Locked in: Perkiomen Valley locks down Boyertown, locks up 1st PAC-10 title

ROYERSFORD >> The nets stood so still in the first half, it was hard to predict which team was going to cut them down.

Maybe the first one to 30? In the first 16 minutes of the highly-anticipated Pioneer Athletic Conference girls basketball championship game, the top offensive threats for Boyertown and Perkiomen Valley weren’t finding much room to operate. And there wasn’t much offensive fun for their teammates, either.

Neither team’s defense would let the other breathe, which was typical of recent Boyertown-PV battles. The Vikings’ KT Armstrong, the Saint Joseph’s-bound guard who averaged 15.3 points during the regular season, went scoreless the first half. Boyertown’s Abby Kapp, who scored at an 18.2 clip, had five.

It was a football score at halftime – 14-13, Perkiomen Valley. For teams that each averaged 50 points during the regular season (PV 53.0, Boyertown 50), 40 looked like a reach. PV shot 4-for-23 the first half, Boyertown 5-for-16, with eight turnovers.

In a packed Spring-Ford gym Wednesday night, it was Perkiomen Valley’s defense that performed best throughout, and enough points eventually came for the Vikings in a very satisfying 45-25 victory – PV’s first-ever girls PAC-10 basketball championship. It avenged PV’s loss to Boyertown in the PAC-10 final last year, and gave the Vikings a 2-1 series edge this season before both head out to cause havoc in the District 1 Class AAAA tournament (PV as a 2 seed, Boyertown a 5).

It was a joyous scene on the post-game court, as the PV student section spilled out to join the team.

“It’s amazing, the best feeling ever, especially after we lost to them last year,” said beaming PV sophomore forward Megan Jonassen, who came up big-time with a double-double – 12 points, 13 rebounds.

Armstrong ended up with a modest-for-her 12 points, but the senior couldn’t have been happier with this great team accomplishment as the Vikings improved to 22-2.

“It feels amazing,” Armstrong said. “We focus a lot on defense and rebounding, and when we do those things well we usually win. I wasn’t knocking down many shots, but everyone on the team was stepping up.

“I love these guys. For all the seniors it’s really special, something we’ve wanted to do since our freshman year.”

PV’s rebounding is always a big problem for opponents, and again that was the case in the title game. The Vikings out-boarded the Bears 39-22. Taylor Hamm grabbed 11 and Hanan Richmond six in support of Jonassen. PV hit the offensive glass for 11 caroms to Boyertown’s four.

Richmond, an excellent force in transition, had 12 points to join Jonassen and Armstrong for scoring honors. Ashley Bangert contributed five big points off the bench in the second quarter. Armstrong blocked four shots.

The origin of the PV win came in the way the Vikings practiced defense this week, executing coach Jon Strawoet’s game plan exceptionally well, and Strawoet said assistants Lee Terry and Kelly Sorber deserved a lot of credit as well.

“We worked and worked and worked on our strategy,” Strawoet said, commending his players’ attention and effort in practice, “and all we had to do was come out and execute, and we did. We executed exactly what we wanted to do defensively. It was a total team effort not just in the game tonight, but from the standpoint of everybody helping prepare us.”

PV played man defense – Armstrong usually guarding Kapp – but had help waiting all over and velcroed virtually every ballhandler and cutter, shutting off driving lanes and making the Bears take either contested shots or too many outside attempts. The Bears ended up 10-for-48 from the field (PV was 12-for-44). Kapp finished with 11 points on 4 of 14 from the floor.

“We took a couple of other players and put them in the help position,” Strawoet said. “We weren’t going to let Abby Kapp beat us tonight. We said we’re going to make everybody else shoot the basketball.”

Kapp had to sit for a spell after getting her second foul late in the first quarter. Jonassen, getting her third late in the first half, and Boyertown’s Maria Garofolo also had first-half foul issues.

PV started creating some distance on the scoreboard in the third period, as Armstrong drilled two 3’s. Richmond scored on drives and Hamm and Jonassen owned the glass. Boyertown would score just three points in the quarter and trailed heading into the fourth, 27-16.

“John had a good game plan and they executed it great,” Boyertown coach Jason Bieber said. “And they crashed the boards, got a ton of offensive rebounds, and that eliminated our strength, which is transition offense.”

Consecutive putbacks by Jonassen early in the fourth enabled the Vikings to start setting sail.

“We completely shut them down, kept them off their cuts and knew what we had to do,” Jonassen said. “Even though our shots weren’t falling, our defense carried us through the game.”