William Penn Charter School 2021-22 Inter-Ac Champions (photo/Zamani Feelings)
By John Knebels
PHILADELPHIA – Kentucky men and Tennessee women emerged as the lone survivors of March Madness. The Chicago Bulls, Atlanta Braves, and Denver Broncos celebrated professional titles.
Titanic swallowed 11 Oscar Awards, including Best Picture, while Helen Hunt and Jack Nicholson were recognized as Best Actors. Grammy voters dubbed Paula Cole as best new artist. Frasier and The Practice earned Emmy Awards for best picture.
If the current Penn Charter basketball players appear confused, they get a pass. After all, those historic events occurred in 1998, and no one on the Quaker roster was even close to being born.
Something else happened in 1998 – Penn Charter captured the Inter-Academic League girls’ title. Having joined the league for the 1991-92 season, the Quakers had never again seized the Inter-Ac’s top prize. Heading into this season, nothing had changed.
Tuesday afternoon changed all of that.
With junior Aleah Snead, junior Bella Toomey, and freshman Kaylinn Bethea providing most of the bare essentials, the Quakers defeated visiting Episcopal Academy, 63-32, and severed a two-decade-plus streak of vacating the winner’s circle. Their 11-1 finish came close to emulating the 1998 squad’s 7-0 perfection.
“We didn’t want to share this,” said Penn Charter coach Joe Maguire, whose Quakers are 28-4 in the Inter-Ac over the past three seasons. “We didn’t want to be co-champs with anybody. We felt like this was our championship. We didn’t want to lose it. We didn’t want to give it to anybody. That was our mentality these last two weeks.
“We wanted this for ourselves. That isn’t very ‘Quakerly’ of us, but that’s what we wanted. We wanted to win this for ourselves.”
Leading 28-22 at halftime, the Quakers competed flawlessly the rest of the way. A 19-6 third quarter negated any need for late heroics. When the lead reached 25, Maguire enjoyed a rare opportunity to afford his starters a much-deserved special departure, allowing teammates to celebrate their exit with hugs and high fives serenaded by an appreciative standing home crowd that has yet to see a Penn Charter loss in its brand new, expansive gymnasium.
Penn Charter Trio (l to R) Kaylinn Bethea, Aleah Snead & Bella Toomey describe team's journey to the Title. (video/John Knebels for PSD)
Snead, Toomey and Bethea Share their excitement when realizing they weren't even born when last Title was won.( video/John Knebels)
After the buzzer sounded, Penn Charter’s animated on-court celebration eventually turned into boisterous revelry inside the locker room, where Maguire received the customary water bath.
Drenched yet feeling perfectly warm outside the festivities, Maguire talked about how the Quakers had to wait two long weeks to clinch the title following an immense 49-39 victory at Notre Dame Academy on Feb. 1. That had cemented a minimum share of the title, but it wasn’t enough to satisfy the Quakers.
After beating Baldwin and Agnes Irwin, the Quakers were 10-1 with Episcopal standing in the way. A loss there coupled with Notre Dame Academy winning the rest of their games would have divided title glory in half.
While preparing for the regular-season finale, Maguire was able to use the tape of Penn Charter’s first meeting at Episcopal on Jan. 28 as motivation. Episcopal had motored to a 12-1 lead in the first quarter. The Quakers would outscore the Churchwomen by 46-20 for a 47-32 win, but EA had given the Quakers a scare.
“We knew that this wasn’t done until it was done,” said Maguire. “Episcopal is really well coached. They have talented players. If we didn’t play our best, they could beat us.”
Penn Charter vs. Episcopal Academy Highlights by John Knebels:
The Quakers listened. Though they had spurts of carelessness in the first half, the Quakers were nearly flawless over the final 16 minutes. Five different players scored in the third; six provided offense in the fourth.
Snead scored 16 of her points in the first half, finishing with 23 points to go along with 10 rebounds. Toomey amassed nine points and 10 boards. In yet another performance betraying her freshman status, Bethea collected 12 points, five rebounds, four assists, and four steals.
Junior Gracie Shoup, senior Amani Rivers, and freshman Jul Toomey each scored five points. Senior Maddie Shoup corralled six rebounds, three assists, and two steals.
For Episcopal, senior Amanda Purcell scored 10 points while senior Riley Cassidy (six points), junior Gaeli Keffer-Scharpf (five points), and sophomore Natalie Magnotta (five points) grabbed six boards apiece.
Penn Charter Head Coach Joe Maguire said his team was locked-in and wanted to win the Inter-Ac title outright - Video by John Knebels:
“I want to put an emphasis on dedication,” said Toomey. “Every single Saturday at 8:30 in the morning we were all here and all ready to go. We made sure that we were keeping each other accountable.”
Several Quakers pointed to their 60-54 loss at Germantown Academy on Jan. 21 as a day of reckoning. Another defeat over the final six league games would have ruined any realistic plans to establish school history.
Such a disappointment would have been difficult to accept. The previous season, Penn Charter and Notre Dame Academy only had one league loss apiece with three games to play, but Inter-Ac officials had already determined there would be no claim to an official title because of the global pandemic.
Snead, therefore, viewed the rest of Penn Charter’s contests as must-win playoff games.
“Our motto was that the job is never finished,” said Snead. “I think (the loss to GA) lit a fire under us. We came into that game not focused enough. We came back the next day and practice was good that day, and it led up to the Notre Dame game and we got that win.
“I just wanted to win so bad, and that mentality kicked in. Once I get my first shot off, then I’m good.“
Over the past week, Penn Charter alumnae from the 1998 championship squad – Melissa Schuck, Jen Albright, 1,000-point scorers Steph Straup (1,074 career points) and Melissa Knight (1,535, third highest ever) – have either visited the Quakers or been present at games.
Toomey recognized the significance of the alumnae’s visit.
“It was special,” said Toomey. “It’s amazing to see that we now play a part in their lives.”
The alumnae would say the same thing.
Penn Charter Junior Aleah Snead is PhlladelphiaSportsDigest.com's player of the game. Snead finished with a game high of 23 points leading the Quakers to Inter-Ac TItle. (photo by John Knebels for PSD)
PENN CHARTER 2021-22 INTER-AC CHAMPION GALLERY(PHOTOS/CONTRIBUTED BY PENN CHARTER ATHLETICS AND JOHN for PSD)
(Contact John Knebels at Jknebels@gmail.com or on Twitter @johnknebels.)