North Penn, Perk Valley set for marquee matchup in PIAA AAAA 2nd round

This is a game everyone expected, but not at this time.

Everyone thought Perkiomen Valley and North Penn would meet in the postseason, but it was supposed to be under the bright lights of Temple’s Liacouras Center for the District 1-AAAA championship.

North Penn lost in overtime in the quarterfinals of the district playoffs after allowing Central Bucks South to hit a half-court shot to tie the game at the end of regulation.

Perk Valley held up its end of the bargain and won the first district title in school history over Downingtown East.

Now, the (1-5) Maidens and the (1-1) Vikings are meeting in the PIAA Class AAAA state playoffs with a trip to the quarterfinals on the line. The game is set for a 7:30 p.m. tip Tuesday night at Spring-Ford High School in Royersford.

“We were the number one seed (in districts) and got upset,” North Penn coach Maggie deMarteliere said. “(Perk Valley) ended up taking the District 1 championship home with them. There is that little motivation.”

North Penn reached the second round by beating Central, 59-27. Perk Valley won its first-round matchup, 60-50, over Red Lion.

“We’re confident but we’re not overconfident,” PV coach John Strawoet said. “We know we have to take it one game at a time. We know that (Tuesday’s) game is going to be a tough game for us. They match up well with us. We’re going to have to play a good game and not turn the basketball over.”

The two teams played in the season opener this year in the North Penn Coaches vs. Cancer tournament. Perk Valley won that game, 69-50.

deMarteliere always stresses rebounding as being a key for her team and that’s especially important against a team with the size and aggressiveness of Perk Valley.

“When I go back and watch our film from the first game of the season when we played them and any other film I have of them, (rebounding) is key,” she said. “You have to keep them off the boards and that’s not easy to do. They’re relentless. We spent most of our practice the last two days doing that.

“We generally play fundamentally sound basketball and if we play disciplined, fundamentally sound basketball and play good defense and rebound — which are things we can control — that’s all we’re telling the kids. That’s just effort. We’re asking the kids to do those things right and everything else will fall into place.”

“All season, that’s where we’ve made our living — on the boards,” Strawoet said. “Meg Jonassen and Taylor Hamm do a great job inside with rebounding the basketball. KT Armstrong can get in there and get a couple rebounds. Hanan Richmond has been getting to the boards a little bit for us now, too — she’s a good-sized guard. We have good size all the way around. When our guards get involved in the rebounding as well, then we create some matchup issues for other people.”

Jonassen and Armstrong lead Perk Valley’s offense, averaging 15.9 and 13.4 points, respectively. In the game against North Penn in December, Jonassen scored 24 points, Richmond 19 and Armstrong 15.

North Penn has four players averaging right around double figures — Mikaela Giuliani 12.1 points per game, Irisa Ye 11.2, Jess Huber 9.8 and Sam Carangi 9.4. Ye and Carangi scored in double figures in the earlier meeting against Perk Valley with 20 and 12 points, respectively.

“(North Penn has) a number of three-point shooters” Strawoet said. “We have to be able to close out and make sure we don’t let their three-point shooters get hot and start knocking things down. All year we’ve done it with defense and rebounding. Absolutely, that’s what we have to do again (Tuesday) night.

“We’ve given up as many as nine (three-pointers in a game) and that can’t happen (Tuesday) if we want to win.”

The winner of this game will face the winner of (1-4) Upper Dublin and (1-7) Neshaminy in the quarterfinals Friday.

Class AAAA

(1-4) Upper Dublin vs. (1-7) Neshaminy

Upper Dublin will face Neshaminy in the second round of the PIAA AAAA playoffs Tuesday at 6 p.m. at Spring-Ford High School in Royersford.

The Cardinals got here by beating Archbishop Carroll, 40-38, on a buzzer-beating layup by Nicole Kaiser. Neshaminy advanced by knocking off District 2 champion Hazleton, 50-41.

The two Suburban One League schools — Upper Dublin from the American Conference and Neshaminy from the National Conference — did not meet this year. They both won their leagues with matching 14-0 records against conference opponents.

Upper Dublin has succeeded this year by playing strong defense and having different players step up on offense each game.

A constant on offense has been point guard Allison Chernow. The senior averages 11.5 points per game. In the state opener against Carroll, Chernow scored 11 points, including six in the fourth quarter.

The winner of this game will face the winner of (1-1) Perk Valley and (1-5) North Penn in the quarterfinals Friday.

Class AAA

(1-1) Gwynedd Mercy vs. (3-3) Greencastle-Antrim

Gwynedd Mercy Academy will face Greencastle-Antrim in the second round of the PIAA AAA playoffs Wednesday at Milton Hershey High School in Hershey at 6 p.m.

The Monarchs reached the second round by handling Bonner-Prendergast, 58-31. Greencastle-Antrim advanced by beating Scranton Prep, 43-42.

GMA, the District One AAA and Catholic Academies champion, has a strong group of seniors leading the way. Upperclassmen Erica DeCandido and Brigit Coleman average 15.2 and 10.8 points per game, respectively.

The winner of this game will face the winner of (12-1) Archbishop Wood and (4-1) Danville in the quarterfinals Saturday.