District 1 Class 6A Girls Basketball: Haverford dominates Pennsbury to stay undefeated, advance to district title game

HAVERFORD — Pennsbury didn’t stand a chance.

No. 2 Haverford didn’t mess around in Wednesday’s District 1 Class 6A semifinal against the 11th-seeded Falcons. From the tip-off, the Fords came to dominate before a packed Juenger Gymnasium, their final home game of a perfect season. Standing in the way were the Falcons, who failed to match up to the Fords in skill, height, athleticism … you name it.

With a 43-21 victory, undefeated Haverford (27-0) advances to a district final for the first time in program history. The Fords meet No. 1 Perkiomen Valley at Temple University’s Liacouras Center Saturday at 4.

The Fords suffocated a timid Pennsbury offense, which seemed unable to decide whether to summon the courage to drive against the Fords or settle for jump shots. Haverford’s length shut down any clean looks at the basket. The Fords swarmed and trapped, forced turnovers and ran the floor at will.

“I think it’s certainly our work ethic,” senior forward Caroline Dotsey said. “Our entire team has an incredibly good work ethic. And then just preparation. I think everybody comes into every practice knowing what needs to get done, what we need to work on and what we need to focus on. That shows up in our games.”

Haverford held Pennsbury to eight points in the first half and led 27-8 at intermission. After three quarters, the Fords were ahead 31-11, so whatever adjustments the Falcons made at halftime didn’t pan out. Haverford had the height advantage with six-footers Caroline Dotsey, Rian Dotsey and Mollie Carpenter. Pennsbury’s only bright spot was guard Sofia Vitucci, who scored all eight of her team’s first-half points. But Vitucci’s scoring effort was not nearly enough to put a dent in the Fords’ sizable advantage.

“We’ve played really well defensively all year,” coach Lauren Pellicane said. “We knew where we could give help and I think the girls executed tonight, for sure. (Vitucci) is a great player, a great scorer, and a lot of their offense runs through her. That was our focus tonight, just trying to get help and focus on her and limit her as much as we could.”

The Fords started 1-for-6 from the field and led 4-0 after five minutes. They quickly recovered from a sluggish start and busted the game wide open. Vitucci hit a basket in the first period to cut the Falcons’ deficit to 6-4, but the Fords exploded for 15 straight points to take a 21-6 lead with three minutes left before halftime.

And they did it by sharing the ball. Junior guard Aniya Eberhart had all five of her points in the second period. Caroline Dotsey, Rian Dotsey, Carpenter and Ashley Wright, who was tremendous off the bench, each tallied four points in the second stanza. After missing five of their first six field-goal attempts, the Fords closed the first half shooting 66.6 percent (10-for-15).

The Fords dominated on the glass, outrebounding the Falcons, 25-12.

“One of our advantages off the bat today was our height, so we wanted to rebound really well,” Carpenter said. “We didn’t want that to turn into a disadvantage, like turning the ball over and making mistakes with the ball. The No. 1 goal was to keep the ball in our possession and rebounding. I thought we did a great job with that tonight.”

The Dotseys led a balanced attack with 12 points apiece. Caroline added four rebounds and two assists, while Rian finished with four rebounds, two assists, two blocks and a steal. Carpenter netted eight of her 10 points in the second half and led the Fords in rebounds (seven) and steals (two). She also supplied three assists.

Senior point guard Sky Newman didn’t score, but provided stellar defense all game. Wright, a sophomore forward, was excellent on the defensive end and provided four points, four rebounds, one assist and one steal.

Haverford shot 51.4 percent (18-for-15) from the field and was a perfect 6-for-6 at the free-throw line. Pennsbury managed 23.5 percent (8-for-34). Vitucci scored 12 of her team’s 21 points. The Falcons will travel to No. 5 Spring-Ford for the third-place game Saturday.

The Fords will try to become only the second Central League girls team to capture a Class 6A district championship.

“We’re really excited right now and I think we have that right to be super excited,” Caroline Dotsey said. “However, I think it’s still important that we go into the game with the same mindset we have with every other game. Just one game at a time, and this is going to be no different. We still have to prepare the same way and we can’t underestimate anyone. That’s how we have prepared all year. I think if we stick to that mindset, we’ll be good.”