Garnet Valley scores early and often en route to first district title

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PHILADELPHIA — Garnet Valley coach Joe Woods likes to remind his players that fast starts are very important.

The cliche is you can’t win a game in the first quarter, but you sure can lose it.

Garnet Valley’s Brianne Borcky scores in the fourth quarter as the Jaguars pull away from Neshaminy Saturday in the District 1 Class 6A final. Borcky scored 16 points in the Jaguars’ 63-53 win at Temple’s Liacouras Center Saturday. (Pete Bannan/Digital First Media)

“Our only loss this year, to Villa Maria, was a Saturday afternoon after a Friday night game and we weren’t ready to play. We got down 11-0 and we lost by 11,” Woods said Saturday. “So, I’ve been preaching all year: you lose games in the first quarter, are you going to let it happen? Good teams are going to jump you. We want to jump teams.”

The Jaguars won the program’s first District 1 championship Saturday at Temple University’s Liacouras Center, 63-53, over Neshaminy. Twenty of the first 23 points were scored by Garnet Valley.

That’s how you start a game.

“It’s what we’ve been looking for all season, and pretty much the whole four years here,” senior forward Emily McAteer said.

Senior guard Jill Nagy said there’s more to come. They aren’t satisfied with a Class 6A district title. They have their sights set on states.

“It’s unreal,” she said.  “But we’re not done yet.”

This game had the makings of a blowout. A laugher. A real snoozefest.

Top-seeded Garnet Valley led the entire way and dominated most of the time, especially at the beginning. How about nine straight points to begin the night? How about an 8-for-12 shooting performance in the first quarter? And how about McAteer getting seven points and senior Brianne Borcky dishing three assists in the opening eight minutes?

The Jags came out ready to roll and were on top  of their game.

For almost two quarters, the opponent, No. 2 Neshaminy, resembled a wandering extra from an episode of the Walking Dead. The Indians shot a woeful 1-for-15 from the field before Olivia Scotti made a layup with 4:55 left in the second period to cut GV’s lead to 20-5.

To Neshaminy’s credit, it would eventually kick off the dust and make things semi-interesting. Because – cliche alert – basketball is a game of runs.

PHOTO GALLERY: Neshaminy vs. Garnet Valley

“And now it’s a game of momentum and things happen,” Woods said. “I know they were going to come back, I was expecting it. They’re a great team with great shooters.”

But overcoming such a large deficit to a team with as much talent and experience as Garnet Valley (26-1) was a steep hill to climb.

“They needed to get their energy, which they did, and we had the momentum in the beginning of the game,” Borcky said.

Garnet Valley’s Emily McAteer, right, defends in the final minutes of the fourth quarter against Neshaminy for the District 1 Class 6A final at Liacouras Center Saturday afternoon. (Pete Bannan/Digital First Media)

“It helped us a lot, putting our foot down and telling them that we’re here to play,” Nagy added.

By the start of the second quarter, Garnet Valley’s best players  – McAteer and Borcky, who are both 1,000-point scorers – were chilling out on the bench, watching as reserve players such as forward Liesl Dentinger and guards Kendall DiCamillo and Abbey Anderson contributed. Dentinger had four points, Anderson made a 3-pointer and DiCamillo played solid defense. Anderson’s trey ended a 9-0 Neshaminy run as Garnet Valley went into halftime ahead 23-15.

“Our half-court defense was phenomenal, we just have to take care of the basketball. That’s what I told them at halftime,” Woods said. “Are we going to beat them by 25 or 30? Probably not. We were getting tired, too. That’s a big court.”

GV’s biggest issue was the turnover. The Jags had 10 of them at halftime and added a few more in the third quarter. This allowed Neshaminy’s Brooke Mullen, Alexa McCoy and Kristin Curley to run the floor and score in transition. Emily Tantala, who had a team-high 15 points off the bench, made a basket to pull Neshaminy within three points late in the third.

But the Jags leaned on their great players, McAteer and Borcky, to pull away once and for all. The dynamic duo for the last four years at Garnet Valley combined to score 30 of the team’s 40 points in the second half. The Jaguars iced the win at the charity stripe, shooting 13-for-14 in the final eight minutes. The Jags were so good with their shooting that even a poke to the eye couldn’t get them to miss. Nagy lost a contact after getting whacked but still calmly swished two freebies in the fourth quarter.

“I got poked in the eye and I was running down the court like, ah, I can’t see,” Nagy said, laughing about it with McAteer and Borcky.

McAteer led all players with 27 points on 8-for-11 shooting. She scored 10 in the fourth quarter and was 8-for-8 at the line. Borcky was excellent, as well. She set up the Jags’ first two bucks of the game, both to McAteer, and played her usual effective all-around game. The most athletic player on the court, Borcky added 16 points, seven rebounds and four assists.

“I just relied on my teammates,” Borcky said, “and whatever they needed me to do, I did.”

Fellow senior starters Madi McKee (six rebounds) and Morgan Falcone (two points, assist, steal) also factored into the victory. Garnet Valley is four wins away from a PIAA Class 6A title. It’s a daunting task, but the Jaguars are prepared to go as far as possible.

“We have real good energy going into states,” Borcky said.

Said Nagy: “I feel like, if we’re ever going to do it, it’s right now.”

 

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Matt Smith

Matt Smith
Matt Smith is a sports writer with the Delaware County Daily Times. To contact him, email msmith@delcotimes.com or follow him on Twitter @DTMattSmith.

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