Garnet Valley rallies in second half to upset Pennridge in District 1-6A first round
EAST ROCKHILL >> Garnet Valley girls basketball coach Joe Woods has confidence in Hailey Adamski’s long-range shooting decisions.
“A hundred percent,” Woods said. “If she’s got a little space she can fire it.”
The six-foot sophomore showed why with Friday night’s District 1-6A first-round matchup with host Pennridge tied at 40 late in the fourth quarter, dribbling into open space beyond the arc on the right wing and burying a 3-pointer to put the 20th-seeded Jaguars in the lead.
“She went for the steal and I turned around, there was no one around me so I shot it,” Adamski said. “I made two before it so it was good.”
Katie Yoder pulled the No. 13 Rams to within a point but Pennridge could not convert on chances in the final moments and Garnet Valley earned the upset, holding on for a 45-42 comeback victory.
“Everybody thought we were going to lose, we’re the lower seed and I knew we weren’t going to,” Adamski said. “I had a feeling we were going to pull it out and we did.”
Adamski connected on four 3-pointers in scoring 13 points while the last of Kyle Mulholland’s team-high 16 points came as she made both ends of a 1-and-1 with 6.1 seconds left to put the Jaguars up three.
Pennridge, which led by as much as 14 in the third quarter, could not get off a tying shot – Adamski deflecting a pass before the buzzer and Garnet Valley (14-10) stormed the court to celebrate advancing to the second round to visit No. 4 Souderton 6 p.m. Wednesday.
“I got to be honest, what Garnet Valley did was unbelievable,” Pennridge coach Jason Rapp said. “I have to give them a ton of credit. They got down early on the road after a long ride and they just scrapped and fought and made big shots and I give them a ton of credit. And that’s a young team over there, for them to do that they’re going to be a problem in years to come.”
Yoder scored 14 of her game-high 18 points after halftime for the Rams (16-8), who were looking for their first district win since 2019. Anna Croyle collected all 11 of her points in the first half while Ella Brown added 10 points.
“I will tell you this is a wonderful group of kids and I had probably the best time I’ve ever had coaching and I appreciate that from them,” Rapp said. “They always gave unconditional effort.”
The Jaguars trailed 18-5 after the first quarter, were down at 11 at halftime while five straight points from Yoder in the third pushed the Rams’ advantage to 31-17.
But an Adamski trey to make it 33-23 was the start of a 14-2 Garnet Valley run – the Jaguars scoring the quarter’s last nine points with Mia Zebley’s buzzer-beating layup off a Katie Dwyer assist cut the margin to just 35-32 entering the fourth.
“Our defense, we switched players to fit the matchups better and then we got some steals off of that,” Adamski said. “We had to lock down. The first half we were giving baseline, we couldn’t give that away anymore and then on offense we kind of just swung the ball fast and found the open person.”
A Yoder basket had the Rams up five before Mulholland hit back-to-back 3-pointers to give Garnet Valley its first lead of the night at 38-37.
Brown answered with a three to put Pennridge ahead 40-38 but Dwyer’s bucket knotted things at 40.
After a Rams turnover, Adamski grabbed a pass Croyle almost got a hand on, spun around and took two dribbles before letting go three that hit nothing but net.
“I was rushing the first half and I think I needed to just relax and keep staying on balance to shoot those threes,” Adamski said.
Yoder snagged a loose ball in the air on the right side then drove in for a layup to make it 43-42. A Garnet Valley half court violation gave the Rams back the ball with 49.4 seconds remaining but a runner in the lane was short and Adamski corralled the rebound.
The Jaguars missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 25.8 seconds, giving Pennridge another chance down just a point only but a ball that went out of bounds along the sideline was called off the Rams at 7.1 seconds to go.
“One of the things we don’t do is usually have a problem scoring,” Rapp said. “And tonight, it’s just we didn’t have it and I did think uncharacteristically we turned the ball over late in the game and we haven’t done that.”
Mulholland was fouled at 6.1 seconds and hit both ends of her 1-and-1 for a three-point Garnet edge. Pennridge pushed up the court but could not get an open look while a pass towards the left corner was deflected by Adamski.
“Our defense could’ve been better overall but the last stretch, I think it was good,” Adamski said. “We just had to lock down and make sure they didn’t score.”
After an Olivia Poole 3-pointer made it 10-3 in the first quarter, Croyle connected on consecutive triples for a 9-0 run and a 16-3 Rams lead. A Dwyer basket made it 16-5 but Brown scored off a drive to put Pennridge up 13 heading to the second quarter.
Threes from Adamski and Sawyer had Garnet Valley within 18-11 but the Rams pushed the margin back to double digits, a Croyle triple making it 23-12 at halftime.
Yoder’s personal 5-0 run in the third gave Pennridge its biggest lead at 31-17. A Brown basket had the Rams up 13 at 33-20 before an Adamski trey.
Yoder’s two free throws at 3:06 had Pennridge’s lead at 12 before Mulholland scored off an offensive rebound then Adamski hit a three to make it 35-28. A Savannah Saunders basket followed by Zebley’s layup just before the buzzer pulled the Jaguars capped the 9-0 run that pulled the Jaguars to within three.
Garnet Valley 45, Pennridge 42
Garnet Valley 5 7 20 13 – 45
Pennridge 18 5 12 7 – 42
Garnet Valley: Kylie Mulholland 5 4-5 16; Haylie Adamski 4 1-2 13; Katie Dwyer 3 0-0 7; Savannah Saunders 2 1-3 6; Mia Zebley 1 1-2 3; Totals 15 7-12 45.
Pennridge: Katie Yoder 6 4-4 18; Anna Croyle 4 0-0 11; Ella Brown 4 0-0 10; Olivia Poole 1 0-0 3; Totals 15 4-4 42.
3-pointers: GV-Adamski 4, Mulholland 2, Dwyer, Saunders; P-Croyle 3, Brown 2, Yoder 2, Poole.
