City of Basketball Love

Sean McBryan (@SeanMcBryan)
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Kylie Mulholland and Garnet Valley continued their Cinderella run Friday night in a PIAA Class 6A girls basketball quarterfinal against North Penn at Bensalem High.

Mulholland and the Jaguars were on fire in the first half, took the Knights’ best punch in the third quarter, then used their lights-out shooting to pull away for a 58-51 victory to move on to the state semifinals Monday.

“It feels good,” said Mulholland, who scored a game-high 21 points and tacked on three rebounds and three assists. “We’re playing really good right now.”

Garnet Valley, the sixth-place finisher out of District 1, moves on to face Spring-Ford in the state semifinals Monday.

It’s the first time the Jaguars have reached the semis since 2019, when it went to the final before falling to Peters Township. The Jaguars were District 1 champions that year; this season is different.

“This is off the charts,” GV head coach Joe Woods said of his District 1 sixth-place finishing Jaguars, who made it as far in the Central League playoffs as they did in the states. “Unexpected. They just still want to play. They practice hard. They started believing in themselves the last three weeks toward the end of the season and into the league playoffs and district rounds. 

“We started playing better and caught fire a little bit. Now we’re getting momentum.”

The Jaguars (25-6) led the entire way except briefly in the fourth quarter Friday when North Penn went on a spirited run to take the lead. They’ve learned how to persevere through disadvantages with tight games against District 11 runner-up Easton and District 3 champs Central Dauphin in the previous state playoff rounds.

“We’ve been through adversity and the girls stick together,” Woods said. “We took a timeout and said to take it one possession at a time and get some defensive stops, which we did.”

“(North Penn) is an excellent team. They started banging in 3’s and they’re big. We just stuck together and have some nice players on our side of the court as well.”

Garnet Valley’s only losses have come against Central League opponents Conestoga and Haverford High, the last three of which came in the league semifinals, District 1 quarterfinals, and district fifth-place game.

North Penn finished two spots ahead of the Jaguars in District 1 after falling to Conestoga in the third-place game. The Knights beat Haverford High in the quarterfinals.

Friday was the end of the road for North Penn, which won its first state playoff game since 2017 this year, and Jefferson commit Caleigh Sperling, the leader of a senior class that sparked a basketball reawakening in Lansdale.

“I never really thought we’d make it this far in the state playoffs,” Sperling said. “I’m just really proud of how this team came to practice each day like it was our last practice and just hustling every single day together.”

North Penn head coach Bri Cullen helped lead the Knights to their first district title as a player back in 2014. These Knights reached the same round as those Knights in the PIAA tournament.

“I have nothing but positive things to say about this team, especially this senior class,” Cullen said. “They’ve bought into what I was selling them, took it over and made it their own, and I think they’re leaving a great foundation for the next group of girls coming up.”

Garnet Valley’s 5-foot-5 junior guard Mulholland went 3-for-3 from the field and hit two 3’s in the first quarter as the District 1 sixth-place finisher Jaguars jumped out to a 7-0 lead and led 19-8 at the break.

“We wanted to play super tough,” Mulholland said. “We knew they were going to come out aggressive so we had to be more aggressive. We had to have more energy and we did.”

Garnet Valley senior forward Emily Olsen had seven of her 14 points and six of her nine rebounds in the first quarter.

North Penn couldn’t buy a bucket in the quarter with multiple near misses; the Knights (25-6) shot 2-for-14 in the first stanza.

Haylie Adamski’s 3 to begin the second quarter gave the Jaguars their largest lead of the game at 14 before a whirlwind back-and-forth eight minutes that can best be encapsulated with the following sequence.

North Penn’s Liv Stone drilled a 3 to cut the lead to 24-15 around the four-minute mark followed by 3’s by Garnet Valley’s Kylie Adamski, North Penn’s Cameron Crowley, and another by Haylie Adamski on each team’s subsequent possessions.

North Penn freshman Lily Brown converted a layup shortly after to cut the lead to 30-20 before Kylie Adamski hit another 3 to push the Jaguars lead to 13.

Crowley, who finished with a team-high 14 points, scored a bucket with 2:04 left before halftime and Brown and Mulholland had offsetting three-point plays that left the Jaguars with a 35-25 advantage at the break.

Mulholland, Haylie Adamski, and Kylie Adamski each hit two 3’s in the first half.

The Knights made their move in the third with a 16-6 run capped by Brown’s free throws to tie the game 41-41 with 1:31 left before the fourth. Crowley’s 3 started the run to begin the quarter and Stone and Leah Mikulski each hit a 3 during the run.

Emily Olsen’s bucket with 51 seconds left regained the lead for the Jaguars, but Mikulski drilled another 3 to start the fourth that gave the Knights their first lead of the game.

“We weren’t making our shots in the third quarter,” Mulholland said. “We knew they’d come back. We just had to let them have that run and we would have ours.”

Mulholland’s jumper gave the lead back to the Jaguars on the next possession and they never trailed again. The 5-4 junior guard didn’t miss a shot in the final quarter and scored seven points.

Haylie Adamski, who finished with 15 points, six rebounds, and three assists, hit a deep 3 and Mulholland made two free throws to push the lead to 50-44. 

Sperling’s bucket with 2:40 left in the game cut the lead to four before Mulholland answered with a pull-up.

Mulholland and Olsen closed the game out at the foul line down the stretch.

Overall, the Jaguars made seven 3’s at a 47 percent clip and shot 52 percent from the field; the Knights made six 3’s at 35 percent and shot 36 percent from the field.

By Quarter
North Penn:  8  |  17 |  16  |  10  ||  51
Garnet Valley:   19   |  16  |  8  |  15  ||  58

Scoring
North Penn: Crowley 14, Sperling 12, Brown 9, Mikulski 8, Stone 8
Garnet Valley: Mulholland 21, H. Adamski 15, Olsen 14, K. Adamski 6, A. Adamski 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.