Perkiomen Valley dominates CB East, returns to District 1 semifinals

GRATERFORD >> When you’re winning as much as Perkiomen Valley’s girls basketball team, even the close calls leave a lasting impression.

En route to last season’s District 1 championship, the Vikings withstood a second-round upset bid from Central Bucks East when the visiting Patriots played PV tight deep into the fourth quarter before Perk Valley held on for a seven-point win.

“I looked through that film two, three times today,” said PV junior forward Quinn Boettinger. “Last year, we started slow, and our shots weren’t falling. We weren’t able to get off to our normal start.”

This time around, the Vikings were wide awake from the opening tip. Grace Galbavy scored all but two of her game-high 16 points after halftime, and Boettinger led the way with 15 points and eight rebounds as Perkiomen Valley punched their ticket back to the District 1-6A semifinals with a wire-to-wire 54-25 win over CB East Friday night.

The Vikings led 8-0 within two minutes and slowly pulled away late in the second quarter, as Boettinger had 13 points to go with a half-dozen rebounds by halftime.

“It’s a new year,” said Boettinger. “Coach (John) Russo knows our strengths, applies them, and has us so well prepared every game.”

Following her breakout sophomore season where Boettinger led the PAC in scoring with 16.4 points per game, most expected the Navy commit to take another leap as a junior.

Perkiomen Valley’s Julia Smith defends against Central Bucks East’s Anna Barry during a District 1-6A quarterfinal on Feb. 23. (Austin Hertzog – MediaNews Group)

And she has – although perhaps not in the fashion expected.

Boettinger’s scoring average this season is 14.4 per game. She doesn’t lead the PAC; in fact she doesn’t even lead the Vikings (that honor goes to fellow junior Galbavy at 16.3 per contest).

“The truth is that it doesn’t matter whether I lead the team in scoring, whether I’m second in scoring – the thing that matters is the scoreboard, the team that’s ahead in scoring,” she said.

In every game against Pennsylvania-based opponents this season, that team has been Perkiomen Valley. The only blemish on their 25-1 record came courtesy of Gill St. Bernard (NJ) during the winter holidays. That bodes well for the remainder of Districts and the upcoming PIAA 6A tournament.

“I was honest with our team,” said CB East coach Liz Potash. “They’re (Perkiomen Valley) a team that very well could win the state championship. I give them all the credit for what they’re able to do.”

In exchange for sacrificing a portion of her statistics, Boettinger says she’s learning to choose her spots — when to delegate, when to dominate.

“If I’m able to draw a double team, I can kick to an open shooter,” she said. “If I’m able to dominate early, it opens things up in the second half.

“I’m able to impact the game whether I score thirty points or zero.”

Friday night, Boettinger was in dominating mode literally from the opening tip, which she won with authority to Grace Miley, who quickly repaid the favor for the first of Boettinger’s five first-half field goals just 13 seconds into the game.

Meanwhile, the Vikings employed quick double teams in the backcourt, making CB East work to get into their offense. Jess Lockwood connected twice from deep, but the Patriots struggled otherwise as PV built a 32-15 halftime lead.

Perkiomen Valley’s Grace Galbavy steals the ball against Central Bucks East during a District 1-6A quarterfinal on Feb. 23. (Austin Hertzog – MediaNews Group)

As if PV wasn’t strong enough, Galbavy caught fire after halftime with five third-quarter baskets as PV stretched their lead as large as 33 points at the beginning of the fourth quarter. The highlight was Boettinger hitting Galbavy on an outlet pass for a breakaway layup.

“I’ve always been the outlet-first type of player,” said Boettinger. “Why try to dribble up court when my teammate is wide open?”

Shortly thereafter came CB East’s highlight, as senior guard Anna Barry canned a free throw with just over six minutes to play, recording her 1,000th career point.

The game stopped for a full minute as both teams and the fans in attendance recognized Barry with a brief on-court celebration that underscored her importance to the CB East program.

“I’m really grateful for all the support I received tonight, and throughout these past few years,” said Barry. “This is a big milestone, and I’m glad it happened tonight so we can focus as a team going forward.”

Central Bucks East’s Anna Barry is congratulated by her team after reaching 1,000 career points against Perkiomen Valley on Feb. 23. (Austin Hertzog – MediaNews Group)

“We were preparing for this milestone the past couple weeks,” said Potash, “and I realized how I can’t even imagine the idea of not having Anna here next year.

“I’ve been here for 11 years now, and players come along and do special things. I’m sure we’ll figure it out, but for now I can’t imagine this team without her.”

Luckily, it’s not an immediate concern. CB East dropped to 18-6 on the season but will travel again on Wednesday to play the loser of Saturday’s Haverford/North Penn contest. The Patriots have clinched their spot in the PIAA 6A tournament and will enter states anywhere from the fifth to eighth seed from District 1, which sends a dozen representatives to the 32-team field.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday night the No. 1 seeded Vikings (25-1) will return to the court to host the winner of that game between No. 4 Haverford and No. 5 North Penn. Haverford would present a rematch of last season’s District title game, won by Perkiomen Valley 48-44.

The opponent may be in question, but Boettinger said one thing’s for sure.

“We’ll be prepared.”

Perkiomen Valley’s Grace Galbavy steals the ball against Central Bucks East during a District 1-6A quarterfinal on Feb. 23. (Austin Hertzog – MediaNews Group)

BOX SCORE

Central Bucks East   —   6   9   4   6   —    25

Perkiomen Valley   —   14   18   16   6   —   54

Central Bucks East: Lockwood 1 2 0-0 8, Berndt 1 1 0-0 5, Van Dongeren 2 0-0 4, Barry 0 4-6 4, Ralph 0 0-0 0, Moran 0 1-2 1, Penecale 0 0-0 0, Hayes 0 0-0 0, Metz 0 1 0-0 3, Barno 0 0-0 0. Totals 4 4 5-8 25.

Perkiomen Valley: Bacani 4 1-1 9, Smith 3 0-0 6, L. Stein 0 2-2 2, Galbavy 7 2-2 16, Boettinger 6 3-3 15, A. Stein 1 2-2 4, Miley 1 0-0 2, Fowler 0 0-0 0, Nemic 0 0-0 0, Taylor 0 0-0 0. Totals 22 10-10 54.