ROYERSFORD — It was a moment Anna Stein thought would never come, which would explain her vise-like grip on the Pioneer Athletic Conference Championship plaque in the moments immediately following Perkiomen Valley’s second consecutive league title courtesy of a 60-51 victory over Spring-Ford on the Rams’ home floor on Thursday night.
Sure, Stein was a part of last year’s Vikings squad that won both the PAC and District 1 Class 6A titles, at least in the physical sense that she was there along for the ride. Following a torn ACL that wiped out her sophomore season, Stein gritted through her junior campaign as a deep reserve, but was almost always limited or in pain. She later found out she had torn her meniscus in March of last year, but with surgery delayed until June, Stein wasn’t sure she’d ever make it back on the court as an impact player for a transcendent Perk Valley team with eyes on another district crown and a deep run in the PIAA tournament.
Not only did Stein make it back for her senior year as the lone senior on the Vikings’ roster, but she came off the bench in the PAC title game to score eight points on 3-for-5 shooting, including two first-half 3-pointers, that kept Perk Valley upright against a feisty Rams team that led by as many as seven early on.
Final: Perkiomen Valley 60, Spring-Ford 51, PAC girls basketball championship
The Vikings are repeat PAC winners with their 6th straight takedown of the Rams pic.twitter.com/tKBqOZtbW8
— Austin Hertzog (@AustinHertzog) February 16, 2024
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After that brief first-half scare, the Vikings outscored Spring-Ford 17-8 in quarter three and built a 14-point lead, helping usher in what has felt inevitable all season.
“It feels awesome, and very well-deserved for the whole team,” Stein said. “From my perspective, I worked so hard for three years to be able to play in the PAC championship. We didn’t make it my freshman year, so this is my first one actually playing. This is what I worked to come back for, and it feels so good to see the hard work pay off.”
It was Perk Valley’s third PAC championship (2016, 2023, 2024) and its third straight conference final, all against Spring-Ford. The verdict also elevated the Vikings’ winning streak over the Rams to six games after escaping in overtime in their regular season finales on Feb. 2.
Stein’s younger sister, Lena, a Perk Valley junior starter, also had a strong performance, contributing nine points. After the game, Lena was elated to see her big sister be the first one to climb the ladder stationed under the basket to snip the first piece of net. The entire program and Perk Valley community was, but for Lena, this moment was unforgettable.
“I’m more proud of her than I’ve ever been,” Lena said. “I saw what she went through on the inside, because I was by her side every step of the way. I saw how down she got and how much of a dark time it was. To see her think everything was over, and then to come out of that to help our team make history — she just never would have thought it could happen.”
To hear some of the Perk Valley players tell it, it was Anna Stein who spoke up in the locker room at halftime, challenging her teammates to stem the tide and slow down Spring-Ford’s hot shooting from downtown, as the Rams connected on four early 3-pointers and only trailed the Vikings 31-28 entering halftime. It’s not as if Perk Valley was playing poorly; rather, it wasn’t a level of play that was up to their normal standard, one that has allowed them to win 23 of their 24 games this season, including the last 15 in a row.
“In the locker room, Anna was the one who said, ‘Guys, this is our chance. We don’t get these minutes back, so come back out onto the floor, stop the 3’s and do what you’re told because I want to cut down that net,’” Lena Stein recounted. “She’s my best friend, the one who gives me advice, the one who pumps me up before games and cheers me up after bad ones. That family aspect really helps me on the court.”
“Anna has been a great leader for us,” added junior Grace Galbavy, who along with junior Quinn Boettinger scored a game-high 14 points. “Personally, I look up to her. When I’m not playing well, she always has something positive to say. She’s always there for me. She played great, like we all know she’s capable of. It was just a matter of her getting her rhythm and confidence back. We had a good talk in the locker room; Anna got everyone locked in, and without Anna Stein, we don’t win championships.”
Galbavy and Boettinger (Navy) are the focal points for any defense, and rightfully so. But it was the contributions of players such as Anna and Lena Stein, Bella Bacani (seven points) and Grace Miley (eight points) who helped push the Vikings across the finish line when it mattered most.
“It makes it so much easier on me and Quinn,” Galbavy said. “They all work so hard, and we’ve known all of them can do that because they’re all that type of player. It was just a matter of them finding their confidence.”
As for Spring-Ford, it was a tough pill to swallow for sure. The Rams are 0-3 this season against Perk Valley and 20-2 against everybody else. They had a dynamic first half, and despite sputtering in the third quarter, Spring-Ford cut the deficit from 14 all the way down to five late in the fourth quarter. It was just a little bit too late, and the Vikings shot 10-for-12 from the foul line — and 16-for-19 in the game — to help deliver the knockout blow.
Mac Petinelli led the Rams’ well-balanced scoring attack with 12 points, while Aaliyah Solliday chipped in with 11, Katie Tiffan and Anna Azzara posted 10 each and Kareena Preuss added eight. The team shot 7-for-18 from beyond the arc, a respectable number right on their season average as far as percentage goes, but they missed more than they made in a critical second half.
“The third quarter was the game,” Spring-Ford head coach Mickey McDaniel said. “We got in some bad spots for shots, and credit to their defense and rotation for forcing us into those bad shots. We needed to get to the glass, but we didn’t get enough rebounds. We had no offensive rebounds in the first half, and we wanted some second-chance points that we didn’t get.”
Even so, McDaniel was proud of his team. Perhaps no team has played Perk Valley tougher this season, even if they’ve lost all three times. Despite the loss, the Rams still have so much to play for. As the No. 6 seed in the District 1 6A bracket, they will receive a first-round bye and play the winner of Downingtown West-Downingtown East, tentatively scheduled for Wednesday evening at Spring-Ford.
“Obviously our girls are hurting right now, and if they weren’t I’d be concerned,” McDaniel said. “We have some time to get ourselves turned in the right direction to move forward out of this. Now, a bigger prize is awaiting. This is the fun time of year, even if it’s not fun what happened tonight. We didn’t fail, because it’s never a failure if you learn from it. I told them in the locker room not to let this game define you, because that’s not who you are.”
As for Perk Valley, they enter districts with the same head of steam they’ve been building all season. Both Galbavy and Lena Stein said the team wants a triple crown — PAC title, district title and state title — and they are officially one-third of the way there. As the district’s top seed, the Vikings will play the winner of Pennsbury-Bensalem on Wednesday night.
And for Anna Stein, anything from here on out is gravy. She knows that despite all the injuries she endured, she’s again a PAC champion. She also knows that her perseverance has earned her the right to play at Kutztown later this year, but first thing’s first — hang more banners.
“After all the hard work we’ve put in, being in the gym before school at 6 a.m., we’re not satisfied with just this,” she said. “We want to get it all. With all the time and energy we put into each other, this sport and this team, I think we know how good we can be if we play to our potential. If we do, we can make some great things happen.”
Perkiomen Valley 60, Spring-Ford 51
Spring-Ford 13 15 8 15 – 51
Perk Valley 14 17 17 12 – 60
Spring-Ford: Preuss 1 2 0-0 8, Solliday 3 1 2-2 11, Azzara 2 1 3-5 10, K. Tiffan 3 1 1-2 10, Pettinelli 3 2 0-0 12, C. Tiffan 0 0 0-0 0, Miller 0 0 0-0 0. Totals 12 7 6-9 51
Perk Valley: Bacani 2 1 0-0 7, L. Stein 3 0 3-4 9, Miley 1 1 3-3 8, Boettinger 5 0 4-5 14, Galbavy 4 0 6-7 14, A. Stein 1 2 0-0 8, Smith 0 0 0-0 0. Totals 16 4 16-19 60
