Spring-Ford tops Garnet Valley to get back to girls’ state final for the first time since 2021

After Spring-Ford booked its trip to the PIAA Class 6A title game Monday night with a 61-42 semifinal win over Garnet Valley, Anna Azzara downplayed the accomplishment at first.

“It’s not done yet, so we have to get ready in practice,” Azzara said.

Then she relented.

“It’s a big deal,” she added.

Azzara and the Rams’ five other seniors, including fellow starters Aaliyah Solliday, Mac Pettinelli, and Katie Tiffan, will end their careers with a trip to Hershey, where they’ll face Cardinal O’Hara on Friday at 6 p.m. in the Class 6A state championship.

Azzara led Spring-Ford (27-6) with 19 points, Solliday followed with 16, Tiffan added nine, and Pettinelli chipped in seven points, 12 rebounds, two assists, and a block to get the Rams back to the Giant Center for the first time since they were freshmen in 2021.

The Rams haven’t won a state crown since the 2012-13 season.

“I feel like a lot of teams don’t get to experience this,” Pettinelli said. “We really have to take in the opportunity that we have, but we know we’ve got to work twice as hard to achieve that accomplishment.”

Junior Kareena Preuss also came up big for Spring-Ford, finishing with eight points and 10 rebounds.

Garnet Valley junior Haylie Adamski and her sister, freshman Addison, had 12 points apiece for the Jaguars (25-7), who couldn’t quite keep up with the Rams in the second half.

Garnet Valley made five three-pointers in the first half, taking a 19-18 lead with 6 minutes, 15 seconds left in the second quarter. That marked the Jaguars’ last bucket of the half as Spring-Ford went into the break up, 24-19.

Azzara and Tiffan scored the first five points of the third quarter to push the Rams’ lead to double digits. Then Spring-Ford went on a 15-1 run to stretch its advantage to 41-24 with 1:23 remaining in the third, a lead that the Rams wouldn’t relinquish.

After falling to league rival Conestoga in the district quarterfinals and Haverford High in the district playback bracket, Garnet Valley outlasted both of its league rivals and almost the rest of the District 1 field in the state tournament.

“We had a lot of fun all year,” said Garnet Valley coach Joe Woods. “We worked hard in practice and we got better as the season went on — I’m proud of them.”

For the Spring-Ford seniors, Friday will mark the eighth time they’ll compete for a championship during their careers (three in the Pioneer Athletic Conference, three in districts, two in states). They’ve captured a district and a league title as well this season.

“Being where we are now as seniors,” Pettinelli said, “knowing that we only have one more shot at a championship, it brings all the fuel.”

This story was produced as part of a partnership between The Inquirer and City of Basketball Love, a nonprofit news organization that covers high school and college basketball in the Philadelphia area while also helping mentor the next generation of sportswriters. This collaboration will help boost coverage of the city’s vibrant amateur basketball scene, from the high school ranks up through the Big 5 and beyond.