Andrew Robinson (@ADRobinson3)
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GLEN MILLS >> As Haylie Adamski pointed out, it doesn’t matter which team calls the timeout, both sides get the same opportunity to stop and talk things over.
With the pace of their highly important Central League clash against Garnet Valley getting a little frantic in the third quarter, visiting Conestoga took a timeout to settle down. The Pioneers led at the time but it was going to be Jaguars ball out of the break and Adamski was starting to feel her shot a little bit.
Out of the stoppage, Adamski nailed a step-back three, the Jags got a stop, Kylie Mulholland found Adamski on an outlet and just like that, GV was back in front.
Adamski and Mulholland led the way as Garnet Valley edged Conestoga and secured the top seed for the Central League playoffs with a 50-43 win Saturday afternoon.
Garnet Valley senior Haylie Adamski scored 18 points as the Jaguars secured the top seed for the Central League playoffs
“I was feeling it, I felt confident in my shooting ability so I just shot it,” Adamski said. “Once one person hits something, we all get motivated to keep going and that’s what happened.
“Timeouts benefit both teams honestly, it stops play and you either lose momentum or continue it and that was able to help us refocus and really lock down on what we needed to do.”
Adamski, the Lafayette-bound senior, paced GV with 18 points and filled the stat sheet as usual with eight rebounds, three assists, four steals and two blocks while playing solid defense against Conestoga senior Janie Preston. Mulholland was in step with Adamski, the senior point guard adding 14 points, seven boards, three assists and a steal in the final few seconds that sealed the win.
Between them, the two seniors scored 22 of GV’s 30 second half points.
“We’ve played this team a million times it feels like so we know how it goes,” Mulholland said. “We have to keep everyone chill and make sure to play our game.”
The past few years, Conestoga has been the team that’s most befuddled the Jaguars. Last season, the Pioneers took three of four meetings and Conestoga went 3-0 against GV in the 2022-23 campaign.
“For the past three years, I feel like they’ve beaten us every time,” Mulholland said.
They very well could meet again in the Central League final, then in districts and even potentially in the PIAA tournament but getting the regular season sweep was a major step for the Jaguars.
“Both teams know what the stakes are, so they’re really going at,” Garnet Valley coach Joe Woods said. “Just like in years past, we’re probably going to see them again. It’s a great test for us, both teams, getting ready for district playoffs and states potentially.”
Getting the second win did not prove easy. Even with Preston picking up three personal fouls in the first quarter, limiting the Army recruit’s time on the court in the first half, Conestoga took a 22-20 lead into halftime behind 10 points from Ryann Jennings and seven from Rebecca Schmidt.
GV’s Savannah Saunders was called for a foul on Jennings as she was attempting a three-quarter court shot at the halftime horn, the junior knocking down all three foul shots to give the visitors a surge going into the break. It wasn’t the way the hosts wanted to end the half, but they didn’t let it get to them.
“That was not ideal, we had that half under control,” Woods said. “I was a little concerned about that in regards to coming out in the third quarter but I felt we came out and handled it. It was a back-and-forth game, either team could have won that game and we were fortunate enough to make the plays we had to.”
That was about the only error Saunders, who added eight points, made defensively. The senior’s ferocious defending helped Garnet Valley limit Jennings to just three points after halftime and with Adamski stepping up a few inches and keeping Preston to just seven points, the Jags followed a defensive clinic against Haverford on Thursday with another lockdown effort.
“Our defense last game against Haverford was insane, best it’s ever been,” Adamski said. “Keeping that mentality up from last game into this game is what we were going for.”
A layup by Mulholland gave GV a 24-23 lead with 6:26 left in the third but Conestoga answered by feeding the ball inside to Preston, who drew two shooting fouls and converted another look inside to put the Pioneers up 28-24.
After a couple of frenetic possessions both ways, ‘Stoga called its timeout. Once Adamski’s three went down coming out of the stoppage, the Jaguars went on a 9-2 run to close the quarter, Mulholland’s layup with a second left making it 33-30 going to the final frame.
Adamski opened the fourth with a difficult shot in the paint, then it was her screen out on the arc that got Mullholland to drive and draw contact on an and-one hoop that made it an eight-point lead.
“We’ve learned to play together, obviously, we’ve played together for four years,” Adamski said. “I tend to get double-teamed sometimes and I know they’re not going to switch off of me so if they don’t, I tell Kylie ‘run off my screen and you will have an open shot.’ That’s the connection there, but we’ve learned how to do that and she knows when I’m going, you need to go past me.”
The two seniors pointed to GV’s screening game as an area of impact Saturday. Adamski explained it's not something they drill regularly, but with the team’s main players all going year-round with their AAU teams, they just have good tendencies in helping each other get open.
“We all trust each other,” Mulholland said. “Anytime someone drives, even if they have to just throw it up, we trust it’s going to go in.”
A three by Adamski pushed the lead to 43-34 with 5:02, but Conestoga had one last push, the Pioneers scoring seven straight and a 9-1 overall run cutting it to 44-41 with 2:45 left. A basket by Addie Adamski and four straight free throws, the second pair coming after Mulholland’s late steal, were enough for GV to put the game away.
With 20 wins already to their name before the postseason, it’s been a special season so far for Garnet Valley. Playing with her younger twin sisters Addie and Kylie – who both made a couple key plays of their own – and two senior starters that have been with her every step, Haylie Adamski has certainly noticed a different feel this year.
Last postseason went pretty well, a PIAA semifinal appearance the high point after Central League semifinal and District 1 quarterfinal finishes, but the Jaguars want to do more this time around.
“This is definitely the best chemistry that I’ve seen in my four years being here,” Adamski said. “Maybe it’s me being a senior, maybe it’s me having my siblings here, I don’t know what it is but we’ve all connected and learned to play together.”
GARNET VALLEY 10 | 10 | 13 | 17 || 50
CONESTOGA 10 | 12 | 8 | 13 || 43
GV: Haylie Adamski 18, Kylie Mulholland 14, Savannah Saunders 8, Addie Adamski 8, Katie Dwyer 2
C: Ryann Jennings 13, Rebecca Schmidt 7, Maggie Neary 7, Janie Preston 7, Libby Brown 5, Lu Misener 4
Tag(s): Home High School Andrew Robinson Girls HS Central League (G) Conestoga Garnet Valley