‘Hyped’ Garnet Valley earns a little payback on Springfield

CONCORD — The musical stylings of Meek Mill blasted in the basement of Garnet Valley High School an hour or so before tip off.

Prior to the biggest game of the season with Springfield, a battle of Central League and Delco unbeatens, the Jags sought a little motivation from Philly’s favorite rapper.

“This is probably the most hyped we’ve ever been for a game,” senior forward Emily McAteer said. “We’ve been talking about it forever. Before the game we were downstairs jamming out to some music, so that got us even more hyped. We were ready.”

The Jags had revenge on their minds for last season’s loss to Springfield in the Central League championship game. While the Jags made a run to the second round of the PIAA Class 6A playoffs, they never quite got over the defeat to the Cougars.

“We wanted to get them back,” guard Jillian Nagy said.

McAteer, the All-Delco forward who earlier this season became the program’s all-time leading scorer, did most of her damage in the fourth quarter. She scored 14 of her game-high 20 points in the final eight minutes of regulation to propel Garnet Valley to a 51-42 victory. With the win, the Jags (10-0, 6-0) sit atop of the Central League standings by their lonesome. Springfield (10-1, 6-1) suffered its first conference loss since last February.

“We knew we had to control the tempo of game. If not, it would be pretty much on their side,” McAteer said. “We had to take advantage of the height we have and that was pretty much our goal.”

If one statistic tells the story of Friday’s clash of Delco’s top girls basketball teams, look no further than the rebounding category. The Jags won the battle on the boards, 38-13. McAteer pulled down seven boards and fellow big Madi McKee led all players with 10 Senior forward and Drexel signee Brianne Borcky paired five rebounds with 17 points.

The Jags played man-to-man defense most of the night, which hindered the Cougars’ ability to run their offense.

“All year we’ve been playing man. At the beginning of the year, we went to Coach (Joe) Woods and told him that we think we can play man this year and be really good at it,” McAteer said. “We feel we have the all-around players who can handle it.”

Springfield handled the defensive pressure early on, shooting 6-for-11 from the floor in the first quarter. Conran drained a 3-pointer late to give the Cougars a 17-10 advantage. But the Jaguars adjusted in the second quarter and outscored the Cougars, 10-2.

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Garnet Valley’s Jillian Nagy tries to dribble past Springfield’s Alexa Abbonizio Friday in a 51-42 Garnet Valley win. (Pete Bannan/Digital First Media