Bears down Spring-Ford
Boyertown maintains place atop Liberty Division with 50-31 win
BOYERTOWN » All season long, Abby Kapp has tried to keep her focus on anything but the Pioneer Athletic Conference standings.
“It’s hard not to look, because they’re right there in front of us,” she said with a laugh. “How can you not look at them and start to speculate?”
If she were to take a glance right now, she’d surely begin speculating ... and likely be smiling.
Kapp and the Boyertown girls basketball team moved a step closer to putting the clamps down on the PAC’s Liberty Division title — Tuesday night’s 5031 win over Spring-Ford yet another tally in the win column to keep pesky Methacton a game back.
With the win, the Bears improve to 8-1 in the PAC’s Liberty Division and 10-1 overall in league play while Methacton — a 55-47 winner over Owen J. Roberts — keeps the pace and sits at 7-2 (10-2 overall).
“We’ve got to keep taking it one game at a time,” Kapp added. “All of this, going after the No. 1 seed and how many games we’ve won, I guess it’s just something that you read about in the paper. It’s a goal and an accomplishment, but for right now, we’re gonna continue to focus on the next game.”
That next game lies Friday night against Norristown (0-9 PAC Liberty, 2-10 overall) to put an end to both teams’ runs in conference play.
Spring-Ford drops to 5-4 in the Liberty Division and 8-4 overall in the conference, now elbowing back and forth with Perkiomen Valley for the No. 4 seed. The Rams will face OJR Thursday night before Perk Valley squares up with Methacton on Friday.
The Rams’ full-court press early on proved to be nothing more than a speed bump for the Bears Tuesday night. Boyertown consistently passed its way up the floor before settling it down and controlling the possession and the tempo.
“They’re patient on offense,” said Spring-Ford head coach Mickey McDaniel. “They continue to look for that right shot, the open shot, the good shot. They do a really good job with that. We needed to get them off that tempo with some defense.”
The Bears ended the first half on a five-point run, then channeled that into an 18-4 run deep into the third quarter to give Boyertown a 31-16 lead.
Kapp scored a gamehigh 18 points, including three 3-pointers, to go along with 14 rebounds. Katie Armstrong knocked down a pair of 3-pointers during the third quarter en route to 10 points as the Bears finished a collective 6-for-10 from 3-point land and 8-for-11 from the freethrow line.
Junior guard Tori Boalton locked down SpringFord senior guard Sydney Wagner (16 ppg) and held her to just eight points while Kapp and the Boyertown bigs kept Maddie Haney quiet in the paint where she finished with seven points and six rebounds.
“We switched up our matchups and the way we covered some people tonight,” said Boyertown head coach Jason Bieber. “The girls did a really good job of executing defensively. We never really let them (Spring-Ford) get set up with what they wanted to do on offense.”
No that anyone is looking, but Boyertown hasn’t lost a conference game since the turn of the New Year. That momentum should go a long way as the Bears could soon be eyeing up their chance at a second consecutive PAC title.
Grandest Stage
Spring-Ford’s must-win matchup with Owen J. Roberts will serve as the team’s Senior Night as well as Youth Night as they look to claim a PAC playoff place. Think the pressure is on?
“Securing a spot in the Final Five was one of the team’s goals from the start,” said McDaniel. “It’s right there on the line for us Thursday night.”
Higgins, Set the Scene
Ali Higgins proved to be a bright spot for SpringFord during the final minutes. The junior guard scored the game’s final three baskets within the final minute en route to six points.
Best Served Cold
The last time Boyertown completed the regular season sweep of SpringFord (2014-2015), the No. 16 seeded Rams got their revenge during the second round of the District 1-AAAA playoffs. SpringFord upset the top-ranked Bears 45-38 before falling to Abington in the semifinal round to close out their season.
“We could very likely see them again in the PAC playoffs,” said Bieber of SpringFord. “We certainly don’t need to see them again.”