Spring-Ford hands Perkiomen Valley first loss of the season
ROYERSFORD >> Perkiomen Valley girls basketball coach John Russo isn’t the first person to have the thought. It’s a sentiment that’s been uttered about Spring-Ford for more than a decade around Pioneer Athletic Conference girls basketball.
“They’re the measuring stick for us,” said the Vikings’ third-year head coach.
Off to a 12-0 start and No. 2 ranking among 6A squads in District 1, Perk Valley has loomed large so far this winter. But Friday night’s visit to five-time reigning PAC champion Spring-Ford was the chance to learn just where Perk Valley presently stacks up.
The Vikings found out the Rams remain the ruler.
Spring-Ford got 18 points from junior guard Anna Azzara and extended its five-point halftime lead throughout the second half on the way to a 56-44 victory over Perkiomen Valley in front of a near-capacity crowd.
It was a highly-anticipated matchup of two teams that reached the PIAA quarterfinals a year ago and return equally strong squads that may end up seeing a lot of each other this season.
“We’re feeling good,” said Azzara. “A lot of talk going into the game, going back and forth. We had to prepare for it in practice and out of practice.”
It was a textbook Rams’ performance with strong 3-point shooting (7 in the game) and discipline on offense, non-stop action on defense, limiting turnovers and poise when leading.
Junior Katie Tiffan added 12 points, Siena Miller hit a pair of 3s for six points, Lilly Brescia gave a spark off the bench and scored seven while Mac Pettinelli scored seven, including a buzzer-beater entering halftime (25-20 lead) and a devastating crossover and 3 late in the third quarter that gave the Rams (4-1 Liberty, 6-1 PAC, 13-2 overall) their first double-digit lead up 39-28 at the 1:11 mark.
Sophomore center Quinn Boettinger starred with 22 points for PV (4-1, 6-1, 12-1).
Despite their ‘measuring stick’ status, Spring-Ford didn’t enter as a juggernaut after two of its last three outings (Jan. 5 at Methacton, Jan. 8 vs. Friends Central), which brought they down to earth following an 11-0 start that included bracket championships at the Nike Tournament in Champions in Arizona and the Viking Invitational in Wilmington, Del.
“After the loss to Methacton, I think a lot of people thought, ‘Oh, PV, they should easily beat us.’ I think we had a lot to prove,” said Pettinelli. “I think it really showed on the court how much we’ve worked since that game.”
PV coach Russo expected a hungry opponent after their recent defeats and it’s exactly what the Vikings got.
“I thought they, coming off of two losses, in their home gym just played tougher and stronger than we did,” said Russo. “If we want to get to the level we want to get to, we have to combat that with the same energy and effort on screen setting, boxing out, pressure on the ball. We weren’t at the same level they were.”
The Rams return four of five starters, Azzara and Pettinelli (both Mercury All-Area first team in 202122), Tiffan and Miller, plus senior center Meg Robbins (6 points), now a starter after being first off the bench a year ago.
The crowd size gave it the feel of a PAC championship game, rather than a mid-January regular season matchup.
The Rams, who were ranked 7th in District 1 entering the day, thrived on the home atmosphere.
“Our energy was there, on and off the court,” said Azzara.
“The bench got us hype. The crowd and our students got us hype. Collectively, we were all in with a positive mindset,” said Pettinelli. “We were all there to win.”
The occasion will be a learning tool for Russo as he ushers along a talented sophomore-heavy team that features two Mercury AllArea first teamers in Boettinger and Grace Galbavy (7 points), who transferred to PV from Upper Perkiomen over the summer. Fellow sophomores Bella Bacani, Julia Smith and Lena Stein round out of the starting five after last year sharing one starting spot between the trio.
“Other than the result, it was a perfect night,” said Russo. “Packed gym, which some of these girls had never seen before. Some of girls that played last year did, but some had never seen an atmosphere like this.
“I tried to warn them. ‘This is going to be a different environment like you may have never seen.’ Every player besides Quinn is in a different role than they were last year and they have to get accustomed to that in big games.”
Galbavy scored on a dribble handoff from Boettinger with a second remaining to close a tense first quarter with PV up 9-8.
Azzara’s jumper to go up 17-16 four minutes into the second quarter was the last time S-F would trail as they grew the lead to five on Pettinelli’s buzzer-beater going into the break.
The lead was at five (3328) at the 3:12 mark of the quarter but the Rams rattled off an 8-0 run to close the third that decided the game.
Spring-Ford’s lead grew as large as 16 after a Tiffan 3 in the fourth while PV could never get the game closer than 10 the rest of the way.
As for Russo’s postgame measurement, the Vikings aren’t so short of the mark.
“Last year I felt like the first time we played them we were further behind than we are right now,” he said. “That’s the positive.”