KING OF PRUSSIA — No Quinn Boettinger for large chunks of a state playoff game? No problem for Perkiomen Valley.
Bella Bacani and Grace Miley led four Perk Valley players in double figures with 12 points each as the Vikings pulled away from Haverford during a dominant third quarter en route to an eventual 64-50 PIAA second round victory on Tuesday night at Upper Merion.
The Vikings advanced to Friday’s quarterfinals to face Cardinal O’Hara, the second seed in District 12 and a member of the Philadelphia Catholic League. Perk Valley, the top seed in District 1, knocked off fifth-seeded Haverford for the second straight time in a postseason game after also beating the Fords in the 2023 District 1-6A title game.
When Boettinger, the Vikings’ star center and Navy recruit, picked up her fourth personal foul with 5:36 left in the third quarter, there was no panic or slumped shoulders — just a next-person-up mentality, or in Perk Valley’s case, next people up, because every player who saw the court Tuesday had a massive impact on the outcome.
A lesser team might have shown signs of distress in losing one of its star players to foul trouble, but Boettinger’s exit seemed to have the opposite effect on the Vikings, galvanizing the supporting cast into stepping up and delivering the knockout punch.
“When one of us had to step up, all of us stepped up,” Bacani said. “We all have different roles and step up in different ways.”
Even with Boettinger on the floor for most of the first half, the Vikings had their hands full with the feisty Fords, who traded punches with Perk Valley the entire half. Junior Rian Dotsey scored 10 first-half points and senior Aniya Eberhart had nine of her own and PV led by just two after one quarter. Even when the Vikings ripped off eight straight second-quarter points to turn a tie game into a 28-20 lead, Haverford responded with five consecutive points of its own to head into halftime trailing just 28-25.
“We defended, got some stops and Dotsey and Eberhart knocked down a couple jumpers,” Haverford head coach Lauren Pellicane said. “Only being down one possession at the half, we were happy with that.”
Then in the third quarter, the game got flipped on its head, but not for the reason anyone might have expected when Boettinger was whistled for her fourth foul and went to the bench for an extended period.
After Bacani opened the scoring with a driving layup, Miley scored on a put-back and a drive to the rim on consecutive possessions. Ashley Wright went 1-for-2 at the line to pull Haverford within six, but back-to-back 3s by Lena Stein and Grace Galbavy pushed the lead to 40-28, Perk Valley’s first double-digit lead of the night. Dotsey deposited a put-back, but Galbavy answered with her second triple of the game. Bacani attacked the lane again for another layup, and the Vikings (29-1) closed the tide-turning period with an Anna Stein bucket off a dish from Bacani to give the Vikings a commanding 47-32 advantage.
“It was mostly our energy,” Bacani said of her team’s somewhat sluggish first half. “You could tell Haverford had great energy on the bench and court. We had to bring more intensity; we know it’s there, sometimes it’s just a little slower to come out. We talked about picking up the intensity in the locker room and wanting this more than them. We used each other and what was open, and it worked.”
A shining example of the increased energy came on a loose ball in the Vikings’ offensive zone with 2:27 left in the third. Miley erased what looked like a sure Perk Valley turnover when she crashed into a Haverford player also jockeying for the ball, sending both tumbling to the floor and the ball careening out of bounds, last touched by the Fords. Miley’s unselfish sacrifice to keep possession generated a huge applause from the Perk Valley faithful and was a perfect microcosm of a game-changing third quarter.
“I saw that ball and was like, ‘I want that ball to be ours, I’m getting that ball, we’re getting this possession,'” said Miley, who shot 5-for-8 while adding five rebounds. “I didn’t even think, I just jumped for the ball and we got it. I don’t even remember it, I just knew I was getting that ball.”
“There are not many people like Grace Miley who will dive on the floor and sacrifice her body like that,” added Bacani, who shot 5-for-10. “Her willingness to throw her body on the floor was incredible. That’s why I love our team so much.”
The Vikings used a balanced attack to down Haverford, with six players scoring between eight and 12 points. Besides Bacani and Miley’s dozen, Lena Stein scored 11, Anna Stein had 10 off the bench, Boettinger still managed nine points on 3-for-3 from the field and 3-for-3 from the line despite the foul trouble and Galbavy posted eight of her own.
“It’s what we expect them to do,” Vikings head coach John Russo said. “They all know how important they are, and it’s a really good group of tremendously athletic basketball players that really care about each other and winning. They all stepped up their games in the third quarter and took if to a level we haven’t seen.”
For Haverford (25-5), Dotsey scored a game-high 20 points, and Eberhart poured in 19 in the final game of her career. Natalie Wright (six points) and Ashley Wright (five points) were the only other Fords players to score.
“We had a special season,” Pellicane said. “We made it to the final 16 and had an opportunity. If you’re going to go out, you want to lose to the best team in the state, and that’s what happened tonight.”
The Vikings have a few things to clean up between now and Friday, and Russo said an effort like his team had in the first half can’t happen again against a very talented Cardinal O’Hara squad. At the same time, if Perk Valley plays like it did when its best player was off the court when she’s back on it on Friday, then the Vikings like their chances against any opponent.
“I think we’re all getting excited,” Miley said of advancing to the quarterfinals. “We have to lock in and stay focused, because it’s not guaranteed. Just keep putting in the work to challenge each other while staying excited at the same time.”
“We proved tonight that we’re not just a two-person team,” Bacani added. “It’s a great bunch of players, and everybody contributes in their own way and knows when to step up.”
Perkiomen Valley 64, Haverford 50
Haverford 13 12 7 18 – 50
Perk Valley 15 13 19 17 – 64
Haverford: Eberhart 6 1 4-6 19, Kelly 0 0 0-0 0, A. Wright 2 0 1-2 5, N. Wright 2 0 2-4 6, Dotsey 7 0 6-6 20, Durfee 0 0 0-0 0, Foley 0 0 0-0 0. Totals 17 1 13-18 50
Perk Valley: Bacani 3 2 0-0 12, L. Stein 1 2 3-3 11, Miley 4 1 1-1 12, Boettinger 3 0 3-3 9, Galbavy 0 2 2-2 8, A. Stein 2 1 3-4 10, Smith 1 0 0-0 2. Totals 14 8 12-13 64
