City of Basketball Love

Andrew Robinson (@ADRobinson3)
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COLLEGEVILLE -- On a night where Hannah Evans was the scoring queen, Megan King was undoubtedly the ace.

With Perkiomen Valley opening the home portion of its 2025-26 schedule in a PAC Liberty matchup against perennial nemesis Spring-Ford in a clash of new-look teams, the Vikings got what they expected from Evans in a big scoring effort. King also gave PV what it expected of her, which was a little bit of everything the junior guard is capable of providing.

King’s jack-of-all-trades effort gave PV a pretty good hand to edge the Rams 49-47 in a very competitive game Thursday night.

“During the summer, I knew it was my time to step up,” King said. “I just worked on my craft, focused on my playmaking and it gave me more confidence. The girls I’m playing with, we just lift each other up.”

King scored 14 points on Thursday, second on the Vikings only to Evans’ game-high 24, shooting 3-of-6 from long range and adding a couple rebounds, a block and a steal along with various contributions that don’t go in a book. Her voice was often the loudest on the floor and she’s become the player the coaches trust to take the top defensive assignment every night.

“By being a leader on defense and making sure the sophomores and younger girls know what they’re doing so we can all help each other on the court,” King said. “I know the girls listen to me. We all want what’s best for the team so having someone step up and talk is what’s best for us, so that’s what I can do.”

The last time Perk Valley played on its home floor, the Vikings rolled in a first round PIAA Class 6A playoff game as they began their march to the program’s first state championship. Aside from their names now hanging on a banner above the court, all of last year’s top six rotation players have been shuffled out with four of them playing in college.

It’s now a new era of PV hoops with players like Evans, King, Kate Nemic and others now representing the top cards. Evans and Nemic both played in 30 games last year while King played in 24, albeit mainly late in games that were well decided, but they’d at least had a taste of varsity playing time.

Still, it’s different being in the starting five and playing the bulk of the 32 minutes, as King has done for the now 4-0 Vikings this winter. It’s her growth over the last two years, which PV coach John Russo has had a front-row view for most of between the Vikings and AAU with the Lady Runnin’ Rebels, that made sure she was ready for it.

“From freshman year to starting her junior season, she’s taken one of the biggest jumps I’ve ever seen,” Russo said. “I’d say Lena Stein then Megan King in my six years here were the two biggest jumpers, they were always good but they became really good. 

“Megan has worked on being a little more vocal, a little more confident and carrying a little more of that ‘I am good enough’ inside her and I feel like having her through the summer, we’ve built that relationship where she knows what I value and she knows what we’re looking for.”

Mainly, it was behind-hthe-scenes where King earned her keep last year. On most days at practice, the guard was dealt the opportunity to go against Grace Galbavy, last year’s Class 6A player of the year now at Wake Forest, and while the turn and usually the river cards often didn’t go her way in those matchups, King saw it as a chance to play the hand out and learn.

Russo often told last year’s second team, which has now become the team’s core group, they weren’t going to go up against a better group than Galbavy, Stein, Quinn Boettinger, Grace Miley, Bella Bacani and Julia Smith so it was to their benefit to make use of that.

“That helped me become a better defender,” King said. “I had to guard Grace, and everybody knows that Grace can score so I was there to make sure she couldn’t score and that definitely made me a better defender.”

That banner that now hangs above the court at Perk Valley? It happens to include King’s name alongside not only last year’s seniors but also the other girls now carrying the standard for the Vikings and for good reason.

“The best thing Megan would do last year was bother Grace or any one of them so much that they would get angry and then dominate her a little bit,” Russo said. “Then you learn how to guard someone who is ticked off and trying to dominate you who also happens to be a great basketball player. Her mentality, really that whole group of kids who are playing now, their mentality to want to do that helped make last as special as it was to me as a coach.”

Russo added that King “has a lot of things on her plate” with what the Vikings are asking her to do between scoring, keeping the ball moving on offense, rebounding for an undersized team and of course, her defensive work. King will likely look at a couple missed free throws in the fourth quarter as an area to improve but she otherwise did everything the coaches want, including a couple aggressive drives to the rim to accent her strong outside shooting.

“I worked this summer on getting to the basket more and creating more opportunities for my teammates by getting into the paint,” King said. “The scoring will come, but it all starts on defense.”

With no seniors on this year’s roster, King and her teammates know they hold all the cards that will determine what this team can be right now and going forward. They’ve already started stacking chips, how many they get and how they cash them in will be up to them.

“This is our time and we wanted to prove to everybody that even though those seniors left, we’re still a good team,” King said. “We can still fill their shoes in our own way.”

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PERK VALLEY 49, SPRING-FORD 47

Much like the host Vikings, the Rams are moving into a new era of their own with just one starter back from last season.

There were collective signs of both teams’ relative inexperience but overall, it was a competitive game that came down to the final minute of play before PV was able to convert enough free throws to stay unbeaten in the early part of the season. 

“It gave us a big boost in confidence,” King said. “That was our first big win, we’ve really been working well together and are there for each other.”

Spring-Ford was led by 17 from Miley Maloney and the youthful Rams, who started two freshmen, kept battling. The Rams led 13-9 after a quarter and even once Evans got going with eight of her 24 coming in the second to put PV in front, Spring-Ford stayed within a possession or two most of the night.

Perk Valley would push its lead to 30-24 when King drove the baseline and scored with 1:28 left in the third but Spring-Ford responded with seven straight points to take a brief 31-30 lead before Evans swished a three with 5.4 on the quarter clock in response. Rams coach Mickey McDaniel said while his team was plenty disappointed not to get the win, there were a lot of positives to take.

“We’re happy with the way our girls played,” McDaniel said. “Yes, we turned the ball over and missed a number of layups and when it’s a one-possession game, those things begin to magnify so we just have to relax.

“We’re going to be fine. We know where we’re at right now and the nice thing is, we have a ways to grow yet. If we didn’t have room to grow, that’s when you say maybe you have some concerns, but we don’t have that.”

Evans was terrific for Perk Valley, the sophomore getting herself going early by attacking the rim and going to the line then turning a steal into a layup. Once her shot started to fall, she seemed to hit every big shot for the Vikings, including a late second quarter three that gave them a 20-19 halftime lead, the go-ahead shot to end the third and a step-back triple with six minutes left that put PV up 41-37 after the Rams had closed within a point.

She also added eight rebounds, two assists and four steals. PV got four points from Scarlett Lee and Gabby Russo and three points from Kate Nemic and as a team had eight steals.

Given that it was a cold Thursday night in the second week of December, the gym also had a strong energy. For a lot of players on both teams, it was their first experience playing in front of a solid crowd that was into the game and Russo made sure to thank the fans of both teams that helped fill the bleachers.

With the amount and caliber of talent the two programs have graduated over the past couple years, there’s still plenty of local support for both teams. That’s a good sign with both groups poised to build with their current groups through the next couple of seasons.

“For them to hit foul shots, not turn the ball over, make good decisions late, get the ball in correctly, it’s all stuff you can’t teach in practice in that kind of environment until you’re here,” Russo said. “I thought maybe our starting group was a little nervous, they were a little stifled at the three-point line then we started to get the ball into the paint.

“I’m so thankful for the fans, we get so many people who come out and it’s great to see them because we go to some of the other gyms and they’re not there.”

Emma Kaercher had 10 points and four assists while Brynn Stiles added six points and three helpers for the Rams, the two guards and Maloney as the three most experienced players back for McDaniel's group. Freshman Tegan Finney added six points, freshman Renee Lewis had three points and five offensive rebounds and Ciena Platt had five off the bench.

“They battled, when we got down, they didn’t stop playing,” McDaniel said. “That’s the sign of good character. You’re disappointed you lose but we saw some really good things in the heart and in the character and that’s when you know you can do good things down the road.”

By Quarter

PERK VALLEY    9  |  11  |  13  | 16  ||  49
SPRING-FORD 13  |   6  |  12   | 16  ||  47

Scoring

PV: Hannah Evans 24, Megan King 14, Scarlett Lee 4, Gabby Russo 4, Kate Nemic 3

SF: Miley Malone 17, Emma Kaercher 10, Brynn Stiles 6, Teagan Finney 6, Ciena Platt 5, Renee Lewis 3