District 1 Class 6A Girls Basketball: Aniya Eberhart ‘starts the fire’ as Haverford cruises past Springfield
HAVERFORD – Sky Newman and Aniya Eberhart proved Saturday why they are one of the best guard tandems in District 1.
Most of the time the Fords can rely on their three forwards to carry the scoring load. It’s a rare sight when Caroline Dotsey gets held to under 15 points, but Saturday was one of those nights for Delaware County’s leading scorer.
Newman and Eberhart are at their best when the team needs a lift on offense.
While Dotsey, her sister Rian and power forward Mollie Carpenter were kept at bay, Eberhart drilled two 3-pointers and Newman provided a basket in the opening quarter of a District 1 Class 6A quarterfinal with No. 10 Springfield. Eberhart and Newman’s contributions set the tone in No. 2 Haverford’s 56-31 win.
The undefeated Fords (26-0) host 11th- seeded Pennsbury, a 32-27 overtime winner against No. 19 Upper Dublin, in the semifinal round Wednesday.
Eberhart scored Haverford’s first eight points of the game. The junior finished with 10 points and four assists, while the senior Newman chipped in with nine points.
“I knew I had to come in here and start the fire,” Eberhart said. “I wanted to tell my teammates that I can get the team rolling. My team feeds off my energy and I know that if we’re not starting well, then I can pick them up. I just knew what I had to do tonight and I want to keep it going. One more win until the championship, it’s exciting.”
Newman and Eberhart have improved so much since last season, when they were little more than role players on a senior- laden squad. This season, the Fords wouldn’t be nearly as good without the dynamic duo.
“After losing most of our starters from last year, we knew we had to step up and contribute in some way. We knew we had to make our presence known on the floor because people know about Caroline, they know about Mollie,” Newman said. “So we need to make sure that people know about us and they have to guard us, which will open up Caroline and open up Mollie. If everybody on the court is contributing, then it makes us harder to beat.”
No team has discovered a solution on how to beat the Fords this season. A plucky Springfield team gave the Fords everything they had and kept the score close for one half thanks in large part to a defense that caused 10 turnovers in the first two quarters. Junior guard Cora Fattori, who was starting in place of the injured Mia Valerio, swished a 3-pointer to tie the game at 18 but the Fords scored the final six points of the half to take a 24-18 lead into the locker room.
A 15-2 run in the third quarter put an end to Springfield’s upset hopes. Rian Dotsey heated up on both ends of the floor and the Fords came away with five steals in the third to take a 39-20 advantage into the fourth. Carpenter (nine points) was big inside the paint and junior forward Natalie Wright (four points) gave the Fords a boost off the bench.
“We play our best when we take care of the ball because we get good shots at the basket and potentially second, third and fourth (chances). That’s what we do, that’s our game,” Haverford coach Lauren Pellicane said. “Obviously it showed in the third quarter. … It started with our defense. I thought team-wise we did a nice job to force some tough shots and getting our hand deflections. That led to the fast breaks and opened up the game a little bit.”
Kaitlyn Kearney scored a team-high 10 points for the Cougars, who meet 19th-seeded Upper Dublin at home Wednesday in a playback game. Both teams have clinched berths in the PIAA tournament.
