Perkiomen Valley girls set sights on defending district and league basketball titles
The Vikings return the majority of their starters, and after accomplishing what were considered lofty goals last season, they want a state crown this year.
The Perkiomen Valley girls’ basketball team sat in a room two years ago, writing down a list of goals on a whiteboard.
The Vikings wrote a few things down before getting to the team’s main goal: Win a Pioneer Athletic Conference championship. That was the ultimate prize the Vikings were chasing in 2021-22.
“We said beat this team, beat this team, PAC chip, and I said ‘district chip,’ and everyone was laughing,” said junior Lena Stein. “We did not think that was possible. … Dream big, I guess.”
While the notion then may have seemed a bit far-fetched, Stein and her classmates have raised expectations immensely since the Vikings have captured district gold.
After a run to the Pioneer Athletic Conference title game in the 2021 season — the program’s first championship game appearance in four years — and a trip to the District 1-6A quarterfinals, the Vikings won their first PAC championship since 2016 and second District 1 crown in program history last season while finishing 28-2.
Now the Vikings believe even more is within reach this season, like a state championship.
“I probably was one of the people that chuckled at her,” said Perk Valley coach John Russo. “Not because I didn’t think we could get there, but until you beat Spring-Ford, you can’t have another goal. To go from what we talked about as a team [two years ago] to winning districts [last season] was amazingly fast, I thought. I didn’t think it would happen as quickly as we did, and now our job is to compete every day so we can defend both titles.”
Perk Valley returns five starters this season in forward Quinn Boettinger (16.4 points, 6.5 rebounds per game), wing Grace Galbavy (13.3 points, 3.4 assists, 8.3 rebounds), point guard Bella Bacani (10.4 points, 40 three-pointers), guard Julia Smith (4.4 points, 31 three-pointers), and Stein (5.6 points, 3.1 assists, 4.4 rebounds).
Stein’s older sister Ella, a valuable starter last season, graduated, but their other sister, Anna Stein, a senior, returns to the lineup after playing in 24 games last season, as well as junior wing/forward Grace Miley, who suffered a knee injury at the start of last season.
“It’s been hard mentally,” Miley said. “Just getting back into driving again, go up for shots, getting my confidence back, but my knee feels pretty strong. It’s just getting confident in myself.”
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With a load of returners and an influx of young talent, Russo will have his hands full trying to figure out which five should be out on the floor.
“My job got tougher,” Russo said. “Seven of them have really never not started for me. … We really have seven starters and it’s an ongoing conversation.”
The Vikings’ second loss of the 2022-23 season, which ended their campaign, has stuck with the team. They led by as many as nine points in the third quarter against Archbishop Carroll — the eventual state champion — until Carroll won in overtime in the second round of the PIAA playoffs.
“It keeps us up most nights still, but it’s something to work towards,” Lena Stein said. “We’re not satisfied. That gives us something to work towards and we needed that.”
Even during offseason games and workouts, Russo said, the competitive level of his group was unmatched. The Vikings want to be great and put in the work to do so.
“We go at it,” Miley added.
The conference and district championships will still be the goals on the Vikings’ whiteboard. League rival Spring-Ford will likely have a say in whether PV can accomplish that this season.
The Vikings won’t overlook the Rams — or other contenders — but there’s reason to dream big after what the group accomplished last season.
“Freshman year, we made a list of our goals and PAC chip was iffy for us,” Miley said. “This time, [a] state chip is what we want.”
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.