NORRISTOWN — It was a heartbreaking loss for Garnet Valley, its underdog season coming to a teary end in the PIAA Class 6A girls basketball semifinals Monday at Norristown High.
At the same time, it was a heart-warming victory for Spring-Ford, which scored a 61-42 win to return to the state championship for the first time since 2021, when such seniors as Aaliyah Solliday, who scored 14 points, Anna Azzara and Mac Pettinelli were freshmen. Rams coach Mickey McDaniel remembers the last dance quite well.
“We lost to North Allegheny,” McDaniel said of the last trip to Hershey. “Lucy Olsen’s senior year.”
Olsen left for Villanova with 1,699 points, more than any girl or boy in the history of Spring-Ford High. The Rams (27-6) will get a chance to avenge that outcome against Cardinal O’Hara, which cruised to a 51-32 triumph over Parkland in the other semifinal. The state title game is Friday at 6 p.m. at the Giant Center.
“It is a really big win for us,” Solliday said. “It’s a big accomplishment for us as a team, and we’re really ready for it.”
Final: Spring-Ford 61, Garnet Valley 42, PIAA 6A girls basketball semifinals 🏀
The Rams are going to the state championship game! They’ll opposed Cardinal O’Hara in Friday’s 6 p.m. final at Giant center in Hershey pic.twitter.com/o5CqcZ3dWw
— Austin Hertzog (@AustinHertzog) March 19, 2024
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The Rams put the game away at the free throw line, Solliday doing most of the work. She made 6 of 8 from the line on the night.
After some bumps in the first half, the Rams executed the game plan with precision, Azzara scoring a game-high 19 points.
Haylie Adamski scored 14 points while Kylie Mulholland chipped in 10 for the Jaguars (25-7), who had a storybook season.
“No one thought we would make it here,” Jaguars senior Emily Olsen said. “Just making it here is nothing to overlook or be upset about. I’m just happy to end my high school career on a semifinal state tournament run. Our shots just weren’t falling. We just went cold and we just couldn’t recover after that.”
The Rams got on the board first as Azzara drilled a three-pointer, one of four triples in the first quarter. The game was tied at 13 entering the second frame.
Addison Adamski and her sister Kylie answered with a couple triples of their own and Olsen added a three in the first half to give the Jaguars a 19-18 lead. Olsen’s home run was the last basket of the half for the Jaguars as the Rams rattled off the last six points to take a 24-19 lead into the intermission.
Azzara and Mac Pettinelli had five points apiece in the first half for the Rams. Kylie and Addie Adamski had six points each for the Jaguars.
But the Jaguars went stone cold in the last four minutes of the second quarter and the first two of the second half, as they fell behind by 10 points with 6:05 remaining in the third quarter.
After Olsen’s triple produced the lead in the second quarter, the Jaguars got just baskets by Savannah Saunders and Haylie Adamski while Katie Tiffan scored seven points, Kareena Preuss five to build a 37-23 advantage with 2:31 left in the frame. The Rams outscored the Jaguars, 17-8 in the frame.
The Jaguars didn’t go quietly. Addie Adamski made consecutive three-pointers to get the Jaguars within 47-40 with inside of five minutes remaining but the Rams answered again and again.
The Rams reached the final winning their games by an average of 19.0 points. With McDaniel on the bench, the Rams went to the Final Four in 2012, to a state title in 2013, lost in 2014, and lost in 2021.
Spring-Ford 61, Garnet Valley 42
Spring-Ford 13 11 17 20 – 61
Garnet Valley 13 6 10 13 – 42
Spring-Ford: Anna Azzara 6 0 5-7 17, Aaliyah Solliday 2 2 6-8 16, Katie Tiffan 3 1 0-1 9, Christina Tiffan 0 0 0-0 0, Kareena Preuss 3 1 1-3 10, Mac Pettinelli 2 1 0-0 7, Haley Prophet 1 0 0-0 2.
Garnet Valley: Haylie Adamski 3 3 0-0 15, Addison Adamski 0 3 0-0 9, Kylie Mulholland 0 2 2-4 8, Emily Olsen 0 1 1-2 4, Savannah Saunders 2 0 0-0 4, Kylie Adamski 1 0 0-2 2.
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