City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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HAVERFORD — In the opening round of the PIAA Class 6A tournament, Haverford High’s girls ran into the last thing they needed: a Lebanon High team that gave them a taste of their own medicine. 

The Fords won 27 games this season on the backs of their rebounding and interior play, combined with some timely shot-making. The Cedars showed them what it was like to face a team that didn’t quit on the glass, defended inside — and hit the shots that its hosts couldn’t, coming up with a 48-41 win inside a packed Juenger Gymnasium on Friday night.

“We just didn’t have enough tonight,” Haverford coach Lauren Pellicane said afterwards. “They did to us what we’ve done to teams all season long on the glass, and it was the difference tonight for sure.”

Led by a stellar effort on the glass from 5-foot-8 Zariyah Whigham, Lebanon managed to equal a Haverford squad that goes 6-2, 6-2 and 6-1 across its frontline, the Cedars putting out 6-3 Lillian Harrison at center but besides that starting no one taller than Whigham.

Whigham gobbled up 13 rebounds, including seven on the offensive end, as Lebanon (27-2) grabbed 10 offensive rebounds as a team. Her biggest one came with 2:02 remaining and a lead that had been as big as 15 in the third quarter down to four.

When one of her teammates missed the front end of a one-and-one, Whigham grabbed the board and was fouled on her put-back attempt, hitting both shots to put her team up 41-35. It was the second time this postseason she’d done so; in a league playoff win over Lancaster Catholic, her put-back of a missed foul shot with 40 seconds left put them up four.

“That’s her normal thing, that’s her niche, she’s a rebounder and she gets a lot of her points off the glass,” Lebanon coach Jaime Walborn said. “She’s a go-getter, does a great job, she has a knack of where the ball’s going to go, she can jump.”

“The height doesn’t really matter to me,” Whigham said. “Mostly because I can out-jump most of my people and they don’t really have that. I’m athletic, and they don’t realize that.

“I’ve always known that [I can rebound well], I just use it to the best of my abilities.”

After Wingham’s clutch foul shots, Lebanon got two more from senior guard Aaliyah Ferrer (14 points), then two more from freshman Olive Brandt to go up 10 with 53 seconds left. Harrison, Brandt and Correa added one foul shot each in the final stretch for the last of Lebanon’s points.

Haverford only controlled one quarter, the third, going from down 33-18 just into the period — after a Whigham 3-point play opened the half — to within five late in the period, before a floater by Kailah Correa put Lebanon up 37-30 going into the fourth; Caroline Dotsey opened the fourth with a 3-point play of her own, but Haverford didn’t get any closer.

The Cedars didn’t make a shot in the fourth quarter, going 11-for-17 from the line over the closing eight minutes, but the Fords couldn’t hit shots all game. Haverford finished 15-of-57 (26.3%) from the floor, going 2-of-14 from the 3-point arc, though both of those 3-point makes were in the final minute of the fourth quarter; too little, too late.

“It was 37-33 for I don’t know how long,” Pellicane said, “but at that point, we went four possessions, with an outside jumper missed, no offensive rebound opportunities. Without a doubt, the shots were not falling tonight, and we had open looks, we had opportunities.”

Whigham also provided lockdown defense on Dotsey, the Fords’ Maine-bound star wing forward, who worked her way to 12 points, 13 rebounds, three blocks and two assists, though she wasn’t able to do so efficiently. Junior guard Aniya Eberhart joined her in double figures with 12 of her own, though also on her fair share of shots. Rian Dotsey, a sophomore wing forward, had eight points and nine rebounds of her own. 

The state tournament is never easy, the vast majority of the 32 remaining schools in the state’s big-school bracket bringing some real talent to the floor. But Haverford, District 1’s runner-up, had a tough draw in Lebanon, which was upset by Dallastown in the District 3 quarterfinals; the Cedars, seeded third in their district at the end of the regular season, wound up with the 3-5 seed in the state playoffs despite their 26-2 record.

Backed by a strong contingent that made the hour-and-a-half drive through the rainy March evening to fill one side of Haverford’s gym, Lebanon scored the game’s first four points and never trailed, opening up an 11-2 advantage midway through the first quarter thanks to a couple 3-balls from Ferrer (14 points) and were up 26-13 midway through the second. 

“The energy helps us go, it keeps us going,” Wingham said. “[They support us] every game, every game. It’s very exciting.”

Correa, the Cedars’ star sophomore who already has 1,000 points in a varsity uniform to her name, scored 13 of her 16 in the opening half, Haverford unable to do anything to keep the 5-6 guard and Division I prospect in front of them. 

“That’s what she does, when she sees the opportunity to take over, she puts the team on her back,” said Walborn, who’s in her seventh year at Lebanon. “But she’s great because she knows how to share the ball, distribute, she plays good defense, just a phenomenal player.”

Lebanon advanced to play District 7’s third seed Norwin (22-4) in the second round, played next Tuesday at a site to be determined. The win was the program’s first in states in at least 15 years.

Haverford High’s dream season comes to an end, Caroline Dotsey off to Maine, Carpenter to Catholic U (D.C.), while Eberhart, Rian Dotsey and sophomore Natalie Wright return to form the core of next year’s group. 

Though the Fords’ year didn’t culminate the way they wanted, with another championship or two to go with the Central League trophy they won, the seniors get to know they helped raise the profile of the Delco school’s program, which hadn’t made it to states in a decade before back-to-back appearances.

“Watching Mollie and Caroline in middle school [...] we knew what type of potential they had, and coming up and being four-year varsity players, they took this program under their wing,” Pellicane said. “Their dedication and leadership to this program has helped elevate our program each and every year, with the culmination of such a special season in this year.”

By Quarter
Haverford: 10  |   8   |  12  |  11  ||  41
Lebanon:   16  |  14  |   7   |  11  ||  48

Shooting
Haverford: 15-57 FG (2-14 3PT), 9-13 FT
Lebanon: 16-48 FG (2-5 3PT), 14-21 FT

Scoring
Haverford: Aniya Eberhart 12, Caroline Dotsey 12, Rian Dotsey 8, Mollie Carpenter 5, Sky Newman 4

Lebanon: Kailah Correa 16, Aaliyah Ferrer 14, Zariyah Whigham 12, Olive Bennett 3, Lilliana Harrison 1