Jaye Haynes (right), a Patriots junior, gets off a shot over Penn Charter eighth-grader Kelsey Bess. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

by Tom Utescher

In the first Inter-Ac League game between Penn Charter and Germantown Academy back on Jan. 30, host GA got out to a 27-11 lead by the end of the first quarter, and the Patriots proceeded to a 68-46 victory.

In last Thursday’s rematch at PC, things seemed to be going much better for the Quakers, at least at first. Charter scored the first points of the afternoon and almost four minutes into the action, the teams were tied at 9-9.

Then the offensive well ran dry for Penn Charter, while GA continued to stack up points. Three minutes into the second period, the visitors led 29-10, and they eventually came away with a 69-43 win in what was the regular-season finale for both teams.

GA, which has lost only to national top 10 team Miami Country Day School, lifted its overall record to 27-1 while completing a 12-0 championship run through the Inter-Ac for the second year in a row.

Despite last week’s setback, Penn Charter showed significant improvement this winter. At 22-6, the Quakers had already broken the old school record of 20 wins in a single season. Their final Inter-Ac mark of 9-3 tied them for second place in the league with the Academy of Notre Dame, in contrast to a 5-7 fifth-place finish in 2017-18.

For the Pa. Independent Schools tournament that started at the end of the week, GA and PC were seeded first and second, respectively, and each team enjoyed a bye in the first round.

In Thursday’s meeting between the two, the game-high of 19 points was shared by GA’s Jaye Haynes and PC’s Carmen Williams, both junior guards.

Coming into the game, GA had not played since clinching the Inter-Ac title outright the previous Friday at Springside Chestnut Hill Academy. Charter was in action last Tuesday, raising its league record to 9-2 by rolling over last-place Agnes Irwin, 65-27.

Williams posted a game-high 18 points for the Quakers, who were already ahead 33-11 at halftime. Juniors India Barnes and Kait Carter added 10 and nine points, respectively, and eighth-grader Kelsey Bess scored eight.

On Thursday, one of the few flaws in the Patriots’ game was the number of fouls they accumulated. Four different players picked up a pair of personals in the first half, but with excellent team depth, the Pats weathered these whistles with relative ease.

GA’s initial foul sent Charter’s Bess to the line to score the first two point of the day. Rachel Balzer, a GA senior headed for George Mason University, bagged the first of her four three-point field goals, and it was answered in kind by Quakers senior Emma Maley, who will play soccer at Union College.

In the middle of the second minute, GA sophomore center Becca Booth committed her second foul, and the Patriots subbed in junior Maddie Burns. Balzer put in a runner and Haynes scored off of a rebound for the visitors, then PC’s Williams deposited her first points of the afternoon from the free throw line to make it 7-7.

GA junior Elle Stauffer grabbed a rebound and went coast-to-coast to score, but Williams evened it up at 9-9 with a layup of her own.

PC junior Carmen Williams (right) drives toward the basket against GA senior Rachel Balzer. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

With almost four minutes gone, it looked like fans would be settling in for a back-and-forth ball game, but that quickly changed. GA sandwiched successful drives by Stauffer and Haynes around a converted offensive rebound by Burns. When Stauffer scored again off of a steal, Charter called time-out, trailing 17-9 with 2:07 remaining in the first quarter.

Junior Sarah DiLello stuck a “three” from the right wing to put the Patriots up 20-9, and the period ended with that score on the board after the Quakers forced up an unsuccessful shot at the end.

Haynes and Stauffer each scored early in the second round, then the visitors’ spree was ended at 15-0 with a free throw by the Quakers’ Williams. GA came back with a score off a rebound by Stauffer and a trey by Balzer, making it 29-10 before PC’s Carter put in a short one-handed jumper. This was the first Penn Charter field goal in more than seven-and-a-half minutes.

The Quakers scored more from the field after that, but also missed a number of shots they usually make. Although the hosts stabilized their situation to trail by 18 at halftime, their struggles on offense and a lack of timely defensive stops kept them from making much headway against the visitors.

The count was 38-20 as the teams went into their locker rooms, with 11 points from Haynes and 10 from Stauffer leading GA, while Williams paced the Quakers with seven points.

Haynes and Burns started GA out in the third quarter by fueling a 6-1 run over the first four minutes. The Quakers were now down 44-21 with a dozen minutes to play, and during that time they would be unable to score more than two field goals consecutively.

Williams made nice back-to-back drives to end the third round, but the Patriots still led 49-29 for the start of the final frame. Germantown’s lead peaked at 33 points (67-34) with three minutes remaining before PC trimmed its deficit at the end.

Following Haynes on the scoresheet for the victors, Balzer had 16 points and four assists, Stauffer logged 14 points and six rebounds and Burns posted seven points and nine rebounds. After that came Dilello with five points, junior point guard Maddie Vizza with four points and four assists and Booth and sophomore Jessica Moore with two points apiece.

Aside from Williams’ team high output, PC received seven points from Bess, six from Carter, five from Maley, three from Barnes, two from junior Hayley Hunt and one from sophomore Janae Stewart.

UPDATE: In second-round games in the PAIS tournament on Saturday, GA defeated eighth-seeded Friends Central, 66-38 and Penn Charter downed number seven Hill School, 53-40. The Patriots already led by 20 points by the end of the first quarter and cruised through with 24 points from Haynes and 12 from Stauffer. After an 11-11 opening quarter at Penn Charter, the Quakers steadily pulled away from Hill, getting a double-double (23 points/12 rebounds) from Carter and 17 points from Williams.

In semifinal games at GA this Friday, PC will play third-seeded Shipley at 6:00 p.m., and the Patriots will meet Abington Friends, the fourth seed.

The Patriots and Quakers each defeated those same opponents back in early December.