Garnet Valley handles Conestoga (again), meets O’Hara next
LOWER MERION >> The Garnet Valley and Conestoga players and their coaches knew plenty about each other as they got ready for the PIAA Class AAAA girls basketball second-round game at Harriton High Tuesday night.
The Jaguars had defeated the Pioneers twice during the regular season on their way to a third consecutive Central League championship. They also picked up a win when the teams met in the district playoffs.
“This was our next game,” said GV sophomore Nicole Barnes, who contributed six points, a pair of steals and an
assist as Garnet Valley rolled to a 60-42 decision to set up a state quarterfinal meeting Friday night with Cardinal O’Hara, a 56-36 winner over Easton.
“We knew what they would be doing, and we knew who we had to shut down.”
The Jags kept a pair of ’Stoga starters off the scoreboard, and the Conestoga offensive and defensive efforts were not up to par with three starters being charged with two fouls and another with three in the first half.
“Sure we would have liked to have had a few of those calls go our way,” Conestoga head coach Chris Jefferies said. “But we needed to make more plays to keep ourselves in the game.”
Garnet Valley’s five-point lead after two periods didn’t shrink in the third period, when the Jaguars (24-5) were 7-for-10 from the floor. Barnes and Brianne Borcky (17 points on 7-for-11 shooting) hit two baskets and Maddy Ireland, Emily McAteer (10 points, six rebounds) and Sam Tomasetti added one apiece during the quarter.
Early in the fourth period, Barnes tried to take the ball to the basket and had her shot swatted away. She didn’t quit on the play, reclaimed the ball and fed Tomasetti (four points, four rebounds) for two points.
“I wasn’t strong enough going up,” Barnes said. “But once I got the ball back I could get it to Sam, and she made the basket.
“This whole thing has been so exciting. We just want to keep winning for our seniors and for our coaches.”
Ireland scored from inside and outside, dropping in nine points in the opening period and 10 in the last quarter in finishing with 23. She also had three assists and three steals.
“It’s just about playing like we always do,” she said. “If we play our best, we can win. This game really meant a lot, and so you try to play hard all the time.”
Ireland and the Jags knew that Conestoga’s Ellie Mack, the Central League’s most valuable player, would be a challenge, and she was. Mack finished with 22 points, six rebounds, five steals, two assists and a pair of blocked shots. Her field goal with 3:45 to play put her over the 1,000-point mark for her varsity career.
“We also wanted to stop (sophomore Maria Koblish), and she didn’t get any points tonight.”
Garnet Valley coach Joe Woods was happy with the effort freshman Emily McAteer gave in working against Macke.
“She worked hard on her all night,” Woods said. “And the other girls knew they needed to keep an eye on (Koblish). Playing them three times, we saw how those players could hurt you, and we didn’t want to let them do that to us tonight.
Woods also put aside the notion that starting two freshmen and a sophomore in an important state tournament
game could cause problems.
“It’s a matter of their level of maturation,” he said. “I’m happy with the way they’re playing and how hard they’ve been playing.
“We made adjustments in the third quarter and so did they. I think we might have thrown them off a little, and that kept them from getting back in the game.”
Borcky got over being a freshman a long time ago.
“The first few games we played (this season) I was nervous,” she said. “But now I’m just trying to go with the flow and going out there and playing like I can every day. It’s great to be able to say that we have practice the next two days, then we have another game.”
That game will not be against an opponent the Jags will be seeing for the fourth time. It will be against a team that has plenty of experience going deep into the state tournament.
