Spring-Ford overwhelms Methacton in PAC championship rematch, 49-32

ROYERSFORD >> Everyone knows you can’t take too much from December basketball. Teams have only had a couple weeks to come together.

But the Spring-Ford girls basketball team would be doing itself a disservice to not be encouraged by their performance Thursday night.

In a rematch of last year’s Pioneer Athletic Conference championship game, Spring-Ford used a dominant first quarter on both ends to open a 13-point lead, an advantage they would never surrender in a 49-32 victory over Methacton on their home floor.

Final: Spring-Ford 49, Methacton 32, PAC girls basketball. Lucy Olsen with 20 as Rams use huge first quarter to cruise in rematch of last year PAC final pic.twitter.com/evxZZKtY1F

— Austin Hertzog (@AustinHertzog) December 13, 2019

In handing Methacton (1-1 PAC, 3-1 overall) its first loss, Spring-Ford improved to 2-0 and has the look of a team set on improving on a year ago when it won a second straight PAC championship and reached the PIAA second round.

“I didn’t think we would start the season slower,” said junior guard Emily Tiffan, “but I think we’ve started the season at a really high pace, which is good. I think we can keep building on that.”

Junior guard Lucy Olsen, last year’s Mercury All-Area Player of the Year, scored 15 of her game-high 20 points in the first half while Tiffan added 12.

Tiffan, an All-Area second team selection last year, looks to have grown in a few ways: she’s taller, listed at 5-9 on Spring-Ford’s roster; looks physically stronger than as a sophomore; and she is showing greater confidence on the offensive end.

“I feel like last year I definitely didn’t shoot as much as I knew I could. This year I’m looking more for my open shot, or to create something or drive,” Tiffan said. “Whenever I start the game I want to try to go to the basket. If I make one basket I can hopefully get on a roll.”

Tiffan was already considered the Rams’ stopper on defense. The extra size and strength is only a bad thing for opposing players.

“It helps especially on defense. I can guard guards and have the same pace as them, or I can guard bigs and body them,” she said. “On offense too, I’m able to drive baseline.”

Senior Skylar Sullivan added seven points for Spring-Ford while junior forward Hailey Hudak (four points), a first-year starter, provided a valuable presence in the paint, which was effectively off-limits all night for the Warriors.

Senior Sydney Tornetta and freshman Cassidy Kropp scored eight points each to lead Methacton, which is no pushover considering it returns four of five starters from a team that reached the PIAA tournament in 2018-19.

But the Warriors were overwhelmed by the Rams’ defensive pressure in the early going, Olsen and senior Gabs Alessandroni got the best of the matchup with Warriors’ sophomore sharpshooter Nicole Timko (4 points), and gave away too many turnovers (23 to Spring-Ford’s 7).

“We knew it was going to be tough playing here, and they were going to be hungry to prove the point that they are the best and are still going to be the best this season,” said Methacton coach Craig Kaminski. “I had hoped we would have been a little more competitive with them.”

If nothing else, the loss will serve as an early measuring stick for the Warriors.

“With this team returning four of the five starters and losing to Spring-Ford three times last year and playing them in the championship, their mindset is to win the PAC this year,” Kaminski said. “They know they have to beat a lot of other good teams in the PAC aside from Spring-Ford, too. They will take away from this that we have to be better and extremely ready when we play them next time at our place (Jan. 16).”

Spring-Ford caught fire in the latter half of the first quarter, turning an 11-7 lead into a 23-10 lead on a Alessandroni 3-pointer and Olsen pull-up jumper (11 first quarter points).

“I thought we did really well as a team. We played really good defense, stopping them on drives and 3s,” Tiffan said. “Our goal was to come out and start really hard and build a big lead in the beginning, create a big gap.”

Though the Rams cooled offensively, they allowed the Warriors only four second-quarter points, building to a 32-14 halftime lead.

Spring-Ford grew its lead to 21 on a couple occasions and rolled on to the 17-point win in the second half.

“They’re one of the best teams in the league, one of the best in the district and one of the best in the whole state,” Kaminski said. “To beat them, you’ve got to be clicking on all cylinders.”

NOTES >> Methacton had a slight rebounding advantage, 27-26. … Spring-Ford visits Pope John Paul II Saturday, hosts Boyertown on Tuesday, Dec. 17, a day before departing for a three-game run at the KSA Classic in Orlando, Fla.; Methacton travels to Great Valley Saturday for a non-league matchup.