Perkiomen Valley girls win first district title

The goals for the Perkiomen Valley girls' basketball team this season started out small.

The Vikings began with the aim of beating Pioneer Athletic Conference rival Boyertown for the first time in the senior class' career. They did it in the first regular-season meeting.

Up next was a league title, something the program had never won.

Check - and in resounding fashion, too.

A berth in states - a first - was next on the list. The Vikings accomplished that with a convincing win in the second round of the District 1 Class 4A tournament.

Once that was accomplished, it was about getting to the district final.

On Friday night, Perkiomen Valley was finally there, and as soon as the Vikings stepped onto the floor at Temple, there was no doubt that goal was going to be reached too. The Vikings defeated Downingtown East, 56-41, to capture the team's first district championship.

"I don't even have words to describe it," senior KT Armstrong said. "I thought winning the PAC-10 was great, but this is another step up - this is so awesome."

"It's been such a crazy ride," the St. Joseph's recruit added. "It feels like just yesterday we were having tryouts, first starting to play together, trying to learn each other's tendencies and now we are here. It's amazing."

The Vikings (27-2) came out hot, going up 16-2. Leading the way was Armstrong, who scored nine of her game-high 24 points in the first quarter.

"Knowing we have her nailing shots on the offensive end, it gives us life," sophomore forward Taylor Hamm said. "When she does that we know she's on and she's got it, so we just have to do our role - get the rebounds, hit the boards, and stop them on defense."

Hamm filled her role just fine, as she combined with Megan Jonassen for 28 rebounds, while the entire squad frustrated the Cougars (21-8) on the defensive end.

When Downingtown East got within eight with 5:26 remaining, the press got Perk Valley going again.

"I saw they got within eight points and I just couldn't let that happen," Hanan Richmond said. "We couldn't let this one slip away like that."

Up next for both squads is the PIAA state tournament, which starts Friday.

Perkiomen Valley has never been there before. That shouldn't be a problem.

Downingtown East 2 12 11 16 - 41

Perkiomen Valley 16 10 13 17 - 56

DE: Paige Warfel 16, Aryah Aungst 7, Dani Tyrell 7, Laura Ochsner 6, Lindsay Kent 5.

PV: KT Armstrong 24, Taylor Hamm 13, Hanan Richmond 10, Megan Jonassen 7, Ashley Bangert 2.