District 1 Class 6A Girls Basketball: Grace Galbavy, youthful Perkiomen Valley hands Haverford first loss
PHILADELPHIA — Haverford saw its unbeaten season and bid for the District 1 championship in jeopardy and wasn’t going down without a fight. The Fords, on the backs of junior guard Aniya Eberhart and senior forward Caroline Dotsey, closed a nine-point deficit with less than two minutes to play to within a single possession.
Ultimately, No. 2 seed Haverford found it had finally met its match.
Top-seeded Perkiomen Valley dealt the Fords their first loss of the season and captured the district title with a 48-44 victory at Temple University’s Liacouras Center, the second district title for the Vikings’ program.
Haverford had its way against Perk Valley during a preseason scrimmage in November. Needless to say the Vikings are a vastly improved team today.
“It took us a full year to get to what you saw on that court today,” said PV coach John Russo, a Ridley High grad. “Fighting through the schedule that we had – Spring-Ford three times and Souderton, just wars against so many good teams – has steadied them to where they trust each other and they trust my coaching staff. We worked on it together, to get better every day. This isn’t a one-man team, this is about all of the players and a coaching staff that really worked well together to try to keep everybody calm. That was a war today and the kids showed how badly they wanted to win.”
Galbavy and Boettinger were the standouts on offense for the Vikings (27-1). Galbavy scored eight of her 14 points in the third period and Boettinger accumulated 11 of her game-high 16 points in the fourth. Point guard Bella Bacani chipped in with 10 points.
Perkiomen Valley’s uncharacteristic inability to make free throws allowed Haverford to fight back late in the fourth quarter. Dotsey and Eberhart combined for seven straight points to get the Fords within two, 44-42, with 19 seconds to go. After a timeout, Eberhart attempted a shot from mid range, but the ball rimmed out. PV’s Grace Galbavy took a rebound from Rian Dotsey and the Fords were whistled for two infractions: a personal foul and a technical foul issued to senior forward Mollie Carpenter.
Quinn Boettinger, who battled in the low post with Carpenter all game, made four consecutive free throws to extend PV’s lead to 48-42 with nine seconds left. Eberhart made a basket on the other end, but the Fords ran out of time.
“This is tough, but it’s definitely going to motivate us,” said Caroline Dotsey, who scored 17 points on 6 of 13 shooting from the floor. “We know we have it in us, we know what we can do as a team. I think we just have to take this and use it as something to fire us up going forward. The season is not over.”
Haverford (27-1) will host a PIAA Class 6A first-round playoff game Friday against Lebanon (26-2), which is the fifth-place team from District 3.
The Fords held a 9-8 lead after the first quarter, but the Vikings went on a 7-0 run to take a 19-11 advantage early in the second. Haverford answered Perk Valley’s run with one of its own. A 10-2 spurt, capped by baskets from senior guard Sky Newman and Eberhart, pulled the Fords even at 21-21 at halftime.“I thought we played on our heels offensively,” Haverford coach Lauren Pellicane said. “We finally got it going and had a sense of urgency, but unfortunately I think it was too little too late.”
PV’s all-sophomore starting lineup played like veterans. Although the Maine-bound Caroline Dotsey produced, anytime she is held to less than 20 points is a win for the opposition. Galbavy, who is similar in size and skill to Dotsey, and guard Lena Stein both made it difficult for Dotsey to control possession. Dotsey’s best scoring chances came when she played off the ball and cut to the basket.
“They had a great game plan and did a good job on her,” Pellicane said. “We needed other players to step up on the offensive end and we couldn’t just force everything to Caroline. You have to give credit where credit is due. They put the ball in the basket. The third quarter was the difference, I thought. We didn’t get stops and then we were playing from behind the rest of the second half.”
Eberhart was outstanding. She made 7 of 15 attempts from the field for 15 points. Caroline Dotsey and Eberhart teamed up for 13 of Haverford’s 17 made field goals. The rest of the team shot 21 percent (4 of 19).
The sophomore Galbavy was excited to match up with Dotsey, a 1,000-point scorer, knowing how the two possess similar attributes on the floor.
“Dotsey is a tough match up. I got in foul trouble early which you could tell I was not happy about,” said Galbavy, who had six blocked shots. “You just have to play physically against a player like her because she is so tall and so talented and so long. I might have her in athleticism but she can hit shots and she can come off the screens. She does every little thing right, which is something I’m really trying to work on.”
Perk Valley hosts District 1 sixth-placer finisher Red Lion in the opening round of the state tournament Friday.
