City of Basketball Love

Andrew Robinson (@ADrobinson3)
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NORRISTOWN — It was some of the very first advice Carly Coleman got when she started playing basketball, and it served her well over and over again Friday night.

The Cardinal O’Hara girls basketball senior has always believed, thanks to her dad’s direction, there’s no better way to get the ball than to rebound it. When those rebounds come off her own teammates’ misses, it’s all the better, especially during a PIAA quarterfinal game against a top team in the state.

O’Hara’s relentless rebound, dogged defense, opportunistic offense and general toughness powered the Lions as they ended Perkiomen Valley’s season, 49-35 in the Class 6A quarterfinals at Norristown High School.

“It’s the heart for me,” Coleman said. “My dad always tells me to go up for rebounds because you never know. Nobody’s going to make every shot they take, so I think knowing there are extra possessions and extra points you can get is a huge deal.”

Cardinal O’Hara had 11 offensive rebounds as a team, no small feat against the Vikings’ impressive size and a testament to the team-wide toughness the Lions knew they would need. Perk Valley only had three offensive rebounds, and those extra possessions created by Coleman or Molly Rullo or anyone else willing to get in there and grapple for one added up.

Coleman, who registered five of her six rebounds off the offensive glass, chalked up a line of six points, six rebounds, four assists and four steals.

“I mean, did you see her?” O’Hara senior Joanie Quinn said.

Megan Rullo had 14 points, four of them coming on the play of the game at the end of the third quarter, while her sister and Quinn were right behind with 13 points each. The Lions assisted on 14 of their 17 made baskets, tallied up seven steals and defended with a group effort in the same way they generated their points.

The Lions were in a spot they don’t often find themselves as the team that, to many, wasn’t projected to win.

They respected how good Perk Valley was, and if the consensus was the Lions were the underdogs, that was fine. 

“We thrive as the underdog, it doesn’t take a lot for us to get into that mode,” Quinn said. “Once we’re in that mode, it’s really fun to play as the underdog. On this team? Yeah.”

Perk Valley saw another season it planned to end in Hershey end a few games short of that goal. The Vikings had another terrific year, going back-to-back with PAC and District 1 Class 6A titles.

Cardinal O'Hara girls basketball celebrates after beating Perkiomen Valley in the PIAA Class 6A quarterfinal Friday night at Norristown High School. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

As gaudy as their 29-1 record looked coming into Friday night, Perk Valley hadn’t played every game to perfection during the season. While they could cover that up in different ways, whether it was out-scoring an opponent or wearing a team down, those avenues get more narrow in states.

Vikings coach John Russo tabbed it as such, Cardinal O’Hara was tougher and it radiated into the Lions’ overall play.

“They had a better coaching plan, they out-toughed us, out-rebounded us and we turned the ball over,” Russo said. “The four things you have to do better to win a basketball game, they did all four of them.

“It’s not a talent issue, not a want-to-win inside issue, it’s more of a when you come into these state playoff games and you can’t do a lot of things you do in the regular season, you have to be able to fight through that and we need to coach that up better so they’re better prepared for that.”

PV led 10-3 before O’Hara tied it up 10-10 on a Coleman layup to end the quarter. The Vikings again led 17-13 in the second before a Coleman-fueled effort helped tie it, the senior grabbing two offensive boards on one possession leading to a Molly Rullo jumper then finishing an outlet pass from Quinn for the halftime tie.

“We recognized they don’t run as much as we do, the Catholic League plays a lot faster and we’re a really good running team,” Quinn said. “I think getting the ball out, getting layups and running back on defense was key.”

The third quarter, save for a Quinn 3-pointer assisted by Coleman, belonged to the Rullos. Molly started the quarter with an offensive rebound for a put-back that gave the Lions a lead they wouldn’t lose before Megan followed with a lay-up for a 21-17 edge.

Megan and Molly spent most of the quarter answering every Perk Valley score. The Vikings cleaned up some of their turnovers but still didn’t get the ball into Quinn Boettinger the way they needed to in order to run their actions off the junior forward’s touches.

“It’s a long season, we played a lot of really good teams, we put a lot of effort into the season but if we score 25 points, we’re not going to win,” Russo said.

A tough basket by Grace Galbavy cut the lead to 29-26 with 1:22 left, so O’Hara responded when Quinn snapped a bounce pass to a cutting Molly Rullo for a layup. After getting a stop, the Lions ended with the play of the night.

With time running down in the third, Molly Rullo had the ball in the high post and wanted to find a cutter going to the rim. When that didn’t develop and a double team came, she spotted her sister wide open on the opposite wing.

Megan fired the 3, a frantic closeout leading the defender to bump her as she landed, giving the sophomore a four-point play chance as the ball swished the net. She knocked down the free throw to cap the play for a 36-25 lead.

“She was ready, and I was ready to pass the ball,” Molly said. 

“I saw I was wide open and she was sunk in the paint, so when the ball came I had to be ready,” Megan said. “It feels amazing, everyone was so energetic and so positive and I knew they had faith in me for the shot going in, so that felt really good.”

Save for senior Anna Stein (Kutztown), Perk Valley is slated to return its entire rotation next season. However, next year also becomes the last opportunity as Boettinger, Galbavy, Bella Bacani, Grace Miley, Lena Stein and Julia Smith all enter their senior season.

“It doesn’t discredit the season we had, but now it becomes a game we want to get back to next year and now we have to wait another 365 days to get it back,” Russo said.

O’Hara will face Parkland in Monday’s semifinal, the District 11 champion knocking off defending state champ Archbishop Carroll and denying an all-Delco PCL rubber match. The Lions saw their season end in the final four last year, so for the team’s seniors, it was paramount to get back so they’d have an opportunity to get back to Hershey and win a state title.

“We saw it sophomore year, even though we didn’t play, that becomes the goal and we want it more than anything,” Coleman said. “That’s the goal at the end of the season, to be playing your best in March and that’s definitely what we’re doing right now.”

By Quarter

Cardinal O’Hara: 10 | 7 | 18 | 14 || 49

Perkiomen Valley: 10 | 7 | 9 | 9 || 35

Scoring

Cardinal O’Hara: Megan Rullo 14, Molly Rullo 13, Joanie Quinn 13, Carly Coleman 6, Brigidanne Donahue 3

Perkiomen Valley: Bella Bacani 9, Grace Galbavy 9, Quinn Boettinger 6, Lena Stein 5, Grace Miley 4, Anna Stein 2

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PIAA 6A Girls

Quarterfinals (Fri., March 15)
12-2 Cardinal O’Hara 49, 1-1 Perkiomen Valley 35
11-1 Parkland 48, 12-1 Archbishop Carroll 37
1-6 Garnet Valley 58, 1-4 North Penn 51
1-2 Spring-Ford 60, 7-1 Norwin 47

Semifinals (Mon., March 18)
12-2 Cardinal O’Hara vs. 11-1 Parkland
1-6 Garnet Valley vs. 1-2 Spring-Ford

Championship at Giant Center (Fri., March 22)
TBD, 6 p.m.