Girls Basketball: DiCave’s Fords have to scrap to beat Ridley

RIDLEY TWP. >> The Haverford High girls basketball players could tell their Central League game at Ridley Friday night was something special for coach Bridget DiCave.

“She was very excited about it,” senior guard Mollie Reynolds said. DiCave played for the only Ridley girls basketball team to win a district championship, the 1975-76 squad, which was coached by Linda Hill-MacDonald, who went on to coach at Temple University and the University of Minnesota as well as in the WNBA.

“I was just thinking about how it’s always a tough game playing here,” DiCave said. “They always have a tough, scrappy team.” Both teams played tough, both were very scrappy, and the visiting Fords (4-2 overall, 3-1 Central League) survived a Ridley comeback in the second half and earned a 45-41 decision.

Ashley Murphy’s 3-point field goal with 59.9 seconds to play capped a five-point Fords run after Haverford had fallen behind by three points a minute earlier. Reynolds (18 points, three steals, three assists, two rebounds), who was 4-for-4 from the foul line in the first half, missed two of three before going 2-for-2 with 36.6 seconds left. Hailee Mayer (six points, nine rebounds, two steals, one assist) tossed in a 3-pointer for the Green Raiders (3-3, 2-2), but both teams turned the ball over before Reynolds iced the decision with a layup for her last bucket.

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Haverford coach Bridget DiCave, center, slaps hands with Fords center Hannah O’Reilly (32), left, during a timeout at Ridley High School. DiCave led the Fords over her alma mater, 45-41, Friday. (Times Staff/Rick Kauffman)