City of Basketball Love

By Dan Arkans (@danarkans)
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The Germantown Academy girls basketball team has just two returning starters from a team that split the Inter-Ac title a season ago with Penn Charter and Notre Dame.

This season’s version with two seniors will have a difficult time repeating the feat. That is, if you listen to the outside noise.

The Patriots aren’t listening. They were in full force in Tuesday night’s opener, rolling to a dominating 53-33 victory over North Penn.

“There were a lot of people doubting us this year,” said senior co-captain Gabby Bowes. “We are just coming in with a chip on our shoulder. We are still Germantown Academy. Our big goal was just proving ourselves out there.”

While the Patriots will be deeper than last year’s squad, everything they do begins with the sweet outside shot of Bowes, now a D-2 commit to Millersville University. That decision was made in October after a season of work this past summer.

Instead of a stressed out senior GA will be getting a natural born leader in Bowes, who isn’t about to rest on her laurels.

“Ever since I was a little girl that was my dream – to grow up and play college basketball,” Bowes said. “My junior year I knew I wanted to play another four years. I worked hard all summer. It feels really good. I am proud of myself for my accomplishments, but the job’s not done. I gotta keep working.”

Bowes sweet shot was on display on Tuesday night, leading all scorers with 17 points. She finished the night with a trio of 3-pointers and also added five rebounds. Next season Millersville is not only getting a sweet shooting wing, but someone who can mix it up underneath as well.

“I stepped on the campus and it just felt like home,” Bowes said. “I met the team. I met the coach. It felt like family there, the family culture was something that was really important to me. It just really did feel like home and I knew that I wanted to be there for the next four years.”

Her play on court is only a small part of what Millerville will gain next season. It’s the leadership she provides off court that has the Patriots dreaming bigger than last year.

“It’s a wonderful fit,” GA coach Lauren Power said of Millersville and Bowes. “It’s a perfect fit. I think she can absolutely play at that level. She’s going to go in there and her defense has improved, all the little things have improved, things you don’t see and don’t show up in the stat line. She’s going to be a leader for us and she’s going to go into Millersville and make a difference there.” 

Bowes also has a pretty good supporting cast, which was on display Tuesday. In fact the cast is so vast and deep that Bowes even got a couple of breathers. Just don’t let the Inter-Ac know that yet.

“Listen, I love an underdog story,” Power said. “We are a young group with a lot of role players. Jennifer Fox barely played last year and now she’s starting for us. Everybody is stepping up in a major role and it’s exciting to see them step up. Who’s next man up? Let’s go. People can discount us all they want, but we work our butts off. We can be an underdog, but we are ready to go.” 

The biggest contributor off the bench was super soph 5-foot-11 Claire McKee, who came through with 11 points, 3 rebounds and 3 steals. She was all over the floor and provided a hand in all seven of the second quarter points with four herself and an assist to Bowes on a 3-pointer.

“This is just scratching the surface of the things I can contribute to this team,” McKee said. “I just thought whatever minutes I get I am going to work as hard as I can and see what I can do. I think if you work hard in practice, listen to your coaches and have positive energy you can really go out there and do whatever you want.”

While Bowes and McKee were the only double figure scorers on the night, eight players scored in all. The defensive intensity and pressure that GA played with finally took its toll as the Patriots closed the third quarter with a 7-0 spurt and led 38-23 after 3.

“It’s good to know my team has my back and I have their back,” Bowes said. “It really is a sisterhood here. We are a family. That’s the best thing about it. That’s what makes it fun.”

North Penn was fighting an uphill battle for most of the night after falling behind 10-0 early. Still, gritty North Penn settled in and eventually cut the deficit to 31-23 midway through the third quarter. GA’s experience and depth proved too much in the end.

“Varsity basketball is a shock a lot of times to freshmen and sophomores who haven’t had varsity minutes,” NP head coach Bri Cullen said. “It’s a different speed. It’s a different level. I am pleased with what I saw.” 

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By Quarter
Germantown Academy 20-7-11-15-53
North Penn 10-5-8-10-33

Scoring
Germantown Academy: Bowes 17, McKee 11, Owens 8, Weber 3, Williams 4, Kolecki 4, Harrington 4, Fox 2.

North Penn: Crowley 4, Brown 12, Mikulski 8, Sperling 2, Williams 7.