Sophomore-led Pottsgrove handles Phoenixville, clinches PAC Frontier championship

POTTSGROVE >> Last season, with a roster composed primarily of freshmen, the Pottsgrove girls’ basketball team took some bumps late in the year — particularly in the postseason — that could be chalked up as learning experiences.

And as the late, great Al McGuire once said, “The best thing about freshmen is that they become sophomores.”

The now-sophomore laden Falcons proved that old adage Friday night, passing their first big test with flying colors in using several scoring runs throughout the contest to build an insurmountable lead, ultimately topping Phoenixville 59-39 to secure the Pioneer Athletic Conference Frontier Division crown for 2019.

Riley Simon led the way for the victorious Falcons with 18 points, while Sierra Potts chipped in another 14.

“Very early in the season, we laid out everything as a team as far as what we wanted to accomplish,” said Pottsgrove head coach Mike Brendlinger. “One of our goals was winning the Frontier Division.

“But after that, I haven’t really mentioned it. I’m sure the girls knew what was on the line, but as coaches we just focused on each game.”

Eight of the 10 players who suited up for Pottsgrove Friday night are sophomores, so while the team is quite young on paper, they enjoy the advantages of familiarity, having played with one another for years through middle school and for many of them, last year on varsity.

“This division championship, it means a lot to us as such a young team,” added Riley Simon, one of the eight sophomores. “Last year, we didn’t even make the [league playoff tournament]. We can only go up from here.”

With the victory, Pottsgrove reached 9-1 in the Frontier (13-3 PAC, 17-4 overall) to win a tiebreaker (overall PAC record) over Pope John Paul II (9-1, 10-5, 13-8) to secure the No. 2 seed in next week’s PAC Final Six. No. 1 seed and host Spring-Ford sits atop the bracket, while Methacton, Owen J. Roberts, Pope John Paul II, and Phoenixville round out the field.

After tomorrow’s nonleague tilt with Great Valley, Pottsgrove will enjoy a week off before they take the court next Saturday in a semifinal against one of Methacton, OJR or PJP.

From that point on, every contest — whether in the league tournament, districts, or even states to follow — will be played in a win-or-go-home, championship format. The Falcons have been preparing for the past two seasons.

“We put in plenty of work over the summer,” said Simon. “Practices have been more intense, we’ve had to overcome a few injuries—generally, I just think we’re more prepared, we know what to expect this time.”

“The league’s pretty top heavy,” added Brendlinger. “In the Liberty Division, you’ve got Spring-Ford, Methacton and Owen J. Roberts, all very solid teams, plus Pope John Paul II and Phoenixville from our side.

“But our girls put the work in. We’ve shown over the course of this season what we can do. I think we’re ready for it.”

The Falcons built their early lead on a 10-0 run to end the first quarter, and survived Phoenixville’s resurgent second stanza with a 9-0 run spearheaded by Sierra Potts canning a corner 3, then getting three the old-fashioned way on a hard drive to the basket.

Meanwhile, Ameerah Green kept the Phantoms within striking distance, scoring 11 of her game-high 26 points in the first half, three of them on a step-back jumper from deep that briefly brought the Phantoms within single digits.

“She’s one of the fastest players I’ve seen this year with the ball this year,” said Phoenixville coach Mike Behnke. “As we saw tonight, she really gets up and down the court in a hurry.”

After the break, another Pottsgrove flurry — this time, an 11-0 tear — essentially put the game out of reach. The Falcons showed the ability to play with a lead as well, using precision ball movement and cuts to run 90 seconds off the clock on one possession before drawing a two-shot foul, which Sydney Mowery converted.

“That’s all the girls — as Riley said, we put the time in,” said Brendlinger. “We were in two summer leagues, went to some camps. These girls have worked hard, they’ve learned, and none of these situations are new to them anymore.”

By the time Rachel Ludwig beat the buzzer with a corner three, the Pottsgrove advantage had grown to 23, and the Falcons were well on their way to sealing a division title.

For the Phantoms (12-10, 8-8 PAC, 6-4 PAC Frontier), they’ll enter next week’s Final Six as the underdog, starting off Thursday evening with either Methacton or Owen J. Roberts.

“We need to take better shots than we did tonight,” said Behnke. “It’s back to the drawing board—we know what our high-percentage shots are, and we need to make the necessary plays to get those shots.”