Haverford freshman Dotsey fits well in win over Strath Haven

NETHER PROVIDENCE — Caroline Dotsey fit in immediately at Haverford High.

The freshman forward has been a bright spot on a young and rebuilding Fords club that continues to show people they are not pushovers in the Central League.

While the team lost nine seniors, including all five starters, to graduation last spring, coach Lauren Pellicane is one of the best at molding young talent and making sure they are playing above expectations.

Here the Fords sit after a 43-39 victory at Strath Haven, in the thick of the Central League race. A first-place regular season finish is out of the question, but don’t be surprised if the Fords make a run in the conference playoffs. For the first time, as many as six teams (instead of four) qualify for the tournament, which begins in early February in the week leading up to the start of the District 1 playoffs.

Dotsey powered the Fords to the win Wednesday night, pairing 19 points with 10 rebounds (both game highs) and two blocked shots.

Dotsey has the potential to be a special player. With a some polishing, she can be a dynamic threat on the offensive side and a dominating presence on defense. The 6-foot Dotsey displayed an ability to post up and score, shoot from the wing and drive to the basket. And anybody who tries to drive the lane on her is asking for trouble.

“I feel the team has been really welcoming of me,” she said. “It’s great because we all try to work with each other , and it’s good to know that if they look for me that I can always look back at them.

“I feel I am constantly developing. Hopefully I’ll get there soon, but it’s good to know that I can rely on other people to pick up where I kind of leave off.”

Senior guard Katie Redding, the only fourth-year player on the Fords, is happy to have a player of Dotsey’s size and skill to throw to inside the lane.

“It’s nice to know that she has that confidence for us. As a point guard, throwing the ball in to her, I am confident that she’s going to finish nine times out of 10,” Redding said. “That’s a great feeling.”

Redding played a critical role in helping the Fords seal the win and bounce back from a heartbreaking, 26-23 defeat to Central League-leading Springfield Monday night. While she didn’t light up the scoreboard, Redding made a key steal in the final minute to preserve the victory. She finished with three points, seven rebounds, two steals and a game-high five assists.

The new-look Fords improved to 9-7 overall and 7-4 in the league.

“Last year, so many of us were all on JV together and we did extremely well together, so I knew that coming into this year we had a good base and a strong bond,” Redding said. “We knew that this title is up for grabs this year and that anybody could get it. It’s shown in our last couple of games, how close the Springfield and Garnet Valley games were, and they were the top-two contenders for the last three or four years.”

Perhaps the Fords can be title contenders this winter. Their losses to Garnet Valley and Springfield were by a combined three points. Ridley, which occupies second place in the conference, dealt the Fords one of the worst losses of the season, 45-21. Haverford also suffered a close defeat to Harriton last week.

“With a young team there are inconsistencies,” Pellicane said. “At the end of the day, we’re coming out and we’re competing.

“I don’t think a lot of people would’ve said, ‘Oh, when you play Radnor and Springfield this year after losing nine seniors that you’re going to compete. But I think we’ve surprised some people. It’s a credit to our kids. We have one senior in Katie Redding and we have a couple of juniors who are great leaders, such as Chaira MacGillivray, Addison Brodnik and Hannah Clancy, who really played well tonight.

“We have young freshmen, some of them have gotten limited time, other than Caroline who has been starting for us,” Pellicane added. “But we do have a lot of young pieces and they have bright futures.”

The Fords built a 10-point lead early in the third quarter, but the Panthers kept within striking distance. Danielle McNeely sank a pair of 3-pointers down the stretch to spark the Panthers, who had trailed by as many as 12 points in the final quarter. Haven’s Anna Myers-Maloney scored a layup in the final 40 seconds to cut the deficit to 43-39, but Redding came up with a steal in the final seconds to clinch the victory for the Fords.

“Our JV starting lineup last year is basically our varsity starting lineup this year. Even though they didn’t have a lot of varsity experience, they’re still coming to play every single day and competing,” Pellicane said. “They have an opportunity to step up and they’re making the most of it.”

Combo guard Cayden Frazier and power forward Faith Raymond led the way for the Panthers (5-10, 2-9). Raymond went off for 12 points and Raymond produced eight points, six rebounds and two blocks. McNeely added eight points and a pair of steals.

“We’re still looking for that missing piece, which is not necessarily a player but just finding a way to put things together,” Strath Haven coach Allison Price said. “We couldn’t have asked for a better situation there at the end, but those costly turnovers hurt us. But I can always say that they play hard until the very end. They fight until the end and claw their way back in games, like they did today, but we just kind of got in our own way a little bit.”