Girls Basketball Preview: Garnet Valley ready to turn page on greatest generation

CONCORD — Garnet Valley’s 2018-19 girls basketball team is immortalized all around campus.

There are District 1 Class 6A championship and PIAA runner-up trophies encased outside the gym doors. Once you’re on the hardwood, there are banners reminding everyone of the team’s accomplishments. The name Emily McAteer, the 2019 Daily Times Player of the Year, sits atop the list of all-time leading scorers in school history. Brianne Borcky’s name is among the 1,000-point scorers, too.

McAteer and Borcky are now playing at Loyola (Md.) and Drexel, respectively. The rest of last year’s starting five —Morgan Falcone (Immaculata), Madi McKee (Drexel) and Jillian Nagy (Elizabethtown) — are playing college sports, too.

GV finished 30-2 last season. The Jags captured their fourth Central League title in five years, won the program’s first District 1 championship and made it all the way to Hershey to play for a PIAA title. The Jags lost to undefeated Peters Township in the finale.

The greatest era of Garnet Valley basketball is in the past. Now it’s time for 2019-20 co-captains Abbey Anderson (senior guard), Liesl Dentinger (senior forward) and Courtney MacDonald (senior guard) to move the program in a new direction. Anderson and Dentinger were valuable contributors off the bench in the state final, along with junior guard and defensive specialist Kendall DiCamillio.

“What we said in the beginning was, it’s OK to remember what happened last season. You don’t ever want to forget it,” Anderson said. “But we have to remember to focus on this season … and we have to find our goals for this season.”

“It’s exciting and so different,” said MacDonald, who missed all of last season due to health issues. “We want to start each day with the idea of trying to get better.”

Dentinger learned so much from practicing against McAteer and Borcky. The 6-3 center/forward could become one of the most dominant bigs in the county.

“I’ve been focusing on taking control of my game inside the paint,” Dentinger said. “I’ve been focusing a lot on not only scoring, but getting more rebounds and overall being a bigger presence.”

DiCamillo’s clutch defense in the postseason saved the Jags a time or two. She has worked to improve her offensive games.

“I think a lot of us have the experience. Everyone contributed something last year, even if it was just at practice and our job was to defend our starting five,” she said. “It’s definitely going to be a big change from last year … but I feel everyone brings something to the team. It may take some time, but I feel the pieces are going to fit perfectly and we will be ready.”

Joe Woods enters his 17th season as head coach at Garnet Valley.

“This is teaching to me,” Woods said. “I love the challenge of a new group. … We’re going to work like crazy, but we’re going to have fun.”

Woods has high hopes for other varsity returnees, including junior guards Mikayla Anderson (Abbey’s sister) and Mary Rose Berry, as well as senior guard Gianna Preising.

“We are going to share the ball,” Woods said, “and a lot of players will have the opportunity to contribute.”

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Garnet Valley senior Abbey Anderson dribbles at a practice this week. Anderson is one of three captains trying to rebuild the Jaguars after they lost all five starters from last year’s district championship squad. (Pete Bannan/MediaNews Group)