Hertzog: Perkiomen Valley playing with championship-level belief, raises ceiling in district final

The Perkiomen Valley girls basketball team loves a team photo.

Every home game this season, the Vikings would go through the handshake line, immediately return toward their bench and come together for a postgame pic. It was always filled with smiles considering every photo came following victory.

One wondered if the Vikings’ love for a team photo had gotten the best of them around 3:40 p.m. last Saturday.

It was on the floor of the Liacouras Center at Temple University, 20 minutes from the biggest game of the high school careers of Perkiomen Valley’s upper-tier underclassmen. It made sense to commemorate the occasion – they’d reached the place every team wished for. But, when juxtaposed with Haverford, their undefeated senior-led opponent, methodically going through their pregame stretching at the same time, you could have perceived a ‘just happy to be here’ vibe from PV.

The buildup to the game was rightly framed as Haverford’s time, the coronation of senior Caroline Dotsey, the Maine commit and Central League’s top player, and the Fords.

Perk Valley remains an anomaly, built on a five-sophomore foundation with starters – Bella Bacani, Quinn Boettinger, Grace Galbavy, Julia Smith and Lena Stein – taking the region by storm as Pioneer Athletic Conference champions and No. 1 seed for the District 1 Class 6A playoffs.

While there’s a novelty to latching onto the class of the players on the roster, the truth is the Vikings’ talent, length and athleticism has been superior to the opposition nearly every game.

That was finally up for debate when PV and Haverford tipped off. Something else would need to be the determining factor.

All at once, that debate and any pregame perceptions were answered. Competitive drive would be the decider.

It’s what carried the Vikings through to a 48-44 victory for the District 1-6A championship, the program’s second title after winning the 2015-16 Class 4A title.

The proof of PV’s will to win was never more clear than another snapshot from the district final.

Boettinger stepped to the free throw line with 2:06 to play. Normally stone-faced at the line, PV’s 6-2 sophomore forward wasn’t this time.

She was in tears, a product of aggravating her injured right ankle amid a full-game physical battle with Fords’ big Mollie Carpenter. Crying isn’t always a sign of defeat. Here, it was resolve.

“I knew if I went out of the game and didn’t shoot my foul shots I couldn’t go back in. It was a very important time of the game and I wanted to stay in,” Boettinger said. “There were times where my coaches were asking ‘Are you OK? Are you OK?’ ‘Yeah, I’m fine,’ as I’m limping down the court.”

The ceiling on Perkiomen Valley rose this year with the pairing of Boettinger and Galbavy, both All-Area first team selections as freshmen, albeit on different teams. Galbavy’s transfer from Upper Perkiomen to Perk Valley has elevated the team’s play, but also its toughness.

“I’m so grateful she came this year. She’s always there to hype every single one of us up if we’re down,” Boettinger said of Galbavy. “It’s ‘get back up’, ‘you’re fine’, it’s that tough love that is needed for all of us.

“As I went up to the free throw line, Grace was like, ‘Suck it up. Make these.’ Tough love.”

Boettinger swished both.

“It’s the district championship and sometimes you’ve gotta lock in. I felt like she needed to hear that because we needed her in the game,” Galbavy said. “I want to win, so whatever we’ve gotta do to win. If her ankle hurts and she has to shoot foul shots, you’ve just gotta shoot it.”

Galbavy, who leads PV in most statistical categories (rebounds, assists, steals, blocks), relished the big-stage opportunity.

“A lot of people don’t understand the feeling of playing in big games. The adrenaline I get, when I’m in big games I feel like I can jump higher, shoot better, run faster,” she said. “The adrenaline rush, all those people watching you, it’s such a surreal feeling, to win that game and beat such a great undefeated team.”

Boettinger’s free throw shooting was decisive down the stretch. Her four straight free throws – two from a personal foul, two from a technical foul – with 9.1 seconds remaining gave the Vikings the winning margin over the Fords.

Boettinger came through in the winning moments and Galbavy supplied the pivotal ‘pep talk’ while combining for 32 points, including 11-for-12 at the free-throw line. Additionally, Lena Stein lived up to her reputation as a top defender and Bacani scored 10 on 5-for-7 shooting.

As significant is the balance the Vikings have been able to strike between having collective joy throughout the whole squad – actually being ‘just happy to be here’ – accompanied with championship-level belief and determination.

“This isn’t a one-man team, this is about all of the players and a coaching staff that really worked well together to try to keep everybody calm,” said PV coach John Russo. “That was a war and the kids showed how badly they wanted to win.”

“It’s hard to single anyone out with us,” Galbavy said. “We’re such a team. I don’t think there is a ‘best player’, everyone can hit big shots. We lean on each other.”

With a collective mentality like that, there’s going to be many more smiling team pictures to come.