City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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One word kept popping up throughout our Central League previews this season: parity. 

The 12-school league in the city’s western suburbs had all sorts of contenders on both the boys and girls’ side from what we saw in the 2025 offseason, and that’s played out exactly as expected over the past couple months.

Now each league race is down to six, with just about every participant a real threat to come away with some hardware. 

The girls’ side was especially tight, with top seeds Conestoga, Garnet Valley and Haverford followed closely by Springfield (Delco.), Marple Newtown and Radnor; not a single seed was finalized until the last day of the regular season. They’ve all taken turns beating up on each other; Radnor beat Conestoga, Marple and Springfield beat Garnet, and so on and so forth. 

It’s ‘Stoga that has the most momentum entering the postseason, head coach Ken Doyle’s Pioneers winning 11 straight and capturing the regular-season championship after a 41-39 win over Haverford on Tuesday night in the regular-season finale. 

Every one of the girls’ teams has a star player or two to lean on as well. For Conestoga, it’s senior guard and Lehigh commit Ryann Jennings; Garnet Valley has junior twins Kylie and Addie Adamski; Haverford has senior forward and Scranton commit Maura Gilroy; Springfield (Delco.) has senior guard Lil DiTrolio and her sister, sophomore Adi DiTrolio; Marple has junior guard Olivia Gicking, and Radnor has senior guard Nyah Yao. 

That’s not to discount the contributions from the supporting casts, whose play will no doubt shape the outcome of the tournament. Just don’t be surprised when it’s the names above who come up with big buckets in key situations over the course of the coming week. 

The boys’ side of the Central had a clear clubhouse leader in Penncrest, though the Lions dropped their first league game last weekend, to Marple Newtown, showing just a little bit of vulnerability as the postseason approaches. The Lions are also the only team to beat Springfield (Delco.), dealing the second-seeded Cougars their only two league losses of the season. 

Conestoga, which played without senior guard Rowan Miller for a month in the middle of the season, had its own late-season rally, winning its last eight games — all league contests — to get to 15-7 (12-4) and capture the league’s No. 3 seed. Garnet Valley (16-5, 12-4), Lower Merion (15-7, 10-6) and Upper Darby (12-9, 9-7) round out a high-quality top six that, while it might have some favorites and some dark horses, could realistically see any combination of the six play for a title on Monday. 

Names to keep an eye on besides those mentioned include GV junior forward Grayson Golek and junior guard Mason Koperna, Lower Merion junior Kyle Parrish and sophomore Israel Ingram, and Upper Darby senior Artemus Sirleaf, though all of those teams can go at least seven deep. 

Here are the full brackets for both the boys and girls’ Central League playoffs:

Boys
First Round: Thurs., Feb. 5
3) Conestoga 6) Upper Darby (7:00 PM)
4) Garnet Valley vs. 5) Lower Merion (7:00 PM)

Semifinals: Fri., Feb. 6
1) Penncrest vs. Lowest Remaining Seed
2) Springfield (Delco.) vs. Highest Remaining Seed

Championship
Monday, Feb. 9

Girls
First Round: Thurs., Feb. 5
3) Haverford vs. 6) Marple Newtown (7:00 PM)
4) Springfield (Delco.) vs. 5) Radnor (7:00 PM)

Semifinals: Fri., Feb. 6
1) Conestoga vs. Lowest Remaining Seed
2) Garnet Valley vs. Highest Remaining Seed

Championship
Monday, Feb. 9