Fail’s success at line lifts Garnet Valley to win

CONCORD >> Garnet Valley’s Sydney Fail likes shooting free throws so much that she is always the first one to volunteer in practice.

“I love foul shots,” Fail said. “They’re kind of my thing.”

Fail’s teammates depend on her to come through. Coach Joe Woods does a drill in practice where the team is asked to run after every missed foul shot. Fail usually saves them from running for too long.

“Coach Woods will ask who wants to do them and I’m always the first one to raise my hand,” said Fail, an Ursinus commit. “We’ll run if we miss. He

usually picks on someone, but if he asks I’m always the one raising my hand.”

Fail put her skills on display Tuesday night in Garnet Valley’s season opener against Springfield. The senior forward shot 9-for-10 from the foul line in the fourth quarter and scored a team-high 14 points to help the Jaguars claim a 42-34 decision.

“It works out for times like this when they’re obviously needed,” Fail said.

After sophomore Morgan Falcone converted a pair of freebies to tie the game at 28-all, Fail netted her team’s next seven points. Fail drained a 3-pointer with five minutes to go to put the Jaguars ahead to stay, 31-28.

“Sydney came up huge for us,” said sophomore forward Brianne Borcky, who had six points, six rebounds, two assists, two steals and two blocked shots. “We needed her to make those foul shots.”

After her triple, Fail went to the charity stripe on each of GV’s next two possessions. Unrattled, she calmly sank four freebies to extend the Jags’ lead to seven.

“They’re important to have,” Fail said of her foul shots. “(Coach Woods) talks all the time about how foul shots win games.”

In a rematch of last winter’s Central League championship game, the Jaguars handed the Cougars (2-1) their first defeat of the season. The Jags bounced back from a listless first half (6-for-23 shooting with seven turnovers) and kept senior guard Maggie O’Connell and the Cougars at bay.

Trailing by nine points at the half, Garnet Valley applied a full court press and forced Springfield into mistakes.

“Last year they beat us (in the regular season) and I kind of feel like they were coming out for blood tonight,” Borcky said. “They played really aggressively in the beginning and we came out in a zone. We were trying to start off the season on a good note but we were able to stop them.”

O’Connell was red-hot in the first half, hitting four treys for 13 of her game-high 18 points. However, the second half was a different story. Springfield was limited to 3-of-18 shooting and committed 12 turnovers.

“Maggie O’Connell is an amazing shooter and I think it was her knocking down those 3s that gave them the momentum to keep going,” Fail said. “In the second half we did a better job on locating her and giving her less opportunities.”

With sophomore bigs Borcky and Emily McAteer (nine points, nine rebounds, four steals) controlling the paint, the Jags held a sizable 26-16 rebounding advantage.

In other Central League action:

Marple Newtown 45, Lower Merion 30 >> Natalie Ayoub was flatout dominant off the glass. She posted a double-double with 13 points and 20 rebounds in guiding the Tigers (2-0) past the Aces. Devon Adams netted 16 points for the winners.

Penncrest 35, Haverford 30 >> Megan Arndt paced the Lions with 14 points and Grace Harding chipped in with 11. Erin Doherty netted eight for Haverford.

Strath Haven 52, Upper Darby 32 >> Morgan Crain powered the Panthers (1-0) with 17 points while Margot Hotham had the hot hand, scoring 13 points. Emma Blewett poured in 14 points in the loss for the Royals (0-2)

Harriton 41, Ridley 38 >> The Green Raiders (0-3) grabbed the lead with a minute to play on a 3-pointer by Hailee Mayer, but the Rams were able to come back and give new coach Kacy McNichol her first coaching win. Izzy Hamlin scored seven points and grabbed 12 rebounds for Ridley.

Conestoga 47, Radnor 33 >> Nicole Massimino’s 15-point effort wasn’t enough for the Raiders (0-1). Allison Lanzone had six points and four steals.