Photos/Videos: Zack Beavers, Justin Maldonado, Lennie Malmgren, James Quinn & Krystal Williams
By: Marc Narducci
Once again Westtown has earned the No. 1 seed in the Friends League playoffs. The Moose are the four-time defending champion, and were the only team to go unbeaten this season in Friends League play.
Westtown sophomore Jordyn Palmer #20 - PSD Photo by Zack Beavers
In gearing up for the postseason, Westtown earned a 76-38 win over Perkiomen Valley in the Play By Play Classics at Jefferson University.
Westtown was led by its outstanding sophomore duo of forward Jordyn Palmer, who scored 27 points and guard Jessie Moses, who added 14.
Atlee Vanesko, a 5-11 junior, scored 12 points, while senior Kennedy Henry added seven points.
Westtown finished its unbeaten 8-0 Friends League regular season with a 94-27 win over Friends Select.
No. 4 seeded Shipley punched its ticket to the semifinals with Friday’s 50-39 victory over No. 5 Germantown Friends. It was a balanced scoring attack with four players scoring between nine and 13 points.
In the Friends League, the No. 4 and No. 5 seed play for the right to advance to the semifinal.
Melody Vaughn, a 5-10 eighth grader, led a balanced attack with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Junior wing Gabby Vaughn had 10 points. Rikai Williford, a 5-10 junior, contributed nine points, seven rebounds and four steals, with freshman Cidney Stanfield scoring nine points.
Shipley prepared for the playoffs with a 60-52 non-league win over the Hill School. Melody Vaughn had 22 points and five steals while Gabby Vaughn added 20 points, seven rebounds, three assists and two steals. Stanfield had a team-high 14 rebounds.
During the weekend, Friends' Central played in the Mecca showcase held in the Bronx.
The Phoenix lost by 52-47 to nationally ranked Winston Salem Christian National, North Carolina and then earned a 64-46 win over North Carolina Good Better Best.
In the victory, 5-8 Nal’la Bennett scored 30 points and made nine threes. That improved FCS’s record to 20-8.
“It’s always good playing good competitive high-level competition,” FCS coach Vinny Simpson said. “It is always good to play hard, tough games that will prepare us for the playoffs.”
Now it is on to the playoffs with Tuesday’s home semifinal against George School. On Jan. 10, Friends' Central beat George School, 50-40.
George School had a memorable Friends League regular season finale with a 39-37 victory over Germantown Friends.
Freshman Kam Stokes hit the game-winner at the buzzer.
“She is my fearless freshman,” George School coach La’Keisha Sutton said. Maya Ravindranathan led the winning Cougars with 16 points while Zamiya Lowe added 10 points.
Now it is on to face Friends' Central in Tuesday’s Friends League semifinal. George School was very competitive in a 50-40 regular season loss to Friends' Central.
“Friends' Central is a game we always look forward to playing because they are an experienced team,” Sutton said. “The key will be who can play the smartest and hardest. Our emphasis leading into the game is discipline and execution.”
As the highest seeded team in the Quaker Cup for teams that didn’t qualify for the Friends League championship, Barrack Hebrew Academy still has much to play for.
This is an improved team in its second season in the Friends League and now the Cougars will host Abington Friends in Wednesday’s semifinal.
“The key to our game verse Abington Friends is to be aggressive on defense and set the tempo for the game from the start,” coach Sasha Birosik said. “We have some great leaders and need to continue to get our whole team involved.”
In preparation for the tournament, Barrack earned a 52-45 win over Baldwin. The Cougars were paced by their two main offensive threats, junior Mikayla Trajtenberg, who scored 24 points and classmate Sami Neff (23).
In its Friends League regular season finale, Abington Friends suffered a 59-24 loss to Academy of the New Church, but the Kangaroos got strong performances from junior Ella Hawkins, who had 11 points and eighth grader Baeleigh Battersbee, who had seven points.
Now it’s on to Quaker Cup and a first-round meeting with Barrack Hebrew Academy.
“We have to match the intensity, and we have to contain No. 20 (Mikayla Trajtenberg) as much as possible,” Abington Friends interim coach Che Perry said. “She can create offensively for them so keeping the ball out of her hands will be the key.”
During Abington Friends’ regular season loss to Barrack, Trajtenberg scored a game-high 19 points.
In its Friends League regular season finale, Academy of the New Church had its highest scoring game of the season in a 59-24 win over Abington Friends.
Junior guard Ava Teich scored a game-high 22 points. Teich connected on six three-point field goals. Senior Jamie Madara was the Lions’ other double-figure scorer with 12 points.
Friends Select coach Braheim Wilson has kept things well in perspective. Even though his team lost by a considerable margin to powerful Westtown, the first-year coach thought it was a great experience for his team.
“We had a blast competing against Westtown School,” he said. “Our night was highlighted with sophomore point guard Kay Shah jumping ball (she is the shortest player in the FSL).”
He chose to point out the positives of playing such an area power.
“The girls weren’t discouraged one bit,” he said. “They played with spirit and energy.”
And once again a big effort was provided by sophomore Shyiah Travis.
“She Brought the Boom (that’s a team saying),” Wilson said. “She had 20 points on the night.”
That is some showing against such a talented team.
“Overall. playing such a high-level team humbles you and makes you want to get better, and I wouldn’t have it any other way,” he said. “I want to show appreciation to my assistant coach TonYetta Brown, who I wouldn’t want to do this with anyone else.”
Now it’s on to meeting Academy of New Church in the Quaker Cup.
“We are excited to face ANC, a young group like we are building a new foundation in the FSL,” Wilson said. “We look forward to competing against them in the Quaker Cup semis this coming week.”
Germantown Friends saw its Friends League season end with a 50-39 playoff loss to No. 4 seeded Shipley. The game was tight before Shipley pulled away with an 18-8 fourth quarter advantage.
“It was a great game,” said Germantown Friends coach Michael Lintulahti. “Well played by both teams.”
Taylor Linton, a 5-7 freshman who has enjoyed an outstanding season, scored a game-high 19 points. Classmate Jojo Lintulahti scored nine points while 5-8 senior Alayah Campbell scored eight.
In a classic regular season finale, Germantown Friends lost the aforementioned 39-37 thriller to George School on a game-ending buzzer beater.
“Hats off to the players and coaching staff at George for a hard-fought effort,” Michael Lintulahti said. “I thought both teams competed on every possession from start to finish.”
The performance came on the road against a quality George School team.
“I am proud of the resilience our kids showed in a tough environment on the road,” Lintulahti said. “We played with a strong competitive sporting. We are going to hold our heads high and take on each challenge the season presents as an opportunity to get better.”
Leading the way was Campbell, who had 11 points and six rebounds. Lintulahti and Linton each scored nine points.
Westtown 8-0
Friends Central 7-1
George School 6-2
Shipley School 5-3
Germantown Friends 4-4
Barrack Hebrew Academy 3-5
Academy of the New Church 2-6
Friends Select 1-7
Abington Friends 0-8
FSL Playoffs
Tuesday Feb. 4
Semifinals
(4) Shipley at (1) Westtown, 4
(3) George School at (2) Friends Central, 4
Championship
Friday, Feb. 7 at La Salle University, 6:30
Quaker Cup
This is the tournament for the teams that weren’t among the five qualifiers for the Friends League playoffs.
Semfinals
Wednesday Feb. 5
(9) Abington Friends at (6) Barrack Hebrew Academy, 4
(8) Friends Select at (7) Academy of the New Church, 4
Championship
Friday Feb. 7 at the higher seed