The North Penn girls’ basketball program knows as well as any that it’s a long road to the top. The passage of a decade since its previous trip to a District 1 semifinal serves as proof.
Perkiomen Valley knows reaching the summit is a long road, too.
It’s why the Vikings never left.
The upstart-turned-unlikely District 1 champion of a year ago spent the last year growing into a powerhouse that has not been matched by any team in Pennsylvania this season.
The Vikings’ march toward a repeat district title continued Wednesday night as top-seeded Perk Valley used its size and 3-point shooting to overwhelm No. 5 North Penn, 67-36, to gain a place in Saturday’s championship game.
“I think you can just see it in our offense, all the work we put in when the shots are going in and everything’s going right. You can just see how much hard work we put in and it’s showing out on the court,” senior Anna Stein said. “So I think it just shows how well-deserved getting back at Temple is for us.”
Perk Valley advanced to meet its greatest rival, Spring-Ford, in an all-Pioneer Athletic Conference final set for 5 p.m. Saturday at Temple University’s Liacouras Center. The Rams dispatched No. 2 Conestoga in Wednesday’s other semifinal.
Despite being the defending champions and a dominant force throughout the district run – their wins have been by 27, 29 and 31 points – the Vikings don’t view themselves differently than last season.
“I think last year we were definitely the underdog, but this year we still have the same mentality,” junior Lena Stein said. “I think the mentality didn’t really change that much just because people believe in us more. Nothing changed. We don’t want our egos getting too big or anything.”
The Vikings got strong nights from its top scoring junior trio as Quinn Boettinger scored 20, Grace Galbavy netted 18 and Bella Bacani added 14.
North Penn got 14 points from senior leader Caleigh Sperling and a spark from freshman Lily Brown, who added 11. Sperling was coming off a 30-point performance in the Knights’ quarterfinal win over Haverford but had to earn every inch when up against PV top defender Lena Stein.
The Knights threw a zone defense at PV in an effort to make life difficult on Boettinger down low, but the other offensive threats made NP pay.
“I think we were focusing on guarding the post because Quinn, she has really good post moves, but then when we guarded them, it was just really tough because a lot of their other players stepped up and were able to make big shots for them tonight,” Sperling said. “I think they definitely capitalized, getting their whole team involved offensively.”
The Knights were in trouble from the beginning with the Vikings running out to a 10-0 lead and were held to 14 first-hand points, building a 33-14 PV lead in the process.
“Coming out strong is something that we have to do in these types of games,” Lena Stein said. “I thought we came out strong, but I thought our rebounding and defense could have been cleaned up a little more.”
The high standard of expectation was evident as Bacani was also critical of PV’s lapse to start the third quarter that allowed North Penn a 8-0 run, thanks to consecutive 3s from Brown and sophomore Tallie Smink, to get within 33-22.
Sperling praised the lift provided by Brown.
“She’s relentless,” Sperling, a Jefferson commit, said. “She just loves to play and she doesn’t really care who she’s playing against. She’ll just play her own game and just go as hard as she can the whole time.”
But the Vikings responded with a 22-3 run from there into the opening minutes of the fourth quarter punctuated by consecutive steal-and-scores from Bacani and Anna Stein to gain a 55-25 lead and trigger a running clock.
North Penn has plenty still to play for with a district third-place game at Conestoga on Friday ahead of the Knights’ first trip to the state tournament since 2016-17.
“It feels really good because it’s what we’ve really been working for all season,” Sperling said.
“Playing Perk Valley will really help us moving into States because it’s probably one of the better teams we’ll see.”
There’s little unknown for Perk Valley entering the final against Spring-Ford. It will be the eighth meeting in two seasons for the premier PAC programs and third with a championship on the line.
“We’re excited to play them,” Anna Stein said. “To play them at Temple, too, it’s going to be a big atmosphere, big fan base, so I think it’s going to be really fun to play them. They’re a good, talented team, well coached. Seeing them at a different type of atmosphere, at a neutral location, it’ll be fun.”
While the game will be a showcase for one of the elite rivalries in the region, the Vikings aren’t losing sight of their goals,
“We need to just do what we can, win the games we can, and get some championships,” Bacani said.
Perkiomen Valley 67, North Penn 36
North Penn 5 9 11 11 – 36
Perkiomen Valley 17 16 18 16 – 67
North Penn: Crowley 0 0 2-2 2, Williams 0 0 0-0 0, Sperling 5 0 4-7 14, McGee 0 0 0-0 0, Brown 3 1 2-2 11, Halfpenny 0 0 0-0 0, Sperling 0 0 0-0 0, Mikulski 0 0 2-4 2, Stone 2 0 0-1 4, Stevens 0 0 0-0 0, Smink 0 1 0-0 3. Totals 10 2 10-16 36.
Perkiomen Valley: A Stein 1 1 0-0 5, Bacani 3 2 2-2 14, Smith 0 0 0-0 0, Nemic 1 0 0-0 2, L Stein 1 1 0-0 5, Fowler 0 0 0-0 0, Miley 0 1 0-0 3, Boettinger 9 0 2-2 20, Galbavy 4 3 1-1 18. Totals 19 8 5-5 67.
