City of Basketball Love

By Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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The Pioneer Athletic Conference is the first area league to set its postseason bracket, with the PAC boys and girls’ playoffs getting underway Wednesday, Feb. 4. 

The PAC postseason will take place over the course of six days, consisting entirely of boy-girl doubleheaders alternating between Spring-Ford and Perkiomen Valley. The first round will be played Wednesday at Spring-Ford and Thursday at Perkiomen Valley; the semifinals on Friday and Saturday in the same order, with the championship next Tuesday (Feb. 10) at Spring-Ford. 

Scarlett Lee (above) and Perkiomen Valley are the top seed on the girls' side of the Pioneer Athletic Conference. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

All boys games will be played at 6:00 PM with the girls’ game to follow. 

The three-time defending girls’ PAC champions, Perkiomen Valley is the No. 1 seed again despite head coach John Russo having an entirely new cast following the graduation of a terrific 2025 class. Junior guards Megan King and Kate Nemic plus sophomores Scarlett Lee and Hannah Evans are a quality quartet of combo guards, and they made their way through PAC play unscathed. 

Perk Valley’s main competition for the girls’ title is Liberty Division archrival Spring-Ford, the league’s overall No. 2 seed going 8-2 in division play. Just like the Vikings, the Rams don’t have a senior in the starting lineup, with junior guard Emma Kaercher and wing Miley Maloney leading a group that also features sophomore guard Brynn Stiles and freshman wings Teagan Finney and Renee Lewis.

Frontier Division champ Upper Merion has the league’s only Division I commit in senior Kennedy Coles, an athletic 5-8 guard and quality defender who’s headed to Niagara; she pairs with classmate Levayda Fuqua in the Viking backcourt for coach Jen Stilwell. Phoenixville, led by Wesleyan commit Kayden Baratta, faces a young-but-dangerous Methacton squad that ripped off 12 wins in a row midway through the season, and sixth-seed Pope John Paul II rounds out the girls’ field. 

The boys side is equally as wide-open. 

Last year’s PAC boys’ champs, PJP II (18-3, 7-3), is the No. 2 seed after finishing second to Methacton (19-3, 9-1) in the Liberty division, those two teams with byes into the semifinals. The top-seeded Warriors have a strong core in senior wing Wes Robinson and senior guard Mason Conrad, plus junior Jack Lineen and sophomore John Leet, who’s been one of the district’s breakout stars this year. The Golden Panthers return seniors Ayden Wise and Jason Green from last year’s championship squad, with junior wing Lucas Pekofsky enjoying a breakout season as well. 
 

Wes Robinson (35) and Methacton are the top seed in the PAC and one of the top teams in District 1 6A. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

The PAC Frontier boys’ champion, Phoenixville (14-8, 10-0), lost by 16 to Methacton earlier this year and by 25 to No. 4 seed Spring-Ford (16-6, 6-4) as well, so the Phantoms will likely have to overcome some past disappointments if they want to emerge victorious. 

No. 5 seed Perk Valley (15-7, 6-4) makes it four Liberty teams in the playoffs, with Pottstown (11-11, 8-2) the No. 6 seed, having lost both its regular-season matchups to Phoenixville this year.

The parity in both the boys’ and girls’ tournaments should make for entertaining games from start to finish. The postseason experience will be useful for a lot of the league’s impressive youth, with many of these teams also hosting district playoff games next week.

Here are the individual boys and girls’ PAC playoff schedules, as well as a combined schedule down below to show the various doubleheaders:

Boys
First Round
4) Spring-Ford vs. 5) Perkiomen Valley (Weds., 6:00 PM, Spring-Ford)
3) Phoenixville vs. 6) Pottstown (Thurs., 6:00 PM, Perk Valley)

Semifinals
1) Methacton vs. Lowest Remaining (Fri., 6:00 PM, Spring-Ford)
2) Pope John Paul II vs. Highest Remaining (Sat., 6:00 PM, Perk Valley)

Championship: Tuesday, Feb. 10, 6:00 PM @ Spring-Ford

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Girls
First Round
4) Phoenixville vs. 5) Methacton (Weds., 7:45 PM, Spring-Ford)
3) Upper Merion vs. 6) Pope John Paul II (Thurs., 7:45 PM, Perk Valley)

Semifinals
1) Perkiomen Valley vs. Lowest Remaining (Fri., 7:45 PM, Spring-Ford)
2) Spring-Ford vs. Highest Remaining (Sat., 7:45 PM, Perk Valley)

Championship: Tuesday, Feb. 10, 7:45 PM @ Spring-Ford

~~~

Combined
First Round
Weds., Feb. 4 @ Spring-Ford
Boys: 4) Spring-Ford vs. 5) Perkiomen Valley (6:00 PM)
Girls: 4) Phoenixville vs. 5) Methacton (7:45 PM)

Thurs., Feb. 5 @ Perkiomen Valley
Boys: 3) Phoenixville vs. 6) Pottstown (6:00 PM)
Girls: 3) Upper Merion vs. 6) Pope John Paul II (7:45 PM)

Semifinals
Fri., Feb. 6 @ Spring-Ford
Boys: 1) Methacton vs. Lowest Remaining (6:00 PM)
Girls: 1) Perkiomen Valley vs. Lowest Remaining (7:45 PM)

Sat., Feb. 7 @ Perkiomen Valley
Boys: 2) Pope John Paul II vs. Highest Remaining (6:00 PM)
Girls: 2) Spring-Ford vs. Highest Remaining (7:45 PM)

Championships
Tuesday, Feb. 10 @ Spring-Ford
Boys: 6:00 PM
Girls: 7:45 P