PAC Girls Basketball Championship Preview: No. 3 Spring-Ford vs. No. 1 Perkiomen Valley

The Spring-Ford girls basketball program’s quest for a sixth straight Pioneer Athletic Conference championship will be on the line Wednesday night with arguably the streak’s biggest test yet in the form of No. 1 seed Perkiomen Valley.

The 22-1 and District 1 top-ranked Vikings have dominated the competition this season with their lone loss coming against their greatest rival, the Rams. The score is even this season with the Vikings taking the most recent matchup, and Perk Valley is pushing to take chapter three on its home floor, where the final will be staged Wednesday, 7 p.m.

It’s a rematch of last season’s league final won by the Rams, 43-36, and features many of the same key players for both sides.

There’s a lot of respect between the teams and head coaches Mickey McDaniel and John Russo, and an appreciation for the test that they offer each other.

“It’s a really fun game. They’re such a great team so it’s really good to go back and forth with them,” PV sophomore Bella Bacani said after the team’s semifinal win last Saturday. “It’s a really good fight and it’ll be a great game.”

A look at the final matchups:

No. 3 Spring-Ford vs. No. 1 Perkiomen Valley

Records >> Spring-Ford – 8-2 PAC Liberty, 11-2 PAC, 21-3 overall, No. 5 in District 1-6A rankings … Perkiomen Valley: 9-1 PAC Liberty, 12-1 PAC, 22-1 overall, No. 1 in District 1-6A rankings

Head to head >> The Rams and Vikings split their regular season meetings: Spring-Ford won at home, 56-44 on Jan. 13 – PV’s lone loss this year. Perk Valley evened the series with a 44-37 home win on Feb. 2 in a game that determined the Liberty Division champion and No. 1 PAC playoff seed. The teams have met five times over the past two seasons with the Rams holding a 3-2 advantage.

PAC playoff history >> Spring-Ford has won the PAC a league-best 11 times, including five straight dating back to 2017-18. The Rams defeated Perkiomen Valley 43-36 in last year’s final … Perkiomen Valley is a repeat finalist, the program’s sixth time reaching the title game (2007-08, 2014-15, 2015-16, 2017-18, 2021-22). Its lone championship came in 2015-16.

Spring-Ford at a glance >> Spring-Ford’s quest for a sixth straight PAC title has featured two lopsided playoff wins, 47-27 over No. 6 Owen J. Roberts in the first round and 64-17 over Frontier champion Phoenixville in last Saturday’s PAC semifinal.

With four starters returning from last year’s District 1 finalist and PIAA quarterfinalist, as well as a 21-3 record, the money end of the season is now for the five-time reigning PAC champions.

Junior guard Anna Azzara is the offensive engine for the Rams and is the second-leading scorer in the PAC at 15.9 points per game. Paired with junior guard/forward Mac Pettinelli (9.5 ppg), both All-Area first teamers as sophomores, the Rams’ top two can do it all on both ends of the floor. Junior wing Katie Tiffan (8.4 ppg) comes in waves and can knock down the 3-ball, as can Siena Miller, while senior center Meg Robbins, an Elizabethtown commit averaging 7.2 ppg, patrols the paint. Lilly Brescia and Haley Prophet lead the list of reserves for the Rams.

Perkiomen Valley at a glance >> The Vikings seem to love to defy expectations. Last year a not-entirely-expected trip to the PAC championship triggered a run to the PIAA quarterfinals, the deepest finish in program history. That informed this season, which brought a high ceiling. But with five sophomores in the starting lineup, going 22-1 and locking up the No. 1 seed in the District 1-6A tournament exceeds probability.

Sophomore center Quinn Boettinger leads the PAC in scoring at 16.7 ppg and has the ability to dominate down low while also showing her shooting touch of late. She’s joined in double figures with fellow sophomores Grace Galbavy (13.6 ppg) and point guard Bella Bacani (10.3).

Galbavy, a transfer from Upper Perkiomen who was All-Area first team selection a year ago, is growing into her role in recent games and was the difference-maker in PV’s win over Spring-Ford for the Liberty Division title last week.

Bacani has taken a big step forward this year and went wild with 16 points in the decisive third quarter of PV’s semifinal win over Methacton last Saturday. The starting lineup also features swarming defender Lena Stein and 3-point threat Julia Smith. Ella Stein is first off the bench, along with Anna Stein, Allie Matasich and Amiya Fowler also in reserve.

Matchup and prediction >> As stated up top, this year’s Perk Valley team presents the biggest threat to Spring-Ford’s streak. Coincidentally, the last time the Rams weren’t the favorite in the final was when the streak began, in 2017-18, when then-freshman Lucy Olsen (Villanova) and the Rams bested Perkiomen Valley, led by seniors Megan Jonassen (Fordham) and Taylor Hamm, 54-45.

It happens to be the last time the PAC final wasn’t staged at Spring-Ford. Home-court advantage has held true in their last three meetings (including last year’s final) and Wednesday night is in Perk Valley’s favor. PV has the advantage inside with Boettinger and Galbavy while Spring-Ford is the more dangerous 3-point shooting team, which must bear out for Rams success in the final. Both teams are active and disciplined defensively with the numbers to prove it: PV allows 32.7 points per game, Spring-Ford 33.0.

Perk Valley found a different gear since Jan. 21 when it smashed District 1 fourth-ranked Souderton 46-23. They’ve matched that level of intensity since, and taken wins over Spring-Ford, Methacton and Villa Maria (5A No. 3) since. Spring-Ford’s game with PV on Feb. 4 was the only close game they’ve played for a month after a front-loaded schedule saw the team have December tournament success in Arizona and Delaware.

They’ve dominated the competition in all other outings in that stretch, but they haven’t been tested lately to aid preparation for what the Vikings will bring. It’s that intensity that will have Perkiomen Valley cutting down their own nets. … Perkiomen Valley 46, Spring-Ford 38