PAC Girls Basketball Championship Preview: Perkiomen Valley vs. Spring-Ford
From No. 5 to No. 5. That’s the plan for the Spring-Ford girls basketball team as the No. 5 seed in the Pioneer Athletic Conference tournament looks to make it five straight conference championships Wednesday night.
Upstart Perkiomen Valley, the No. 3 seed, stands in the way with their own championship-chasing dreams.
The neighboring Liberty Division rivals meet at 7 p.m. at Spring-Ford.
A breakdown of Wednesday’s championship game:
Spring-Ford (5) vs. Perkiomen Valley (3)
Records >> Spring-Ford: 7-3 PAC Liberty, 10-3 PAC, 18-5 overall, No. 11 seed in District 1-6A tournament; Perkiomen Valley: 8-2 PAC Liberty, 11-2 PAC, 19-4 overall, No. 7 seed in District 1-6A tournament
Road to the final >> Spring-Ford overwhelmed No. 4 seed Upper Perkiomen 66-47 in the opening round – it led 42-10 at half – with sophomore point guard Anna Azzara’s 20 points leading the way. In the semifinals the four-time reigning PAC champions denied rival and No. 1 seed Methacton with a sizzling shooting performance in the first half that led to a 49-33 win. Sophomore Katie Tiffan scored a team-high 12 points and classmate Mac Pettinelli had 11 points and seven steals. … In the opening round on Feb. 10, Perkiomen Valley trailed Owen J. Roberts at halftime but got a lift from senior Jen Beattie (23 points) in the third quarter and pushed on for a 51-42 victory. The Vikings dominated No. 2 Pope John Paul II from start to finish in a 55-20 victory in the semifinals last Saturday.
Head-to-head >> The Rams and Vikings split their regular-season meetings. On Jan. 18, Spring-Ford led the entire way in a 54-39 win. PV got payback and broke an eight-game losing streak to its neighbors with a 55-48 victory on Jan. 24. Senior Emma Miley had a season-high 20 points and classmate Jen Beattie netted 18 to earn the first win of their varsity careers over S-F.
Playoff history >> Spring-Ford are 10-time PAC champions and the winners of the last four titles in a row. The Rams won the pandemic-altered 2020-21 title by going 14-0 in the league season and defeated Methacton in the previous two playoff finals. … This season is PV’s first trip to the PAC playoffs since 2017-18 when it was a finalist, falling to Spring-Ford. Perk Valley won its lone PAC championship in 2015-16. It also made the final in 2007-08 (61-51 loss to Spring-Ford). … In the 2017-18 title game, Spring-Ford won 54-45, then-freshmen Lucy Olsen (Villanova) scored a team-best 13 points to deny the Vikings and standout senior forwards Megan Jonassen (Fordham) and Taylor Hamm (University of Sciences).
On Perkiomen Valley >> Since their aforementioned last trip to the PAC final in 2017-18 it had been a middling few seasons for the Vikings: 8-14, 8-14 and 8-7 in the past three seasons. That makes PV’s rise in head coach John Russo’s second season to 19-4, the seventh seed in the District 1-6A playoffs and a PAC finalist all the more notable. For senior three-year starters Jen Beattie and Emma Miley, they have been a strong foundation boosted now the cavalry has come. Sharpshooting Beattie is averaging a team-best 13.6 points per game and a PAC-best 57 3-pointers while Miley (9.7 ppg) is a slasher who does a bit of everything on the floor. The cavalry comes in the form of a freshmen class that has altered PV’s trajectory to top of the PAC. Freshman 6-2 center Quinn Boettinger averages 10.4 ppg and Grace Miley, a hard-nosed (literally for the protective face shield she wears) wing, who averages 7.5 ppg. The starting lineup is rounded out by the rotating rookie cast of Bella Bacani, Julia Smith or Lena Stein. Bacani impressed in the opening round win against OJR while Smith did the same while starting the semifinal. Whoever doesn’t get the nod are first off the bench along with junior Ella Stein.
On Spring-Ford >> The four-time defending PAC champions are coming on at the business end of the season, currently riding a four-game winning streak where they’ve been dominant in all four, including last outing against a top-seeded Methacton team that defeated them twice in the regular season. The Rams have been lethal from 3-point range with five players capable of knocking them down but arguably most pleasing in the semifinals was the defensive performance to allow a Warriors team averaging 57.6 per game to only 33, including just three in the fourth quarter. Sophomore point guard Anna Azzara (15.0 ppg) showed her two-way ability by making life tough on Methacton standout Nicole Timko. The reliable ballhandler and consistent scorer leads the Rams’ shining sophomore class that hasn’t let the program drop a level after graduating four starters from last year’s PIAA runner-up. The sophomore starting group also features the unflappable Mac Pettinelli (8.0 ppg), emerging Katie Tiffan (7.5 ppg) and 3-point threat Siena Miller (6.3 ppg). Lone senior Kamryn Pufko rounds out the starting lineup while junior center Meg Robbins and sophomore guard Aaliyah Solliday are first off the bench.
Matchup and prediction >> There are a fair amount of similarities between the Vikings and Rams: both entered the year with optimistic but uncertain ceilings, are playing their best basketball at the right time, have balanced scoring with a good blend of inside-outside options and a reliance on talented underclassmen. Experience doesn’t tip the scale in one direction. PV’s Beattie and Miley are the senior standouts but you could argue Azzara and Pettinelli, both crunch time players of S-F’s District 1 and PIAA finals team, own the most significant big-game varsity experience. The Rams are the better shooting team overall and impressed with their defensive preparedness against Methacton. But PV may get the nod defensively – it allowed a PAC-low 35.3 points per game – with an athletic group that is willing to be scrappy. Freshman Boettinger, the 6-2 center, has been an X-factor for PV against undersized teams, something Spring-Ford is in its starting five. That means 6-2 junior center Robbins may be seeing crucial minutes to balance the tables. Emma Miley and Beattie combining for 38 points in PV’s regular season win feels like a template for success Wednesday – the Vikings will need excellent nights from their three-year starters. The Vikings already defeating the Rams on their home floor will give them plenty of confidence. But there’s something about the Spring-Ford girls basketball team on its home floor in the playoffs – the program has won 14 straight postseason home games (including PACs, districts and states) dating back to March 3, 2018 (District 1 third-place game loss to Garnet Valley), the last season the PAC playoffs weren’t hosted by Spring-Ford. The gym and level of organization at Spring-Ford make it the right place for the PAC’s biggest events – they even have a sound operator cueing up music hits during timeouts. They might be wise to have DJ Khaled’s ‘All I Do Is Win’ ready to play when the home team nabs one for the thumb … Spring-Ford 53, Perkiomen Valley 47.
