Spring-Ford nets wire-to-wire victory over Conestoga to reach third D1-6A championship game in four years

BERWYN — With six seniors in its eight-player rotation, Spring-Ford knows time is of the essence. There will be no next season together for most of them, so now-or-never time has arrived at the team’s doorstep.

So, in Wednesday’s District 1-6A semifinal at Conestoga, the sixth-seeded Rams came out sizzling and never took their foot off the accelerator, scoring the game’s first seven points en route to a wire-to-wire 55-41 victory over the No. 2 Pioneers.

After an impressive display of dominance, Spring-Ford found itself in the district title game for the third time in four years and will take on top-seeded nemesis Perkiomen Valley — which has won all three head-to-head contests this season — on Saturday night at Temple University.

The high profile all-PAC matchup is here, and Spring-Ford couldn’t have asked for a better lead-in to the most daunting task it will face all season. The Rams shot a torrid 20-for-34 from the field, including a 15-for-22 mark from inside the three-point arc; they also made 5 of 12 triples and 10 of their 12 foul shots. All told, this veteran, battle-tested team played as such, like one that fully understands its remaining time together is limited.

“There’s a sense of urgency for the seniors’ last year,” said Mac Pettinelli, one of those seniors who tallied eight points, six rebounds and six assists. “Being such a veteran team and playing with each other for so long, there’s a sense of trust within the girls. I’m confident in every single girl on our team to shoot, score and make the good pass.”

Getting to the district championship game three times in four years is not easy. In fact, it’s just the third time this century that a team has accomplished the feat and the first since the Rams did so on three straight occasions from 2012-14. Conversely, Conestoga (23-4) was in the semifinals for the first time in 45 years, so what this Spring-Ford group is pulling off is special. The Rams (23-5) won the championship in 2021 and lost to Plymouth Whitemarsh in 2022 before bowing out in the semis against Perk Valley last season.

“It’s really exciting,” said junior Kareena Preuss, who mixed in 12 points, six rebounds and three assists. “We just want to keep going as long as we can for the seniors. We know that we have pretty much everything to lose.”

The urgency was palpable from the jump, as Anna Azzara scored the game’s first bucket, followed by a Pettinelli basket and an Azzara trey. The Pioneers were down 7-0 before they could even blink, prompting head coach AJ Thompson to call timeout just 3:25 into the game. To its credit, Conestoga rallied and cut the deficit to 11-8 heading into the second quarter, and a Ruth Lanouette three brought the Pioneers within 20-16 midway through the second period.

It was as close as they would get the rest of the way. The lead swelled as high as 11 late in the second before a three-point play from Conestoga’s Ryann Jennings just before the break sent the teams to their locker rooms with Spring-Ford leading 29-22.

Just when it seemed like the home team had some momentum, the Rams started the third quarter the same way they began the game — with seven straight points. Preuss found Azzara for a triple, Pettinelli converted a scoop shot in the lane and Preuss buried a three-pointer off a feed from Pettinelli to give Spring-Ford a 37-22 advantage. The rout was officially on.

“Sharing the ball really helps us a lot,” Pettinelli said. “We built a lead and stuck it out until the end.”

To Pettinelli’s point, the Rams notched assists on 13 of their 20 field goals, and all five starters scored at least seven points; in addition to Preuss’ dozen and Pettinelli’s eight, Azzara led the way with 16, while fellow seniors Aaliyah Solliday (12 points) and Katie Tiffan (seven points) all had big moments.

“I’m really proud of the girls,” Spring-Ford head coach Mickey McDaniel said. “They were challenged in a good way at halftime in what was needed to set the tone for the second half. They came out with that sting, got some stops and scored at the other end. They’re very good at accepting challenges, and that comes down to the character of these players.”

Conestoga was led by Janie Preston’s 16 points, while Jennings added 11 and Lanouette nine. McDaniel heaped praise upon Tiffan’s defensive effort on Jennings, who was coming off consecutive 20-point outings. The Pioneers shot just 2-for-11 from downtown.

“We didn’t knock down shots from the outside like we normally do,” Thompson said. “When we do that, we can stay with really good teams. We knew it was going to be a tough battle for us, and they came out quick. It became an insurmountable hill to climb.”

The final hurdle for the Rams to clear is getting the Perk Valley monkey off their back. Not only have the Vikings won all three of this season’s meetings — they’ve won the last six head-to-head tilts. It will be just the fourth time that two girls basketball teams from the PAC will meet in the District 1 title game, and first since 2001 (also 1986-87). With Spring-Ford tipping off two hours before Perk Valley and North Penn on Wednesday, the Rams didn’t yet know they would be taking on their familiar foe, but all seemed to welcome the hypothetical challenge.

“Yeah, it would be cool to play them again,” Preuss said. “There’s that sense of urgency to get them back for those losses, and our team has everything it needs to do it. We’re going to come ready to play.”

“I understand it’s the [matchup] everyone is pulling for,” McDaniel said. “Whoever we play, we’ll have to be prepared. We’re going to focus on ourselves the next couple of days of practice and continue to get better.”

For Pettinelli’s part, she fully acknowledged that Perk Valley has had her team’s number. But the Vikings have what Spring-Ford doesn’t, and it’s a very clear motivator: time.

“They’re an outstanding team, very well-coached,” she said. “But they’re all junior starters, so they have next year. We don’t, so I think us wanting to see them again is to prove that we’re two evenly-matched groups of girls. Seeing them in the championship game would be very cool.”

Spring-Ford 55, Conestoga 41

Spring-Ford 11 18 14 12 – 55

Conestoga 8 14 6 13 – 41

Spring-Ford: Preuss 4 1 1-2 12, Solliday 2 2 2-2 12, Azzara 4 2 2-2 16, K. Tiffan 1 0 5-6 7, Pettinelli 4 0 0-0 8, Miller 0 0 0-0 0, C. Tiffan 0 0 0-0 0. Totals 15 5 10-12 55

Conestoga: Francione 0 1 2-2 5, K. Valencia 0 0 0-0 0, Jennings 4 0 3-3 11, Preston 7 0 2-3 16, I. Valencia 0 0 0-0 0, Lanouette 3 1 2-2 9, Neary 0 0 0-0 0. Totals 13 2 9-10 41