GA girls clinch share of Inter-Ac crown

The back of Germantown Academy's Alexa Gallagher slammed to the court Tuesday after she had slid into a familiar position - underneath, defending her basket.

The offensive foul on a strong drive by Penn Charter's Dee Thomas-Palmer forced the Quakers forward out of the game with less than three minutes left in the girls' basketball game.

"I was in the right place at the right time. I knew they liked to drive to the basket," said Gallagher, a senior captain and DePaul recruit.

The loss of Thomas-Palmer opened up the lane for the Patriots, and they worked the ball inside to Gallagher, sending her to the line four times in the quarter. She scored seven of her game-high 17 points in the period and GA went on to a 54-46 home victory against Inter-Ac League rival Penn Charter.

With the win, Germantown Academy (20-3 overall) improved to 10-0 in league play and clinched a share of the Inter-Ac regular-season title. The Patriots need to win one of their next two games, both against Episcopal, to win the title outright.

"It means a lot just to win the Inter-Ac," Patriots coach Sherri Retif said. "We have a lot of respect for this league."

Although Thomas-Palmer was playing with four fouls, Penn Charter coach Diana Caramanico said she did not regret leaving the junior in the game and was glad the final foul came on an aggressive play.

After trailing early in the second half by 10 points, Penn Charter (19-4, 8-2) sneaked back into the game with uptempo defense highlighted by the aggressive play of 5-foot-5 guard Aleesha Powell.

The Quakers ended the third quarter on a 13-3 run, finishing with Powell's driving layup as the buzzer sounded.

Entering the fourth quarter, the Patriots switched from their usual man-to-man defense into a hybrid of a 2-3 and 3-2 zone to slow the Quakers' attack. They then outscored Penn Charter by nine points in the final period.

"Coach told us to relax, and we knew we had to pick it up on defense," GA sophomore Kiernan McCloskey said.

In the final two minutes, McCloskey nailed a jumper from the wing and grabbed two offensive rebounds off missed foul shots by GA.

"Kiernan's a clutch player. She brings confidence and focus," Retif said.

On the second rebound, McCloskey was the only Patriot lined up on the lane and grabbed the rebound away from four Quakers players.

"I guess they just forgot to box me out," McCloskey said.

Penn Charter   7111612-46

Germantown Academy   1412721-54

PC: Brianna Butler 12, Aleesha Powell 17, Danielle Sienko 2, Kendall Stokes 6, Dee Thomas-Palmer 9.

GA: Alexa Gallagher 17, Jaryn Garner 14, Dana Lotito 4, Kiernan McCloskey 9, Monica Schacker 8, Angela Upright 2.