navigation

Perk Valley's sophomore class building something special heading into states

03/09/2023, 1:15am EST
By Josh Verlin

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)

There’s something special brewing in Collegeville. 

And John Russo hears about it. From everybody.

“Everybody is 100% aware of it,” the Perkiomen Valley girls’ basketball coach said. “We’re aware of it, the kids are aware of it, the parents are aware of it, the school district’s aware of it.


Perk Valley coach John Russo (above) first saw his sophomores when they were in fourth grade. (Photo: Owen McCue/CoBL)

“And the reason I know it is because everybody says it to us — every media member, administrations from other schools, other coaches: this team is going to win a state championship, right?

“That is the 100% bullet point on their backs right now. Myself and the other coaches have to figure out a way to get them there and figure out a way to keep them enjoying every moment as they get there, instead of turning into (the) only thing (they’re) focused on.”

Perkiomen Valley’s sophomore class has the look of one of those classes, the type that people talk about as a measuring-stick type, the type that will be celebrated at the upper Montgomery County school for years to come. There’s five of them in the starting lineup, a sixth out for the season due to injury, 10 on the roster, making up the bulk of the program and its production. 

And, oh yeah, they’re really good.

Now the Pioneer Athletic Conference and District 1 champions for the first time since 2016 and rolling into the state playoffs with a 27-1 record, the Vikings are ready to show they’re a force to be reckoned with in the state title hunt — not just this year, but for the two beyond it, a potential mini-dynasty in the making. 

“Oh yeah definitely it’s amazing, just knowing that we’re all sophomores [...] it’s going to be great,” said Bella Bacani, the Vikings’ starting point guard. “Our chemistry is amazing, we definitely have special years ahead of us because we’re only sophomores and I think we could continue on this run throughout all the years that we play here at PV.”

Bacani and classmates Quinn Boettinger, Lena Stein and Julia Smith — all starters on this year’s squad — teamed up for the first time as third graders, in the Perk Valley Youth Basketball league, finding almost instant chemistry together on the court. The winning started early, their success in the PVYB earning them spots in the Inter-County Basketball Association, which brings together the top youth travel teams from Bucks, Montgomery and Delaware Counties; they won there, too.

(L to R) Julia Smith, Lena Stein, Bella Bacani and Quinn Boettinger play in a Perk Valley Youth Basketball league game in March 2016. (Photo courtesy Paul Boettinger)

Russo, who became the high school head coach in 2020, first met part of the group as the middle school girls’ basketball coach at Perk Valley East MS, where he coached Stein, Bacani, Smith, Emily Riefer and Becky Taylor, all members of the 2022-23 Vikings’ varsity roster; Boettinger, Amiya Fowler, Grace Miley and Allie Matasich were all at West.

Their first year at the high school level went well, though the Class of 2025 didn’t all immediately need to jump into starting (or starring) roles. Miley, Bacani, Boettinger, Stein and Smith all saw significant playing time last year as PV went 20-10, finishing as runner-ups in the Pioneer Athletic Conference and then advancing to the PIAA Class 6A quarterfinals as the sixth seed out of District 1.

That earned them a game against Plymouth Whitemarsh, the Colonials on their way to an unbeaten state championship which saw them put their names in the record books as one of the best to ever come through Southeastern Pennsylvania, their starting five a machine that didn’t have a weakness. Perkiomen Valley lost 56-31 and took as much away from it as they could.

“Let’s put it this way: playing PW last year in the state quarterfinals helped us understand what it takes to win the district championship this year,” Russo said. “We took a look at PW last year, live in person…and we were like, wow, that’s what it takes to win a state championship.’ This is what we have to do as coaches, players, the whole program, to get there.”


Bella Bacani (above) runs the point for the Vikings. (Photo: Owen McCue/CoBL)

Several senior starters graduated, including Jennifer Beattie and Emma Miley, but the rising sophomores were more than ready to assume the mantle. There was Boettinger, a 6-foot-3 forward with great hands and footwork, who showed real flashes in her rookie season, and who picked up an offer from Drexel last fall. Bacani, a 5-5 guard, is a great shooter and ball-handler, while Smith (5-7), Stein (5-8) and Miley (5-9) gave them additional shot-making and defensive abilities on the wings.

And then they got even better.

What was already a great group got even more dangerous last summer, when Grace Galbavy moved from the Upper Perkiomen school district into Perkiomen Valley’s. A 6-foot-tall wing, Galbavy is yet another high-level talent, capable of scoring from all three levels, a rim protector with a 6-3 wingspan.

As if the Vikings needed another weapon, they now had another All-PAC level talent — and another Division I recruit — in the mix.

“When we all found out, we were so excited [...] we were like ‘oh my gosh, this is going to be even better,’ having someone like her and her talent added onto all of the other talent on our team, we knew that it was going to be amazing,” Bacani said. 

The Vikings looked strong all fall in preseason events and carried that momentum right into the season, winning their first 12 games before their only setback thus far, a 56-44 loss at archrival Spring-Ford on Jan. 13. They’ve gone untouched since then, capturing the PAC championship 51-26 over Spring-Ford, ending the Rams’ five-year stranglehold on the league, then capturing the District 1 6A championship by beating No. 2 seed Haverford High 48-44 this past Saturday.

It’s the first time they’ve won either of those titles since also winning both in 2016, when they lost to North Penn in the second round of the state playoffs. Russo wanted to make sure his team understood just what they’d accomplished.

“For them to put it in a perspective that they know, they watched Lucy Olsen [...] dominate, for four years, our local basketball scene, and then go to Villanova, start right away, having an unbelievable sophomore season,” Russo said, referring to the former Spring-Ford standout and Wildcats’ starting point guard. “She won one district championship. So to put that in perspective for them, I was like, this is how big a win that was Saturday. 

“Now we have to get better [...] we have to find a way to get better so we can repeat that and do things that other teams never got the chance to do. Which is win back-to-back district championships, and have the core in place to win a third if possible.”

“We were always told from a young age, that we were a special team and that the sky’s the limit for us,” Boettinger said. “I think that really built us over the years, just getting to bring it all together with these high school years, getting to compete on the big stage, the banners and all the accolades we can get, it’s really been building up since the first day of PVYB.”

They’re a team without many weaknesses. Boettinger and Galbavy are a dangerous frontcourt duo, both nightly double-double threats who can score in multiple ways, Galbavy more of an attacking wing forward and Boettinger less of a threat off the bounce but almost unstoppable around the rim, with a developing jumper too. The guards all share the ball, defend and make shots, making them tough to put a run on and tough to stop.

Quinn Boettinger (L) and Grace Galbavy (R) have teamed up in the Vikings' frontcourt. (Photo: Owen McCue/CoBL)

“We’re a good team and we all work together,” Bacani said. “It’s not mostly about talent - yeah, we definitely have talent and all that, but it’s also about the way we communicate and bond with each other, that’s definitely had a big impact on our (winning) this season.”

Perhaps scariest? They’re not even at full strength. Miley, a lock for a starting spot in the fall and one of their most productive wings, went down with a torn ACL in October. She’s expected back well in time for her junior year, while several of those classmates who haven’t yet stepped into the rotation are continuing to improve, going up against the starters every day in practice, meaning the depth will only expand.

The Vikings know they have an opportunity that few public school classes ever get to have: two more full seasons to continue racking up wins and titles, along with a realistic chance to win multiple state titles, as many as three in a row, if everything falls into place. 

And it’s not like there isn’t serious competition for the PIAA Class 6A title: District 3 champs Cedar Cliff enter the postseason 26-0, with a star sophomore of its own in 5-10 Olivia Jones (Galbavy’s teammate with Philly Rise on the EYBL); District 11 champs Easton are 27-1, the same as Haverford, and Cardinal O’Hara, Archbishop Carroll, and Spring-Ford (among others) are all out there in the state bracket. 

So all they can do is start off against Red Lion (18-9) on Friday, with either Carroll or Neshaminy waiting in the second round, and go from there.

“It’s kind of trying to, like, don’t speak it too much, don’t say it, and just kind of see how it goes,” Boettinger said. “It would be absolutely amazing to have three state championships, but it’s got to be one step at a time.”


D-I Coverage:

HS Coverage:

Small-College News:

Tag(s): Home  Josh Verlin  High School  Girls HS  PAC (G)  PAC Liberty (G)  Perkiomen Valley