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GIRLS BASKETBALL: Comebacks, Standouts and Staying the Course in This Week's Friends League Notebook

By Marc Narducci, 01/28/25, 1:00PM EST

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FSL Girls Basketball Notebook (1/27)

BY MARC NARDUCCI

(PHOTOS BY JUSTIN MALDONADO, KRYSTAL WILLIAMS & ZACK BEAVERS)

Germantown Friends enjoying a comeback season

Last year Germantown Friends was lacking something that most successful teams need – seniors.

Without any seniors, the Tigers took their lumps, but this season they have three seniors along with a strong group of freshmen and appear headed to the postseason for the first time since 2022. That season, the Tigers advanced to the Friends League championship before falling to Westtown.

Among the seniors is second leading scorer Alayah Campbell. The 5-8 Campbell averages 9 points per game. She will attend Amherst and as a track performer will specialize in the high jump. The other seniors are three-sport standout Katie Day and 5-6 Fiona Behan. Day is also a lacrosse and soccer standout. The 5-11 Day also played in the Friends League championship game as a freshman.

Behan, according to coach Michael Lintulahti, has provided great leadership.

“She has grown into a really trusted teammate,” he said.


GFS Senior Alayah Campbell. (Photo by James Quinn)


GFS Senior Katie Day. (Photo by James Quinn)


GFS Senior Fiona Behan. (Photo by James Quinn)

This year the Tigers are 17-4 overall and 4-3 in the Friends League. They will wrap up their Friends League regular season schedule on Tuesday against George School.

The five freshmen, many who earned valuable playing time as eighth graders, have made a major impact, none bigger than 5-7 Taylor Linton.

This season Linton is averaging a team-high 15 points per game and also leads the Tigers in steals. She has been a combo guard and has been very effective whatever position she plays.

“She is an excellent athlete, strong and explosive and gets to the basket, makes threes and is good in transition,” Lintulahti said.

Another key freshman is Jojo Lintulahti, daughter of the coach, who averages six points, two rebounds and three steals. Classmate Samantha Sims-Pettiford, is a high-energy defender who at 5-7 is strong finishing around the basket.

Another freshman coming on is 6-0 Cianna Cyrus, who has been seeing more minutes as the season has progressed. The fifth freshman is 5-6 London Rothmiller, who has added depth in the backcourt.

The two juniors on the team are 5-6 Sarah Goldberg, who leads the team in assists and Emmie Day, the sister of Katie. This is Emmie’s first year on the team after not playing her first two years. She has committed to Oregon to play lacrosse.

There is only one sophomore on the team, 5-11 Izzy Ritchie, a strong rebounder.

As the record suggests, Germantown Friends has been strong in non-league games. The Tigers earned their first win over Episcopal Academy for the first time since 2003.

“The seniors went through early success and now they have done a wonderful job re-positioning the program,” Lintulahti said.

Big non-league win for Barrack Hebrew Academy

Earlier in the week Barrack Hebrew Academy enjoyed a 34-29 non-league win over Jenkintown. Juniors Mikayla Trajtenberg and Sami Neff each scored 13 points. In a game where every shot and point mattered, Silvie Herz, Hannah Cohen and Parker Eisenthart each scored two points.

In a Friends League loss to first place Westtown, Neff and Trajtenberg each were double-figure scorers. Neff scored 14 points and Trajtenberg added 10.

Westtown Stays the Course

Westtown began the week with a 63-52 win over Bishop Ireton concluding the Hoops for Harmony Tournament in York, PA.

It was a balanced effort for Westtown as sophomores Jordyn Palmer, Jessie Moses and senior Kennedy Henry each scored 15 points.

Earlier Westtown defeated Wyomissing. Palmer had 17 points while Moses and junior Atlee Vanesko each added 13 points.

In a Friends League win over Barrack Hebrew Academy, freshman Ishana Sundararajan scored a game-high 19 points, while Moses had 17 and senior Vianna Kanyamiheto-Watson scored 12 points.

Vaughn stars for Shipley

Shipley beat Germantown Friends 55-25 and the Gators had some strong all-around performances by a variety of contributors.

Gabrielle ‘Gabby’ Vaughn, a 6-0 junior, had 16 points, five rebounds, two assists and three steals. Melody Vaughn, a 5-10 eighth grader, had 12 points, seven rebounds, three assists and three steals.


Shipley Junior Gabrielle Vaughn. (Photo by Justin Maldonado for PSD)

Eighth grader Giavanna Crosby contributed seven points and three rebounds while 5-10 junior Rikai Williford added six points, four rebounds and four assists. Also scoring six points each were junior guard Tay Laskey and senior guard Mallory Farr.

Improving George School

Even in a recent loss, the young George School team was impressive.

It came when the George School suffered a 68-52 loss to Morris Catholic, which entered the game unbeaten and ranked No. 1 in New Jersey by NJ.com.

Sophomore wing Maya Ravindranathan led the Cougars with 15 points. The other George School double-figure scorers were sophomore wing Zamiya Lowe (12 points) freshman guard Salena Kareem (11) and sophomore forward Olivia Viera (11).

“Our girls did well until the last four minutes of the fourth quarter,” George School coach La’Keisha Sutton said.

It also didn’t help that the Cougars only had seven available players for the game.

During a convincing win over Academy of the New Church, freshman guard Kamryne Stokes led the way with 15 points, while Viera added 12. Lowe had a team-high 15 points in a victory over Friends Select.

 

George School in game vs. Shipley on 1/14. (Video by Justin Maldonado for PSD)

Travis explodes for Friends Select School

Sophomore guard Shiyah Travis exploded for 30 points as Friends Select earned a 45-35 win over visiting Abington Friends. It was the first Friends League win of the season.

“Shiyah has been tough night in and night out,” FSS coach Braheim Wilson said. “Tonight she faced a double team for most of the game and still scored 30 with a high percentage from the field.”

If that wasn’t enough, Travis also had five steals.

The win came on Senior Night at Friends Select.

“I want to highlight my seniors on Senior Night who all played very well, especially on defense,” Wilson said.

The seniors were 5-9 Daphne Klose, 5-10 Nora Colgan and 5-3 point guard Sophia Le.

“Daphne Klose and Nor Colgan battled on the boards all night, while batting foul trouble,” Wilson said.

Sophia Le controlled tempo all night setting the table for Shiyah Travis.


Friends Select Celebrates Senior Night in game vs. Abington Friends. (Photo Krystal Williams for PSD)

Positive thoughts from Abington Friends

Despite the loss to Friends Select, interim Abington Friends coach Che Perry lauded the play of 5-9 junior Ella Hawkins, who scored 15 points and Christine Lahtaw, who scored nine.

“Ella stepped up for us on both ends of the floor,” Perry said. “Christine also gave us a season-high nine points.”

In the end, Abington Friends couldn’t match the depth of Friends Select.

“We just ran out of gas, unfortunately being shorthanded due to injuries,” he said.

Perry also saw promising signs from some young players.

“We got some good minutes out of our eighth grader Baeleigh Battersbee and freshman Nalani James, so there is a lot to look forward to,” Perry said.


Abington Friends School junior Ella Hawkins in game vs George School. (PSD photo by Krystal Williams)

Playoffs set to begin

Believe it or not the playoffs begin this week. In the Friends League, the No 4 team hosts the No. 5 seed this Friday Jan. 31.

The semifinals are Tuesday Feb. 4 with the 4/5 winner visiting the top seed and the second seed hosting the third seed.

The championship will be Friday, Feb. 7 at La Salle University. It will be a doubleheader with the girls’ championship at 6 p.m. and the boys’ at 8.

Tuesday is the final day of the regular season.

Here are the standings among the contenders

Westtown 7-0

Friends Central 7-1

George School. 5-2

Germantown Friends 4-3

Shipley 4-3

Barrack Hebrew Academy 3-4

 

Tuesday’s Schedule

Barrack Hebrew Academy at Shipley

Westtown at Friends Select

Abington Friends at ANC