Sports

Springside hoopsters end Inter-Ac drought
by TOM UTESCHER

Venture on a space odyssey back to 2001. To be exact, into the Springside School gymnasium on January 16 of that year. It’s late in the afternoon, and sophomore guard Maggie Koch has fired seven three-point field goals to lead the host Lions to a 55-32 victory over the Bears of Baldwin School. Springside supporters didn’t know it then, but it would be their basketball team’s only victory in the Girls Inter-Ac League that season, and more than that, it would linger as the Lions’ last league win for the next four years.

 

GA girls win low-scoring battle over Charter
by TOM UTESCHER

For the girls’ hoop squad at Germantown Academy, last week’s schedule featured a flurry of activity as the Patriots engaged in two Girls Inter-Ac League contests and two tough non-league tilts. GA prevailed in each one, defeating, in order, Penn Charter (37-19), Peddie School (44-36), Agnes Irwin (56-36), and St. Basil’s Academy (49-47).

Springside’s newest Lions, Nadya Grisheava (left) and Ulya Savelieva. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

From Russia, with “Game”
by TOM UTESCHER

At an institution where squash has traditionally been considered the primary winter sport, an invigorating breeze from the Baltic Sea has breathed new life into the basketball program.

Last week Springside School welcomed a pair of Russian exchange students, and they came packing some impressive hardcourt qualifications. Natives of St. Petersburg, they are Ulya Savelieva, a guard who can also play small forward, and center Nadya Grisheava.

 

Friday Night Basketball: Sixers edge Kings
by TOM AMODIE

In a battle of two of the league’s better teams the Sixers edged the Kings 31-29 in a low scoring game. The Sixers put two players in double figures — Rahmel Hamilton with 13 and O’Shane Black with 11. Probably more importantly than that, the Sixers’ defense held Jesse Biddle, one of the league’s better scorers, to just eight points. Arthur Borgeroff paced the Kings with 19 points. The Kings and Sixers each have one loss.

 

CHA senior Mike Flannery: high school player of the year

Mike Flannery #23 is flanked by his mother Kim and father Mike Sr.

 

The Maxwell Football Club of Philadelphia has selected Chestnut Hill Academy senior Mike Flannery as one of its high school players of the year.

 

 

 

Mount swimmers take Merion’s measure
by TOM UTESCHER

After a frustrating December during which they struggled against squads with larger and deeper rosters, Mount St. Joseph Academy’s swimmers have fared better in the first month of the new year.

 

 

These CHC students are also full-time Philly cops
by LEN LEAR

Michael Craighead and Altovise Love Craighead, of Roxborough, had to jump through hoops just to find the time to be interviewed together by the Local. Compared to this couple, who have the energy and drive of a runaway train, most of us are just malingerers and couch potatoes taking an extended daily siesta.

‘Actors’ true-crime victims
‘One always hears sobbing throughout the audience’
by LEN LEAR

Since the days of ancient Greece, playwrights have been trying to stir the emotions of audiences by having them identify with the words and feelings delivered by actors, but there may have never been a stage play quite as powerful as Beyond the Walls; the Road to Redemption, which premiered last May at the Philadelphia Cathedral, 3723 Chestnut St.

Needed in Chestnut Hill: a more level playing field
by PAT STOKES

Yep, that Commerce Bank corner at Evergreen and the Avenue is really and truly one of the worst things we’ve had to look at for some time. But perhaps we can take a Pollyanna approach and say that it will change. Things do change, and surely in this case there’s no way to go but better. Let’s just hope that decisions about stonework, glass doors, murals, etc., are reached sooner rather than later. Get with it folks, we’re all tired of looking at that mess.

Hiller takes a holistic approach to weight loss
by KRISTIN PAZULSKI

Ever wonder why we reach for food when depressed, stressed, or really upset? Emily Clark, a holistic counselor who just recently joined forces with Erdenheim’s Woudsma Chiropractic, believes this impulse is the body’s attempt to balance two types of food –“primary” and “secondary.”

Following the prosciutto of happiness at Nido
By LEN LEAR

This is both a love story and a food story, which seems appropriate with Valentine’s Day quickly approaching. Five years ago South Philly resident Franco Iovino, then-owner of Girasole, an Italian restaurant at 1305 Locust St. for 15 years until June, 2004 (Pelican Fish is there now), was visiting relatives and friends in Naples, Italy, where he was born and raised.

Hail, Caesar, for triumphant return after two months
by BETH A. BROOKS

Those familiar with ancient history know that Caesar was considered to be a military genius and powerful leader. Those familiar with the story of Caesar, the German Shepherd, might say he’s lived up to his name. As Julius Caesar thought himself to be invincible royalty, much the same could be said about the canine Caesar.

Breathtaking performance by Hill musician
by MICHAEL CARUSO

Every now and again, one has the opportunity to witness a young musician laying out for himself a daunting challenge, one that will require him to pull himself up to an altogether new and higher level of artistic accomplishment. Every now and then, one has the chance to witness that musician not merely achieving a higher goal but surpassing it and, in the process of doing so, establishing for himself a more impressive standing than even his most ardent admirers ever imagined for him so soon in his career.