City of Basketball Love

By Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)
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HAVERTOWN — Natalie and Ashley Wright are pretty sure most opponents think they’re sisters when they go through their scout team.

Their teammates thought they might be related at one point too, believing the two Haverford girls basketball forwards were cousins when Natalie arrived at the high school a year after Ashley.

Natalie, a 5-10 junior, and Ashley, a 5-11 senior, are both similar in height and wear similar blonde ponytails that even get themselves confused at times.

“When we’re watching film we look at our heads, and I’m like wait I thought that was me?,” Natalie said.

Haverford’s Wrights aren’t sisters — though they did become good friends while swinging for the varsity team two years ago. And they do bring a similar energy and intensity as they showed in Thursday’s night’s 38-27 win over Conestoga.

They were two of the tone setters in a rugged Central League battle that ended the Pioneers' perfect season and continued to propel a Fords team with sky high ambitions once again.

“I thought we just battled, absolutely battled,” Haverford coach Lauren Pellicane said. “Our home floor we want to defend our home floor. We talk about we want to pride ourselves on defense and rebounding. I thought we absolutely set the tone. We were lucky to take the lead and hold the lead throughout all 32 minutes.”

Ashley didn’t have the biggest statline but she grabbed four rebounds and had one of her team’s three first-quarter buckets that helped the Fords out to a 6-4 lead (yeah, points were at a premium in this one). 

When Ashley got in foul trouble, Natalie picked up the slack down low, finishing with a game-high 14 points and nine rebounds. Junior Rian Dotsey added nine points, 10 rebounds and three blocks in the win.

“I feel like our energy stayed high the whole game,” Ashley said. “We were so ready.”

"I like leading the team and getting everyone excited for big games like this and being a leader and being positive all the time is important.”

Thursday was a rematch of last season’s Central League championship game. The Fords (14-3, 9-2) won all three matchups against the Pioneers in 2022-23, but Conestoga (17-1, 11-1) won this season’s first meeting 47-38 on Dec. 7 to announce itself as the early favorite in the league.

The Fords led from start to finish Thursday as their defense didn’t allow the Pioneers’ offense to do practically anything through the first three quarters, holding them to 4, 7 and 3 points, respectively. Haverford led 16-11 at half and 24-14 after three quarters. By the time Conestoga sophomore Ryan Jennings (10 points) finally got going in the fourth quarter it was too late.

Haverford’s still a game behind the Pioneers and tied with Garnet Valley for second place in the Central League. As they showed Thursday though, they have as good of a shot as anybody. 

“We’re so excited,” Ashley said. “That’s our goal this year is to be in the championship and hopefully win.”

The Fords graduated three starters from last year’s Central League title and District 1-6A runner-up team. Forwards Caroline Dotsey (Maine) and Mollie Carpenter (Catholic) were the key cogs in the program’s first league title since 2012 and first district title appearance ever.

Rian Dotsey (who actually is Caroline’s little sister) and senior Millersville commit Aniya Eberhart returned to the starting lineup. Luckily for Pellicane, the Wrights stepped in to fill the glaring absence of Dotsey and Carpenter in the frontcourt.

Natalie was the top reserve off the bench a season ago and has stepped into a starting spot to give the Fords a player who can defend, rebound, run the floor and score the ball like she did Thursday.

“She runs the floor extremely well,” Pellicane said. “She’s a putback kind of player. She just has a knack. She’s aggressive. She’s fearless. She does a lot of the little things that winning players do for winning teams.``

Coming into the program in the class behind Carpenter and Dotsey, Ashley had to wait her turn. She said she’s enjoyed being a leader in her senior season, also stepping into the starting lineup for the first time.

“Sometimes when you’re on a team with talent that happens,” Pellicane said. “She’s getting her opportunity. She’s really playing well for us this year. She’s a good athlete. She can rebound the ball. She finishes around the rim. I’m happy for her. She’s getting her opportunity and really pushing forward for us.”

Both Ashley and Natalie agree it helped battling against two All-League forwards in practices over the past two seasons.

“They push you everyday,” Natalie said. “They’re bigger, stronger. We just tried our best, and I feel like that really did contribute to how we’re playing now.”

Haverford still has five regular-season games left before the postseason begins. It’s hard to think a program that lost a Division I talent could position itself for a similar run, but that’s exactly what the Fords have done so far, also ranking No. 5 in the District 1-6A power rankings.

They’re a group that enjoys each other both on and off the court, and they have kept their focus narrow, taking a day-by-day approach since the start of the season.

“I think to just keep working hard, try to be the best that we can be,” Natalie said. “Personally, be the best teammate I can be, keep a positive attitude. At practice go as hard you can, try to make everybody better because we’ve got obviously big shoes to step into from last year.”

Haverford 38, Conestoga 27

By Quarter

Conestoga   4 | 7 | 3 | 13 || 27

Haverford    6 | 10 | 8 | 14 || 38

Scoring
Conestoga: Ryann Jennings 10, Maggie Neary 5, Janie Preston 4, Isabella Valencia 3, Marisa Francione 3, Libby Brown 2.

Haverford: Natalie Wright 14, Rian Dotsey 9, Aniya Eberhat 5, Tess Durfee 5, Megan Kelly 3, Ashley Wright 2.