Photos: Kathy Leister, Lou Rabito & Colleen Claggett
BY: MARC NARDUCCI
Germantown Friends School enjoying the postseason ride
It has been quite a ride this year for Germantown Friends School, a team that has relied on great senior leadership, not to mention production from the upper classmen.
It has put the Tigers into the semifinals which will take place on Tuesday.
Here are the matchups
(5) Shipley at (1) Westtown
(3) Friends Central at (2) Germantown Friends
Here were the quarterfinal scores
(5) Shipley 38, (4) Academy of the New Church 33
(2) Germantown Friends 51, (7) Abington Friends 34
(3) Friends Central 54, (6) George School 36
(1) Westtown 80, (8) Moorestown Friends 12
Germantown Friends advanced with Friday’s 51-34 quarterfinal win over No. 7 seeded Abington Friends School. Once again, the offense was carried by 6-3 senior Clare Meyer who scored 29 points.
This has truly been a breakthrough season for Germantown Friends.
Friday’s matchup was the first time that Germantown Friends has hosted a Friends League playoff game since 2008.
Meyer has been dominant all season, consistently scoring against defenses that give her plenty of extra attention.
Headed to Dartmouth, she is the school’s first Division I basketball recruit in two decades.
Meyer is part of a tightly knit and successful senior class that has laid the foundation for this team’s success. The Tigers are 19-4 overall and were 7-1 in the regular season in the Friends League to earn the No. 2 seed.
“The senior class has been a special group,” Germantown Friends coach Mike Lintulahti said. “They work super hard and have shown an incredible amount of sacrifice.”
Three seniors are starters. Besides Meyer, they are 6-0 Cadence Kelly, a major two-way threat and 5-9 Martina Kiewek, a true sharpshooter. All three are captains.
Another great senior leader and contributor has been Caroline Rickels. She was the first player off the bench until recently suffering a season-ending ACL injury.
“Caroline brought so much energy to our team,” Lintulahti said. “She was also our best on the ball defender.”
Meyer says the key this season is the seniors’ familiarity with one another.
“This group of people I have known since eighth grade and they are some of my closest friends and the relationships and friendships have been pretty special,” Meyer said.
Of course, it has been more than seniors that have contributed to the Tigers’ success.
Germantown Friends School senior Clare Meyer in game vs. AbingtonFriends School. (photo/Kathy Leister for PSD)
GFS seniors pictured (l to r): Candence Kelly, Martina Kiewek, Clare Meyer, Caroline Rickels. ( photo/Kathy Leister for PSD)
Juniors Caroline Putnam and Ndaia Blakney are the other two starters, while 5-11 freshman Katie Day has been playing serious minutes as well.
It has been Meyer who has helped it all come together.
She didn’t begin playing organized basketball until the beginning of her freshman year. Meyer credits both Germantown Friends and her most recent AAU program, the Philadelphia Roots for her development.
She has a selfless attitude, another sign of her great leadership.
“Clare doesn’t care are about stats,” she just wants to win,” Lintulahti said.
The emotional lift is often provided by Kiewek.
“Martina is the heart and soul of the team in many ways,” Lintulahti said.
Meyer is happy that the Tigers have the one playoff game under their belt against an Abington Friends team that didn’t make things easy.
Sharpshooter Hanna Rhoades led Abington Friends with 16 points.
“That was a talented team, and we needed a total team effort and without everybody working together we would not have made it,” Meyer said. “We are super excited to go to the next round.”
In the regular season
During the first meeting between the two teams, Germantown Friends beat Friends Central School, 41-33. Meyer had 19 points and 12 rebounds and Kiewek added 15 points and six rebounds. Day contributed four points.
Friends Central has been competing without injured 1,000-point scorer Madison Smith. That made the 54-36 quarterfinal win over the George School that much more impressive.
Junior guard Sanaa Garrett had 17 points in the playoff win while 5-9 freshman Jordyn Adderly scored15, with senior Jai Smith adding seven
Westtown keeps rolling
Favored Westtown School had no trouble in an 80-12 quarterfinal win over Moorestown Friends School. The Moose are prohibitive favorites, yet coach Fran Burbridge and his team are taking nothing for granted.
“I have been around long enough to know you have to focus on one thing – the next game,” Burbridge said. “I am happy with our team and how we have been competing.”
Nine different players scored against Moorestown Friends, led by 6-1 senior Rutgers commit Kaylene Smikle, who had 23 points.
One interesting note is that 5-8 freshman Vianna Kanyamiheto-Watson scored 11 points and shot 3 of 6 from three-point range.
Westtown School vs. Moorestown Friends School (photos by Lou Rabito for PSD)
Moorestown Friends senior Roni Kennedy has continued her strong final season. Kennedy had eight points, five rebounds and two steals for the Foxes.
Westtown vs Shipley
Now Westtown moves on to Tuesday’s semifinal against Shipley School.
This is a young Shipley team, which as a No.5 seed defeated No. 4 Academy of the New Church in the first round, 38-33. Shipley was the only lower seeded team to win a first-round game.
Eighth grader Sanai Johnson scored a game-high 18 points.
In the regular season meeting, Westtown beat Shipley 74-32 on Feb. 3.
While Shipley won’t be expected to come close to pulling the upset, this is great experience for a team that has three eighth graders making key contributions.
An almost as young ANC team had another strong showing by 5-4 sophomore Xola Wade, who had 22 points, four assists, four rebounds and three steals. Adrianna Frank, a 5-9 sophomore, added nine points, nine rebounds, two assists and two blocked shots.
The championship game will be held at 6 p.m. Friday (Feb. 18) at La Salle University.
