Archbishop Carroll girls basketball upsets Perkiomen Valley in overtime, advances to PIAA-6A quarterfinals
WHITEMARSH >> It wasn’t the expectation to have the ball in the hands of Oliva Nardi. It certainly wasn’t the expectation for it to happen with 3.3 seconds left in overtime, either.
Against District 1 champion Perkiomen Valley, District 12 third-place Archbishop Carroll trailed by one point with time about to expire. Junior Brooke Wilson, a Division I prospect, drove into the paint and ran into Vikings 6-foot-3 center Quinn Boetinnger, knowing her season came down to the very next instant.
“I saw Quinn was in there, so I wasn’t gonna take the shot,” Wilson said. “I knew Liv was spotting up on the three and I was like, ‘All right, you got it.’”
She, indeed, had it.
Nardi found separation along the wing and pulled up a 3-point shot to ice the PIAA round of 16 matchup for Archbishop Carroll, 41-38 over Perkiomen Valley in overtime at Plymouth Whitemarsh High School on Tuesday.
“I was definitely nervous,” Nardi, a sophomore, said. “I definitely feel at practice when we do two minutes of shooting (it helps in those moments) just to be consistent. I think that really helps, just being consistent.”
FINAL — Archbishop Carroll 41, Perkiomen Valley 38
This is March.
Archbishop Carroll takes down the District 1 champion to advance to the Elite 8 in the PIAA. pic.twitter.com/QpqL8ykzoG
— Evan Wheaton (@EvanWheaton) March 14, 2023
With the win, the Patriots (14-13) will take on District 1 ninth-place Abington, a 40-35 winner over Springfield Delco in the PIAA 6A quarterfinals Friday at a time and site to be determined.
Wilson (13 points) made the tying basket with two seconds left in regulation to break even, 34-34 and force the extra period. A 3-pointer from Courtland Shumacher (3 points) gave Archbishop Carroll its first lead since the Patriots’ opening bucket of the contest to begin overtime.
Julia Smith (2 points) tugged the rope back in Perkiomen Valley’s direction, 38-37 with a bucket from just inside 2-point range with 34.8 seconds on the clock. What followed was Nardi’s game-winner before Wilson closed it out with one free throw.
“It proved to us that we aren’t going away,” Wilson said. “Not only in that game but in our season. We didn’t have the best start to our season, but we’re not going away, just as we didn’t have the best second or third quarter and we’re not going away in the game, and we ended up winning. Hopefully it’s a theme in our season as well.”
For the first time since Archbishop Carroll’s opening bucket in the first quarter, the Patriots retake the lead.
Courtland Schumacher with a 3-pointer, Perk trails 37-34. pic.twitter.com/cyawvQLzKa
— Evan Wheaton (@EvanWheaton) March 14, 2023
Before Archbishop Carroll could pull away, it had to claw back in. The Vikings (28-2) unloaded a 10-point run in the first quarter en route to a 12-9 advantage through the first eight minutes.
The second quarter didn’t prove much better for the Patriots. Boettinger — the leading scorer in the Pioneer Athletic Conference at 16 points per game — unloaded six of her 10 first-half points in the frame on the inside, dominating Archbishop Carroll in the paint.
“That was the first time we played against a true big, and it’s hard,” Wilson said. “We don’t want to play against a true big like that again.”
Boettinger finished with a game-high 18 points, the Vikings entered halftime up 21-14 and Perkiomen Valley led by as much as nine in the third quarter.
But Archbishop Carroll was able to hold Perkiomen Valley to one field goal in the third frame — a putback by point guard Bella Bacani (5 points) — after five minutes and five seconds of scoreless action to start the second half. From there, the Patriots closed the gap to a single point, entering the fourth quarter down 23-22.
“It’s as physical a game we’ve played and I told the girls, ‘That’s how you’re gonna get played for another two years,’” Vikings coach John Russo said. “You gotta remember, half of them are 15. You get bodied by seniors and juniors, but we fought through it.”
With just seconds left, Brooke Wilson knots it 34-34. Less than two seconds on the clock.
Buckle up. pic.twitter.com/YeltpWgmIY
— Evan Wheaton (@EvanWheaton) March 14, 2023
Perkiomen Valley’s starting lineup — Grace Galbavy, Lena Stein, Bacani, Boetinnger and Smith — are all sophomores, Ella Stein being the lone senior and first off the bench. The only other loss for the Vikings this year came against Spring-Ford in the regular season on Jan. 13.
Running on fumes to start the fourth quarter after Perkiomen Valley’s lead all but evaporated, Galbavy (9 points) poured more gas in the tank. The 6-foot wing, who has averaged 13.7 ppg this season, once again pulled out all the stops, igniting an eight-point run with back-to-back buckets to balloon ahead 31-22.
The Vikings wasted no time, upping the tempo in their favor in a late bid to regain control of the game.
“Sometimes when we push the ball they’re not thinking as much and they’re just more confident,” Russo said. “When we slow it down and we try to set it something up or looking for exact passing, precise execution, that brings nerves upon them. When we rush the basketball and we move from the outside to the inside, we’re really tough to play. We didn’t do that enough tonight.”
Army commit Taylor Wilson answered with seven of her 15 points in the closing minutes of the fourth quarter along two buckets from Brooke Wilson, the second being the overtime-forcing 3-pointer.
That same defense which didn’t commit a turnover in the first half of its state opener against Neshaminy and held the latter to not a single fourth-quarter field goal returned on the floor of Plymouth Whitemarsh’s gym. And with it, the resurgence back into the game after stalling twice from big Perkiomen Valley runs.
“We won this as a team tonight and that’s the reason we won, because of Olivia’s shot, because of Courtland’s shot, because of Megan (Sheridan’s) defense, because of Alexis playing great,” Brooke Wilson said. “That’s the reason we won, we played team basketball, played hard and played together. And we had fun.”
A magical season for Perkiomen Valley came to an end in what many might think to be premature. The Vikings peppered much of eastern Pennsylvania, averaging 59.2 points on offense while allowing just 33.7 on defense.
With the entire starting rotation set to return, it might spell another dominant campaign come next year.
“I hope they can turn this loss into a fire for next season,” Russo said. “That’s the hope.”
Archbishop Carroll 41, Perkiomen Valley 38 (OT)
Archbishop Carroll: Schumacher 1 0-0 3; B. Wilson 5 1-3 13; O’Neill 0 0-0 0; Eberz 2 0-0 4; Nardi 2 0-0 6; Sheridan 0 0-0 0; Archibald 0 0-0 0; T. Wilson 5 4-6 15. Totals: 15 5-9 41
Perkiomen Valley: Bacani 2 0-0 5; Smith 1 0-0 2; E. Stein 1 0-0 2; L. Stein 1 0-0 2; Boettinger 7 4-6 18; Galbavy 3 3-5 9. Totals: 15 7-11 38
Archbishop Carroll 9 5 8 12 7-41
Perkiomen Valley 12 9 2 11 4-38
3-point goals: Schumacher, B. Wilson 2, Nardi 2, T. Wilson, Bacani
