by Tom Utescher

If the Germantown Academy girls’ basketball program did not seek out major challenges by scheduling formidable opponents from outside the region, the Patriots would still be undefeated in the 2018-19 season.

That’s not their nature, though, and last Friday they suffered their first setback, falling 74-56 to visiting Miami Country Day School, which has been ranked as high as second in the country in major polls.

GA, which had been given a ranking of 25th earlier this month, saw the Spartans break out to a double-digit advantage early in the second quarter, but later in the period the Pats made a run of their own to lead 30-28 in the final minute.

Miami Country Day hit a three-pointer at the end to eke out a halftime lead, and almost midway through the third quarter the teams were tied at 37-all. With less than two minutes left in the period, the Spartans were up by three points when they began a 7-2 run to close the quarter, and the Floridians dominated in the fourth frame.

GA, which had ventured south over New Year’s to win the Sugar Bowl Tournament in New Orleans, slipped to 18-1 on the season despite 19 points and six rebounds from junior guard Elle Stauffer, 13 points and six boards from sophomore post Becca Booth and three three-pointers and a total of 11 points from senior guard Rachel Balzer.

The output from Miami Country Day’s top scorers was weighted toward the second half, when senior Koi Love piled up 20 of her game-high 29 points and 5’9” freshman guard Sydney Shaw netted 10 of her 16. Love, a 6’0” forward headed to Vanderbilt University, scored 12 points in the fourth quarter alone.

Also reaching double figures with four three-pointers for 12 points was senior point guard Maria Alvarez, who has signed with the University of South Florida.

The victory at Germantown Academy raised the Spartans’ record to 17-1, with their only loss (57-58) coming against Tampa Bay Technical High School in a tournament in early December.

The connection between GA and the Florida institution was made through James W. Conner, who was Germantown Academy’s head of school for 25 years and is now the interim head at Miami Country Day for the 2018-19 school year. To permanently fill the post, MCD has once again hired from the Philadelphia area, selecting an administrator from the Agnes Irwin School.

An immediately recognizable asset for the Spartans is junior center Chantell Gonzalez, who rises six feet and nine inches above the hardwood. She started in Friday’s contest but then was subbed in and out of the game after that. Overall, she did not appear as athletic as GA’s 6’2” Becca Booth, who pivoted around Gonzalez to score early in the game, and then made a number of jump shots from farther out later on.

Miami Country Day went into the contest without an injured reserve player, while GA was missing a key starter, junior guard Jaye Haynes (ankle sprain). The Patriots had also played the day before, when they had to expend a surprising amount of effort to subdue Mo’ne Davis and a Springside Chestnut Hill Academy team that gave one of its best performances of the season.

The Patriots’ Stauffer, a great leaper at 5’10”, takes the center jumps for the team. At Friday’s tip-off she was outreached by the Spartans’ Gonzalez, but only by about a hand’s length.

Booth’s scoring move on Gonzalez was accompanied by a free throw, yielding a 3-0 lead for Germantown almost two minutes into the game. MCD’s Shaw soon tied it with a trey, and later in the period GA held an 8-6 edge after receiving a three-pointer from junior point guard Maddie Vizza and two free throws from Stauffer.

The visitors pulled ahead with a “three” from near the top of the key by Alvarez (her second), and then a three-point “and-one” play was completed by Shaw. Love got on the board with a lay-up off of her own miss and a foul shot that went along with it, putting her team up by seven points with a dozen seconds left in the opening quarter.

Gonzalez had been on the bench, and now she subbed in and blocked a late shot by GA’s Booth, keeping the count at 15-8 for the start of the second round.

The visitors had posted the last nine points of the opening period, and when Love scored off a steal and then added another lay-up to start the second, MCD was on a 13-0 roll that yielded a double-digit lead at 19-8. Just over 30 seconds had slipped by in round two, and if things kept up like this, the game’s outcome could be decided early on.

A large home crowd, gathered for this contest and a boys’ league game that would follow, took heart when Stauffer made a lay-up that proved to be the start of a Patriot revival.

Booth passed inside to set up a score by junior Maddie Burns, but GA, now in the bonus two minutes into the second quarter, whiffed on a one-and-one. The Spartans went up by 10 with a trey by Alvarez from the left corner, then GA regained momentum with six straight points by Stauffer. The junior (who has made a verbal commitment to Harvard) knocked down two free throws and then scored on a breakaway off of a long pass from Vizza. Stauffer added another lay-up and Booth bagged a jumper from the foul line. MCD’s Gonzalez broke the string by rebounding a teammate’s miss and showing a nice touch on a short jumper from the lane.

The Patriots came back with three-point field goals by Balzer and by junior Lindsay Putnam, and the locals had now been on an 18-5 run that resulted in a 26-24 lead. Love tied it for the Spartans, then Booth put in an eight-footer and Burns stole the ball back and raced down to score, giving GA a four-point advantage at 30-26.

Even after Jayda Theodule scored for the visitors, it looked like the Pats would take a lead into the locker room, but with five seconds left MCD eighth-grader Bella Guevara dropped in a triple from the right wing. The Florida franchise enjoyed a 31-30 advantage at the half.

Like the second quarter, the third began with two lay-ups by Miami’s Love, one off of a steal. At the other end GA’s Stauffer drove in along the left baseline, then took off and soared just under the basket to make a reverse lay-up as exhilarating as any you’re going to see in high school girls’ hoops.

Booth then traded baskets with Love, and a “three” from near the top of the key by the Patriots’ Vizza made it 37-all with four-and-a-half minutes remaining in the third stanza. Just over two minutes later, GA called time-out, down 46-41. Booth made good on an inside move to narrow the gap to three points, then Alvarez drained a trey from the right flank that touched off a 7-0 Spartan surge.

Germantown junior guard Sarah DiLello was knocked out of the game by a collision that resulted in a very bloody nose with 1:15 left in the third round. A late inbounds play by GA yielded a lay-up for Stauffer, but the Patriots still trailed 53-45 heading into the last eight minutes.

Now, the Spartans really stepped on the gas. Quick, precise passes in transition resulted in a string of lay-ups, with only a field goal by GA’s Booth cropping up in the midst of a five-minute 19-2 outburst that drove the visitors’ lead to its peak of 25 points, 72-47.

GA trimmed it back to 16 over the last two minutes, getting a short jumper and a free throw from Stauffer and two three-pointers from Balzer. The final margin was locked in at 18 points with a lay-up by Spartans junior Milani McCormack.

MCD’s three double-digit scorers were supported by eighth-grader Kristina Godfrey with five points, Theodule with four, Gonzalez and Guevara with three apiece and McCormack with two. Following the Patriots’ top three were Vizza (six points), Burns (four) and Putnam (three).

Miami Country Day wrapped up its weekend jaunt to Philly with a visit to Neumann Goretti High School, where they dispatched the Saints, 63-43.

Slideshow photos by Tom Utescher