City of Basketball Love

Owen McCue (@owen.mccue)
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ROYERSFORD — It doesn’t happen by accident.

The havoc wreaking defense of the Spring-Ford girls basketball team is carefully crafted through practice and drills over the course of the season.

“We do a lot of 1-on-1 stuff and trying to beat someone down the court and sprinting in front of them and making sure we’re doing all the little things,” Spring-Ford senior Christina Tiffan said. “We practice a lot getting our hands up in certain positions, whether it’s like backdooring, so we can get the easy steals.”

The “little things” were on display Saturday as the third-seeded Rams faced the second-seeded Golden Panthers in the Pioneer Athletic Conference semifinals. Spring-Ford’s defense swarmed PJP from start to finish in a 52-24 win that booked a spot in Monday’s championship game against top-seed Perkiomen Valley.

Spring-Ford seniors Kareena Preuss (13 points) and Devon Chamberlain (11 points) led the offense, while the Rams used a collective effort on defense to pressure PJP into mistakes.

“We try to always focus on defense,” Tiffan said. “We have our jobs, who we’re guarding. We kind of just focus on that. We really emphasize just doing your job, so as long as we all do that and play as a team and get through things, we usually get the job done.”

Spring-Ford (18-6) scored the game’s first six points before PJP freshman Cassidy McCarthy answered with six of her own. McCarthy and sophomore Sophie Vigliotta both finished with eight points for the Golden Panthers (17-6).

Just when it seemed PJP had settled in Spring-Ford sophomore Miley Maloney and senior Haley Prophet put the Rams ahead 10-6 in the final minute of the first quarter. Maloney added to quick buckets in the first minute and a half of the second quarter to cap an 8-0 Rams run.

The Rams led 23-10 at halftime and extended that advantage to 34-13 midway through the third.

“I just think we work really well together, and when we’re not doing so well, and we’re kind of down we just want to push the ball, get it up and finish,” Maloney said of the Rams’ run.

“(They tell me) all the time, keep your hands straight up and don’t foul – because I have long arms,” she added.

Pope John Paul II knew Spring-Ford’s defensive pressure was coming and planned accordingly heading in. However, the length of the Rams was too much for an undersized Golden Panthers squad.

Preuss (5-10), Tiffan (5-8), Maloney (5-8) and Lily Brescia (5-8) used their length to frustrate PJP’s ball handlers, while guards Chamberlain and Emma Kaercher used their quickness and anticipation to make things happen.

“They’re a real good team, and we knew they would come and bring that pressure,” PJP coach Jack Flanagan said. “Trying to simulate that sometimes in practice, you’re probably not able to simulate that in practice as well as what you’re going to see.”

Monday will mark the PAC’s 19th championship game since the inception of the league postseason format in 2005-06 and the Rams will be making their 14th appearance in the league’s big game.

Spring-Ford hasn’t missed a PAC championship since 2016-17, and will make its seventh straight league title game appearance on Monday (there was no league postseason in 2020-21). 

“I think we’re just excited to play and we’ve worked really hard to get here,” Tiffan said. “Even though we have a lot of players who haven’t had as much experience because of all our graduating players, it’s kind of new but we’re prepared well. As long as we keep preparing, I think we’re going to be ready.”

Spring-Ford 52, Pope John Paul II 24

Spring-Ford 10 | 13 | 16 | 13 || 52

Pope John Paul II 6 | 4 | 7 | 6 || 24

Spring-Ford: Kareena Preuss 13, Devon Chamberlain 11, Miley Maloney 8, Emma Hokanson 7, Haley Prophet 5, Lily Brescia 3, Emma Kaercher 3, Brynn Stiles 2

Pope John Paul II: Sophie Vigliotta 8, Cassidy Mccarthy 8, Grace Fitzgerald 5, Caitlin Cianci 3

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Pope John Paul II eyes District 1-4A run

After falling in Saturday’s semifinal game, the Frontier champion Golden Panthers will have 10 days to prepare for another semifinal game.

PJP will be the No. 1 seed in the District 1-4A bracket and face No. 4 Springfield Twp. (6-16) in the district semifinal the next time it sees the court on Tuesday, Feb. 18.

“It’s one of those things where we said we can feel bad about this, we can feel disappointed, but then we have to wake up tomorrow morning and realize our focus turns to something else,” PJP coach Jack Flanagan said. “There’s only going to be one team in this league that wins a championship, but there’s going to be a number of them getting ready for districts, and thankfully we’re one of them.”

This is Flanagan’s fourth season at the helm of the PJP girls basketball program. The team went 11-9 and missed out on the district playoffs in his first season. They went 9-13 and lost in the district semis in 2022-23 and followed with a 14-12 mark and district title game appearance in 2023-24.

The team’s 17 wins are the most since the program won 19 games in 2014-15, when the program broke through for its first District 1 title game appearance. Flanagan credits his seniors. Grace Fitzgerald and Brooke Albeck have been with the program since he took over, and Aubrey Delpha rejoined the group after playing during her freshman and sophomore seasons.

“The three of them have been great leaders and for the younger girls like Sophie, Cass and Saydi (Daye) and Caitlin, it’s been wonderful for them to learn from them,” Flanagan said.

The Golden Panthers have been a balanced group throughout the season with a stable of interchangeable guards and McCarthy the only forward of the group. Sophomores Sophie Vigliotta and Caitlin Cianci, junior Saydi Daye and Fitzgerald are capable shooters defenses have to get out on.

Flanagan notes the key to success this season has been their buy-in together. 

“We always talk about you want to play winning basketball, it’s about more good plays, don’t worry about great plays,” Flanagan said. “Are you checking out on the defensive glass? Are you closing out on shooters? Are you making the extra pass? We’ve been fortunate that we’ve been making enough good plays, where we’re fortunate enough to be the No. 1 seed."