City of Basketball Love

By Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)
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FOLSOM — The biggest shot of her high school career? How about two of them?

Garnet Valley senior Kylie Mulholland, not once but twice saved the Jaguars season with a pair of game tying shots late in overtime.

Mulholland put on her Superman cape and scored 25 points in a 49-43 double overtime win over Cardinal O’Hara in Friday’s PIAA Class 6A quarterfinal at Ridley High School to send the Jags to the state semifinals for the second year in a row.

“She’s got nerves of steel and she’s a competitor,” Garnet Valley coach Joe Woods said of Mulholland. “And all my guys are. They believe in themselves. They’re a tight knit group and they love each other, and they pull for each other. It doesn’t have to be just one player, and Kylie came out tonight and was making big shots.”

Mulholland’s first attempt to play hero was no good on Friday night. She put her team ahead 36-34 on a pair of free throws with 1:14 left in regulation. O’Hara senior Drexel commit Molly Rullo (14 points) tied the game seconds later. The Jags held the ball for one minute to take the final shot. Mulholland’s midrange jumper couldn’t go and the two teams headed for four more extra minutes of play, or so they thought, tied 36-36.

After Garnet Valley didn’t trail for the last nine minutes of regulation, the Jags found themselves down 41-38 with 51 seconds left in the first overtime period when Lions sophomore Leah Hudak drilled a three then a pair of free throws. Hudak hit five threes in the game and finished with 17 points.

Garnet Valley senior Haylie Adamski got a decent look at a tying attempt that didn’t connect, but sophomore Kylie Adamski kept the possession alive with an offensive rebound and kicked to Mulholland. The Jefferson commit pumped then dribbled left for a pull-up triple that tied the game with about 30 seconds left in overtime.

“I mean, phew, we wouldn’t have won if Kylie didn’t make those shots,” Haylie Adamski said. “I’m so grateful she’s confident in herself that she’s able to take those shots. Everybody else has confidence in her.”

The stage was even more daunting for Mulholland’s second heroic moment.

Rullo worked her way to the line with 7.3 seconds left in overtime and hit both shots for a 43-41 O’Hara lead.  Haylie Adamski tossed the ball into Mulholand after a timeout. 

She sped up the court then used a hesitation move to beat her defender and drive for a game tying layup before the horn sounded, forcing another overtime period.

“It was just get it in and go,” Mulholland said. “I feel like they were kind of up, so I could just go by them and it was open. It felt really good to have my teammates come up to me and pump us up for the next overtime.”

O’Hara found itself trailing by six with about five minutes left in regulation after Mulholland buried a pair of threes in the third quarter then scored the first points of the fourth. Consecutive threes by sophomores Hudak and Brigidanne Donohue, who hit three triples in the game, evened the score for the Lions.

Just like the first overtime period, Mulholland opened the scoring in overtime two. This time, O’Hara never came up with an answer.

The Lions had three go-ahead looks from deep unable to go down in the extra period. Hudak and senior Brigid MacGillvray, who seemed to be in the mix for every loose ball, earned O’Hara another possession with a defensive tie up, but Haylie Adamski came up with a rebound with 22.9 seconds left and hit a pair of clutch free throws to put the Jags up by four. 

Garnet Valley got one more stop and chewed up the clock before a pair of Mulholland free throws with 3.5 seconds left put the final touches on her masterpiece performance.

“They really left it on the floor and did everything we asked them to do outside of the first quarter,” O’Hara coach Chrissie Doogan said. “The first quarter we kind of gave up some threes that we really weren't’ hoping we would give up, but after that I felt we really locked in and we contested their shooters. And Mulholland just had a really good game. 

“Give her credit, she’s a senior point guard and she didn’t want to see her career end. And I think in the same way, I don’t think Molly and Brigid wanted their careers to end. They left it all on the floor too.”

O’Hara won the Class 5A state title in 2022. The Lions went to the 6A semifinals in 2023 and won the Class 6A championship last season. Seniors Rullo, a four-year starter, and MacGillvray were big pieces of the puzzle.

“Molly and Brigid MacGillvray have left their mark on the program,” Doogan said. “They’ve done everything from win championships to be good leaders. Being back here tonight, there were a lot of alums in the building, and I just told them that I hope they feel like they’ll always be part of our program, and we look forward to them coming back and being part of the program forever.”

Garnet Valley ran into Spring-Ford in the semifinal round a season ago and had the Rams end their season. District 7 champion Upper St. Clair, a 51-35 winner over Haverford, presents another challenging foe standing between the Jaguars and a trip to Hershey.

The District 1 runner-ups will have time to focus on that matchup this coming week. On Friday night, Mulholland was happy with the fact that she’d bought her and her teammates at least one more week together.

“We’re so excited,” Mulholland said. “I feel like we're ready to go, but this win feels really amazing to get back to the semifinals. It’s really awesome, especially this last year.”

“I just love this team,” she added. “To have another game is just amazing. I want to keep going with them forever and to not have it end tonight feels really good.”

By Quarter

Garnet Valley 13 | 7 | 12 | 4 | 7 | 6 || 49

Cardinal O’Hara 10 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 0 || 43

Scoring

Garnet Valley: Kylie Mulholland 25, Haylie Adamski 10, Addison Adamski 8, Kylie Adamski 6.

Cardinal O’Hara: Leah Hudak 17, Molly Rullo 14, Brigidanne Donohue 9, Brigid MacGillvray 3