RADNOR — All four teams left standing in the Central League girls tournament have a legitimate chance to win it all. No. 1 Haverford has three losses on its ledger, one against No. 2 Conestoga and another at the hands of No. 5 Penncrest.
While the Fords are riding high on an eight-game winning streak, and they are the reigning champions, they’ll have their hands full against a confident Penncrest team coming off a 40-39 victory over No. 4 Radnor in the quarterfinals. Haverford hosts Penncrest in the semifinal round Saturday at 7.
“It’s not always pretty with us,” Haverford coach Lauren Pellicane said last week, “but if you’re up on the scoreboard, it doesn’t always have to be.”
Conestoga’s two defeats were against Haverford in January and No. 3 Garnet Valley on the final day of the regular season. The Jaguars’ other two losses were to Haverford.
These “final four” games can go either way.
If there is an underdog, it’s Penncrest (15-8). Although the Lions conquered Haverford (19-3) earlier in the season, they struggled against Conestoga (20-2) and Garnet Valley (20-3). And it was one week ago Friday when the Lions lost to a much-improved Chester team, which hasn’t qualified for a District 1 tournament in 10 years. Perhaps when the Lions saw that game on their schedule in November, they were anticipating a fairly simple test. The 13-8 Clippers are likely to earn a top-10 seed in the Class 5A district playoffs next week after winning a share of the Del Val League title.
While Chester is a formidable foe, the Lions felt they made too many mistakes and were generally not playing their best basketball heading into this week.
“I told them that we can’t play like that in the playoffs,” Penncrest coach Larry Johnson said Thursday night. “And we have a very good team, we have shown it all year. But you have to come ready to play and you have to continue to play hard.”
Johnson and his assistant coaches had an idea to help the Lions calm their nerves during practice Monday with a game of kickball. No suicide running drills, neverending free throws or unpleasant reminders of the Chester game – just fun and relaxation.
“I think we needed to remind ourselves that basketball should be fun,” said Emily Huggins, who was the hero for the Lions Thursday night. “Instead of feeling bad about going into practice now we have the energy and the motivation. It definitely helped us want to get after it.”
It was a goodwill gesture the Lions desperately needed, whether they realized it or not.
“We had a really good practice (Wednesday) and we had a little bit of fun on Monday,” Johnson said. “I think it kind of broke the ice and then they realized what we have to do.”
After wrapping up the regular season with an easy win on senior night, the Lions played Thursday with renewed vigor. Radnor and Penncrest are as evenly matched as any two teams in the league. A frantic fourth quarter saw Radnor wipe away what had been a seven-point deficit, grabbing a one-point lead on a Nyah Yao basket with 14 seconds to play. Following a timeout, Huggins drove to the basket and scored the winning points.
“We want to win this and we know that we can,” Huggins said. “Now we have to put in the work to make it happen.”
Garnet Valley overwhelmed No. 6 Ridley, 50-23, in the other quarterfinal. Freshman Addie Adamski went for 15 points, and Savannah Saunders and Emily Olsen added nine points apiece for the Jaguars, who have won six Central League titles since 2014. They last won it all two years ago.
The winners of each semifinal matchup will play for the Central League championship at a neutral site Tuesday.
