City of Basketball Love

Andrew Robinson (@ADRobinson3)
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BETHLEHEM >> When Perk Valley absolutely, positively needs to get something done, the Vikings usually look to Bella Bacani.

The 5-foot-7 point guard does everything and then some. She’s the conduit from the bench to the floor, she runs the show, she rains threes, she sets up teammates, has a knack for getting the ball when she probably shouldn’t and on Friday night, Bacani did a pretty good job sealing a leak. 

PV handed Hazleton its first loss of the season, the Vikings getting past the state quarterfinals for the first time with this core group as a result, with a 63-50 decision at Bethlehem’s Liberty High School.

“We kept saying to each other ‘play our pace, play our game,’” Bacani said. “When they’re pressing, it’s face-paced, we’re running back and forth so it was all about slowing down the game and playing at our pace.”

Bacani scored 12 points on Friday, but those were just a bonus in the eyes of PV coach John Russo. Preparing for the game, and for Hazleton’s extremely effective trapping press defense, the coaches picked up that the Cougars – particularly sophomore Kaitlyn Bindas – scored a lot of points off run-outs created by turnovers.

While PV was pretty confident if it executed its press break, it would be effective, the Vikings knew they were still going to turn the ball over a few times and they couldn’t let those leak-out baskets turn into a flood. So Russo asked Bacani to be the stopper.

“It’s unstoppable, Bella Bacani deserves a ton of credit,” Russo said. “I said ‘I don’t care if you score a point, (Bindas) cannot break out and score.’ She’s averaging 18 points per game and at least 12 of them are run-outs, so if we take that run-out away, we’re in a 50-50 game and I like our chances when we’re there.”

Bindas finished up with 17 points, 13 of those coming in the second half as the Cougars mounted a frenetic comeback that got them within nine with 3:22 to play. In the first half, Bacani was able to keep Bindas to just four points, a needed aid as the Vikings got off to a slow start.

Hazleton led 12-7 on a basket by Alexis Reimold with 1:19 left in the first quarter that had a massive contingent of Cougars fans going nuts.

But the District 2 champions couldn’t seem to get away because every time they took the ball away, Bacani seemed to appear from nowhere to take it right back.

“She would kind of cherry-pick a little, she would be down there ready to go, I watched some film but Coach definitely gave me some tips,” Bacani said. “He watched a lot, a lot, a lot of film and it really helped. I just had to focus on not getting distracted by trying to get rebounds because I have Grace, Lena (Stein), Quinn and Grace Miley getting all the rebounds.

“I was just staying aggressive, staying on top of it and remembering I had to get back.”

The Vikings closed the first on back-to-back scores by Quinn Boettinger, who had eight of her 18 in the opening period then they put the hammer down in the second quarter. PV bridged that close into an overall 17-0 run by scoring the first 13 points of the second quarter on their way to winning the frame 22-3 for a 33-15 halftime lead.

Senior Grace Galbavy, after a scoreless first quarter, netted 10 points in the second quarter as the Wake Forest recruit went on to share the team lead of 18 with Boettinger. The two of them, both standing above 6-foot, proved a deterrence in the lane and made it hard for Hazleton to score while the Cougars couldn’t seem to stop the District 1 champions on the other end.

“Our core is seniors,” Boettinger, who has committed to Navy,  said. “Not letting them dictate to us and instead playing to our age and our talent level was the key to the win.”

Russo felt like his team just wasn’t good enough on the glass early and that’s what allowed Hazleton to lean into its strong start. It wasn’t a problem in the second quarter as Boettinger grabbed six of her nine boards in the frame and Galbavy snared five of her 14 rebounds in the same eight minutes.

“Our energy on rebounding is why the second quarter turned,” Russo said. “We got every rebound in the second quarter.”

As devastating as the second quarter looked to be, Hazleton came in with a 29-0 record for a reason. The Cougars made some changes, notably putting Reimold in the post which Russo called a good counter that seemed to open things up for them and Bindas finally broke loose to net eight points in the third quarter.

It was still a 20-point PV lead going to the fourth but the pace in the early part of the frame favored the District 2 title holders. When that lead eroded down to nine, PV didn’t panic. With the Hazleton crowd in an uproar around them, they didn’t get rattled.

They got back-to-back buckets from Boettinger and Galbavy to calm things down and even when Hazleton made a last push to get within 59-48 with 1:32 left, Bacani knocked down two at the foul line as a response.

“The difference between the other years is we want to win this for each other and for ourselves,” Bacani said. “We don’t have another year. We’re really motivated to win for each other.”

The significance of Friday’s win wasn’t lost on Perk Valley even as they tried to downplay it. For all this group’s accomplishments, they knew it all came down to this last state playoff run together and with none of them having been past the quarterfinal round, it was a potential milestone win.

As freshmen, they lost in the quarterfinals to a veteran-laden Plymouth Whitemarsh team similar to what PV is now, then as sophomores they were stunned in a second round overtime loss. Last year, their season again ended in the quarterfinals in a game none of them left feeling like they’d played anywhere close to their level.

“The girls are really locked in at practice,” Russo said. “It is really fun to be in our gym right now, they know they’re just as good as everybody here (in the state bracket) and if they lose, it’s not going to be because they didn’t give their best effort.”

Perk Valley shared the wealth well on Friday. Boettinger was strong early, Galbavy led the second quarter barrage and Bacani tallied seven points in the third to at least play Bindas even offensively.

On top of that, the team accrued 13 assists on 22 baskets with six of them coming from Stein. Boettinger blocked four shots and altered plenty more and Bacani, Stein, Miley and Galbavy all sent one away as well, the Vikings all chipping in on both ends.

“Each one of us brings something so unique to the team,” Boettinger said. “I’m such a threat inside, Grace has all three levels, Bella is a lethal shooter, Lena, Grace Miley, Julia (Smith), everyone else, we all bring something different.

“They have to adjust to one of us, or we’ll dominate the whole time and when they adjust, it just opens up everyone else.”

Perk Valley will face Archbishop Carroll, the Patriots defeating Central Dauphin 42-28 in the other quarterfinal at Liberty

This year, the teams will have to wait a week to play again. That’s not necessarily a bad thing for a Vikings group that is trying to make this final run last as long as possible, even if that means a few extra days of practice.

“Every practice I take as a gift or a blessing because I get to spend it with my teammates,” Boettinger said. “Even if I dread having to drive myself to practice, these are my people and I’m going to miss it when I’m gone.”

By Quarter

PERK VALLEY 11 | 22 | 17 | 13 || 65

HAZLETON 12 | 3 | 15 | 20 || 50

Scoring

PV: Quinn Boettinger 18, Grace Galbavy 18, Bella Bacani 12, Grace Miley 7, Lena Stein 6, Katie Nemic 2

H: Kaitlyn Bindas 17, Alexis Reimold 16, Sophia Benyo 5, Mariah Marolo 5, Sophia Shults 4, Kayla Lagowy 3