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  • Jasmine Bascoe’s 18 points help Villanova dominate Marquette, 64-39, on Senior Night

    Jasmine Bascoe’s 18 points help Villanova dominate Marquette, 64-39, on Senior Night

    The Villanova women’s basketball team bounced back from a loss to No. 1 UConn with a 64-39 victory over Marquette Sunday on Senior Night at Finneran Pavilion.

    With the win, Villanova (22-6, 14-5 Big East) maintained its second-place spot in Big East standings in a crucial final week of the schedule.

    For coach Denise Dillon, Sunday’s game encapsulated the team’s trajectory of improvement across the season. It was a significant turnaround from the Wildcats’ 85-69 loss at Marquette on Jan. 4.

    Sophomore guard Jasmine Bascoe led the team with 18 points, four rebounds, and seven assists. Graduate forward Denae Carter added 14 points, and freshman guard Kennedy Henry scored 13.

    “After the last game, we knew that wasn’t us, and we were ready for this game,” Bascoe said. “We’ve had quite a few in between, but it’s always kind of been in the back of our minds. I couldn’t tell you how excited we all were for this game. The win’s amazing, and we’re so proud of everyone because we fought today.”

    Villanova sets the tone on defense

    Sunday afternoon’s game was a testament to Villanova’s improvement on defense after giving up 85 points to Marquette (16-11, 10-8) in their previous matchup.

    The Wildcats were especially effective in stopping Halle Vice, who dropped 32 points back in January. Vice finished Sunday’s game with nine points.

    “We put Denae Carter on [Vice] to start the game, so that adjustment was made,” Dillon said. “Today, [Carter] rose to the occasion and certainly set the tone. I don’t think [Vice] felt that she had any breathing room. Even when she caught it on a kick-out, Denae’s closeout was tremendous. … Those defensive stops are a team positive, but when one person on the ball is setting the tone, it makes it a lot easier for the rest.”

    Villanova held a 16-5 lead at the end of the first quarter.

    Freshman guard Kennedy Henry brought energy on both sides of the ball, scoring a team-high nine points and notching three steals in the first half. The Wildcats forced 14 turnovers from the Golden Eagles in the first 20 minutes, which ended with a 29-18 advantage.

    Villanova held Marquette to just 31.7% shooting from the field across the game.

    “When we were leaving Milwaukee in January, this group had [this game] circled on their calendar, so they wanted this one back,” Dillon said. “They were locked in to what needed to be done defensively, and certainly executed it.”

    Both teams struggled with shooting from outside the arc. Marquette was 2-for-13 from three-point range, while Villanova was 3-for-16.

    Seniors go out strong

    For five graduating Villanova players, Sunday’s game was their last at the Finneran Pavilion.

    “It was a big game for us, but we were thinking about [the seniors] the whole time, so we got our emotions out early,” Bascoe said. “We kind of had to bring it back in. But I’m just so proud of all of them. They’ve done so much for our team, and for me as an individual as well. So I couldn’t be more thankful for all those girls.”

    As Villanova led, 60-38, with just over three minutes to play, senior forward Annie Welde came in off the bench. Dillon praised Welde, a Cardinal O’Hara alumna and team captain, for her “commitment to what Villanova’s all about, the community, and making this place better.” Welde cut inside and scored on a layup to finish her career on the Main Line.

    Up next

    In its final game of the regular season, Villanova will go on the road for another key matchup against Seton Hall on Thursday (7 p.m., Peacock). The Pirates (18-9, 12-6) sit third in the conference.

    The Big East tournament, hosted at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn., begins on March 6.

  • Imhotep wins record sixth straight Public League title thanks to late flurry against West Philadelphia

    Imhotep wins record sixth straight Public League title thanks to late flurry against West Philadelphia

    With less than a minute remaining in Sunday’s boys Public League championship game, West Philadelphia High School’s Tamir Lett drilled a three-pointer to give the Speedboys a one-point edge.

    While the fans at La Salle’s John E. Glaser Arena were sent into a frenzy, Imhotep head coach Andre Noble stayed calm and composed on the sideline.

    He and the Panthers had been in this position before. In fact, they entered the game as the five-time defending champions and showed why to close out the game. Imhotep forced two turnovers as forward Zaahir Muhammad-Gray and guard Ian Smith’s late-game free throws polished off a 39-35 win.

    How Andre Noble, a Boston native, became an all-time Philadelphia high school coach: ‘He got immersed into it’

    “If everyone is rattled and nervous, then we’re not going to be able to execute,” Noble said. “But credit to our guys for just getting our best player the ball and him making plays to get us where we need.”

    Noble’s Panthers (20-6, 9-1) have now won six consecutive Public League championships, etching themselves into history in Philadelphia high school basketball lore. Muhammad-Gray won MVP honors after scoring 15 points, while West Philadelphia (21-6, 7-3) guard Khabir Washington had 17.

    The first few minutes of Sunday’s matchup began slowly, with both teams attempting to establish control. The Panthers initially got that control behind Muhammad-Gray’s efforts, especially on the glass. The junior, who missed last year’s championship due to a torn ACL, flew in for rebounds time and time again as Imhotep mounted an early 5-1 lead.

    But then, West Philadelphia stormed back behind its hustle. Guard Jayden Mckie forced multiple steals while forward Isaiah Smith established control in the paint to spur a 9-0 run and give the Speedboys a 10-5 lead after forward Souleymane Bagaga knocked down a three to end the quarter.

    The momentum quickly flipped back to the Panther side after the Speedboys went into halftime up by one. Muhammad-Gray poured in seven straight points to tie the game before forward Daouda Niare hammered down a dunk to give the Panthers a 21-18 lead and put West Philadelphia on its heels.

    After briefly losing the lead, Imhotep rattled off an 8-0 run, which Muhammad-Gray punctuated with back-to-back steals, including one he turned into a fastbreak layup to give the Panthers a five-point advantage heading into the fourth quarter.

    Andre Noble’s Imhotep Panthers were pushed to the limit by West Philadelphia but found a way behind their defense late.

    “Proud of Zaahir,” Noble said. “[He] worked really hard on his recovery, worked really hard as a young man, so really proud that he gets to have this moment.”

    Washington led a Speedboy surge to help West Philadelphia creep back into the game during the fourth quarter. He had West Philadelphia’s first eight points in the quarter before Lett drilled his go-ahead three-pointer with under a minute remaining. Mckie poked away two steals in the frame to stifle the Panthers’ offense as the Speedboys generated momentum.

    At the end of the day, it wasn’t enough as Imhotep eventually retook the lead and pulled out a win.

    “You have to show more character than the blowouts,” Noble said. “So that this game was tight and we were able to still pull it out. Even got down with under a minute to go and for us to pull it out and win the game, [that] showed a lot of character and poise from our squad.”

    Father Judge captures second straight Catholic League crown by beating Neumann Goretti

    Noble’s team is now etched in history after recording a sixth consecutive Public League championship and his 13th overall as Panthers coach. For him, it speaks to the players and also the legacy of the program in a league and tradition that spans beyond them.

    “​​Proud of the legacy of this program,” Noble said. “These guys and the five teams before them. This league is over 100 years old and the Imhotep Panthers are the first to win six in a row. So that speaks a lot.”

  • Kyle Schwarber homers in Phillies spring home opener; Aidan Miller dealing with sore back

    Kyle Schwarber homers in Phillies spring home opener; Aidan Miller dealing with sore back

    CLEARWATER, Fla. — It didn’t take long — four pitches, to be exact — for Kyle Schwarber to hit his first home run of 2026.

    He started his spring and the Phillies’ home opener at BayCare Ballpark on a high note with a solo shot that cleared the right-field fence in the first inning Sunday. Schwarber’s homer, off Pirates righty Braxton Ashcraft, clocked an exit velocity of 108.7 mph off the bat.

    “Just trying to simplify, first at-bat, and just happened to get a good piece of it,” Schwarber said. “Good first day overall, but nice getting back in a little bit of competitive setting.”

    Olympic hockey drama left Phillies spellbound. Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper hope to join baseball’s fun in the ’28 Games.

    Sunday’s 4-3 loss to the Pirates marked the spring debuts of Schwarber, Bryce Harper, Alec Bohm, Bryson Stott, Brandon Marsh, and J.T. Realmuto.

    Manager Rob Thomson said there is a plan, similar to last spring, for Schwarber to eventually get reps at first base and left field to keep his skills there sharp in case he’s needed in the field. At the moment, though, the focus is on getting his bat ready for the World Baseball Classic, where he will represent Team USA. He was designated hitter Sunday and went 1-for-2 with a hit by pitch.

    With one game under his belt, Schwarber already has half as many homers as he did last spring, when he hit two home runs in 17 Grapefruit League games. He said he didn’t start swinging any earlier this offseason with the WBC on the horizon, but instead mainly focused on getting his body in shape.

    Kyle Schwarber celebrates his solo home run in the Phillies dugout during the first inning against the Pirates.

    “I just found that just over the course of time that more quality things that I do don’t really need as much time,” Schwarber said. “I feel like you want to get a good, solid foundation of working out and working, getting your body going more, before you just start going out there and swinging right away. So get that set, and then get the swinging in the offseason. But I don’t try to overthink it too much.”

    Shortstop prospect Aidan Miller has not played in the Phillies’ first two Grapefruit League games and will not travel to the East coast of Florida for their next two road games because of a sore back. Thomson said the Phillies are being “super cautious” with Miller, and he is getting treatment to calm down the soreness.

    Otto Kemp ‘felt pretty comfortable’ in left field in Phillies’ spring opener

    “Just came in one day and it was sore,” Thomson said. “He took live BP, he got hit by a pitch, but wasn’t in the back, so I don’t know whether he jarred it or did something trying to get out of the way.”

    Who stood out: Bohm laced a double to center field in the first inning. Realmuto and Stott also collected hits.

    “Bohmer looked good,” Thomson said. “Stung the ball pretty good, and and Bohmer during all our BPs, he swung the bat really well. It’s good to see.”

    Infield prospect Carson DeMartini homered in the sixth inning.

    On the mound: It was a bullpen game for the Phillies. Trevor Richards, Zach Pop, Kyle Backhus, Tim Mayza, and Génesis Cabrera each pitched an inning, and each recorded at least one strikeout.

    Jonathan Hernández pitched the sixth. After inducing two quick outs, he issued three straight walks to load the bases and was removed for minor league call-up Jack Dallas. Pirates prospect Esmerlyn Valdez then crushed a four-seam fastball for a grand slam.

    Backhus, a lefty sidearmer competing for a bullpen spot, retired the side in order in the third. He struck out Jesus Castillo on a sinker that touched 94.3 mph. In 2025, Backhus’ sinker had an average velocity of 91.9 mph.

    Quotable: “He’s been really impressive,” Thomson said of Backhus. “All his bullpens, all the BPs he’s thrown, and then, obviously, in the game today. The velocity is higher than it was last year. There’s not many guys that throw from that slot, so it’s tough to pick up. Slider’s been really good. He’s been really good on lefties. And he’s working on a changeup that could get the right-handers off him. So he’s been really impressive the whole camp.”

    On deck: The Phillies hit the road to West Palm Beach, Fla., to take on the Washington Nationals on Monday (6:05 p.m., Phillies webcast and 94.1 WIP). Alan Rangel will start for the Phillies.

  • Dan Vladař relishes in his Olympic experience; Flyers’ Americans celebrate Team USA’s historic gold

    Dan Vladař relishes in his Olympic experience; Flyers’ Americans celebrate Team USA’s historic gold

    Dan Vladař had goosebumps when he first saw his jersey hanging in his stall.

    For the first five minutes of his lone start, he just thought to himself, “wow,” as he looked around and saw the fans waving flags and the Olympic rings plastered everywhere.

    “This is actually happening,” he thought.

    Indeed. The Flyers’ No. 1 goalie returned to practice on Sunday for the first time after donning the red, white, and blue of Czechia at the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics.

    Flyers goalie Dan Vladař might soon have a new tattoo

    Vladař played in one game, allowing three goals on 12 shots in a 6-3 win against France in Czechia’s second game of the tournament. France took a 3-2 lead at one point in the second period before David Pastrňák tied it up, and Czechia never looked back.

    “You never know if you’re ever going to get the chance, so I didn’t want to take it for granted, but it was, for me, it was just trying to focus on myself,” he said about his solo start.

    “Obviously, we won, it was good. I wasn’t the best, but those games are tough when you’re just standing there, and nothing’s going towards you, and then, all of a sudden, you look up, and you’re like, one, two, three; you’re like, what’s going to happen now?”

    The Czechs tournament ended in the quarterfinals with a 4-3 overtime loss to Canada on a goal by Mitch Marner against Lukáš Dostál. Vladař said he spoke with his Flyers teammate, Travis Sanheim, during handshakes and congratulated Flyers coach Rick Tocchet, an assistant on Jon Cooper’s staff, in the tunnel after. The two Flyers won silver medals on Sunday, one day after defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen won bronze with Finland.

    For the 28-year-old goalie, leaving Italy without a medal didn’t diminish the experience. He stayed in the athlete’s village — goalies got their own room — and took in the sights and food of Milan. He liked the freshness of all the salads and pasta, which were cooked al dente, but didn’t have any pizza, and rode the golf cart in full gear between rinks.

    Flyers goalie Dan Vladař said the Olympic experience makes him want to play meaningful NHL games even more than ever.

    He wasn’t able to take in other events due to a tight schedule, or get the tattoo he told The Inquirer he was planning on getting — that’s coming in the summer, he said — but “I was trying to enjoy every moment, every second there, which I thought I did.”

    Vladař is now back between the pipes for a Flyers team trying to make a playoff push with 26 games left in the season. Across his first 33 games, which is already a career high, he went 17-8-6 with a 2.47 goals-against average and .905 save percentage. And while he didn’t return to Philly with a medal, he came back with some fuel.

    Flyers center Sean Couturier is bringing ‘a fresh mindset’ into the final stretch

    “You don’t want to have that feeling again, losing [and] not accomplishing anything; that was probably … my biggest fire coming back here, was just, I don’t want to feel like we all felt after that overtime goal in the quarterfinals,” he said.

    “I think that we still have some time to really push for it and then, at least, sneak in.”

    Golden!

    The Flyers’ practice was slated to start at 11 a.m., and on a typical day, guys start hitting the ice well in advance. But Sunday was not your typical day as the United States and Canada were going toe-to-toe in the men’s hockey finale at the Olympics.

    Huddled in the video room, the Flyers watched — and then hooted and hollered, according to Cam York — as Jack Hughes scored the golden goal to give the Americans their first gold medal in men’s ice hockey since the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics at roughly 10:55 a.m. It came on the 46th anniversary of the “Miracle on Ice,” when the plucky U.S. squad of collegians upset the powerhouse Soviet Union before beating Finland for gold. York said he won $100 off Canadian Tyson Foerster thanks to the U.S. win.

    Cam York and Trevor Zegras know the feeling of winning gold with Team USA after accomplishing it at the 2021 World Juniors.

    “That’s my good buddy who scored the overtime winner, so that was pretty crazy,” said New York native Trevor Zegras. “It was weird practicing after that.”

    “It was one of the best games I’ve ever watched, I think, just the pace of it all, the Grade A chances, both sides, goalies playing incredible,” added the Californian York, who played with Zegras for the U.S. National Team Development Program and won gold at the 2021 World Juniors.

    “For USA Hockey, it’s huge, it’s been a long time coming, I think, and to see those guys win, I thought that was just a really sick game.”

    How the Americans’ 1996 World Cup team changed U.S. hockey forever.

    It’s been a long time coming indeed. The U.S. entered the day with 12 medals but just two golds in men’s hockey, from the 1980 and 1960 Squaw Valley Olympics. The last time USA Hockey medaled was 2010, when Sidney Crosby, who was injured and unable to play on Sunday, scored a heartbreaking golden goal in the finale.

    “It was a big one. [Goalie Connor] Hellebuyck was unbelievable in that game, made a lot of huge saves there,” said Christian Dvorak. “Americans came through, so it was great to watch and fun to chirp some of the Canadians in here.”

    The Flyers have seven Americans on the roster in York, Zegras, Maine’s Garnet Hathaway, Dvorak (Illinois), and the Minnesotans, Nick Seeler, Noah Cates, and Bobby Brink; Sean Couturier was born in Phoenix but grew up in New Brunswick and represents Canada on the international stage.

    None of the players on the current roster were around for the last gold medal, and only five, including Hathaway and Dvorak, were around for the 1996 World Cup victory over Canada. For assistant coach Todd Reirden, this was another special — and defining — moment for hockey in the U.S.

    Team USA honors the late Johnny Gaudreau after winning Olympic gold in Milan

    “I remember clear as day, everything that went on with that ’80 Olympics, being pretty young at the time, 9 or 10 years old. So it was something I could remember very clearly, and how exciting it was, and how those guys became my heroes,” said the Illinois native.

    “To see where it’s come now, I think all that stuff was a culmination of the growth of the game, and now it’s going to continue. Major credit to what USA Hockey has done with the way that they’ve changed the way that they’re teaching the youth, the small area games, the smaller sheets. You see the skill level players, we see it all the time in the NHL, but it’s really made it a more exciting game, and something that hopefully will continue to rise because it’s fun to be a part of.”

    Breakaways

    With Vladař back from Italy, Aleksei Kolosov was loaned back to Lehigh Valley of the American Hockey League on Sunday.

  • Olympic hockey drama left Phillies spellbound. Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper hope to join baseball’s fun in the ’28 Games.

    Olympic hockey drama left Phillies spellbound. Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper hope to join baseball’s fun in the ’28 Games.

    CLEARWATER, Fla. — Bryce Harper couldn’t look away.

    Ninety minutes before the start of the Phillies’ first home spring-training game Sunday, as teammates moved about the clubhouse like commuters through 30th Street Station, Harper stood still in front of a TV and watched the NHL superstars from Team USA receive their gold medals.

    Players skated victory laps with American flags draped over their shoulders. The national anthem played. Cue the team photo.

    And Harper was transfixed.

    John Middleton on Phillies’ high payroll amid looming labor war, Dave Dombrowski-Bryce Harper saga, and more

    For years, Harper has advocated for Major League Baseball to do what the NHL does and stop the season so that the best players in the world can compete in the Olympics. Its next chance will come in Los Angeles in 2028, when baseball will return as a medal sport after an eight-year hiatus.

    What would a global best-on-best baseball tournament look like?

    Exactly what the world just witnessed between the U.S. and Canada in what Phillies manager/proud Canadian Rob Thomson described as “one of the best games you’ll ever see.”

    It was so good that the Phillies put it on the new 3,200-square-foot LED video board at BayCare Ballpark as they took batting practice during the third period and overtime. Kyle Schwarber did an interview from the third-base dugout so he would be able to keep one eye on the action.

    Phillies second baseman Bryson Stott watches the U.S.-Canada Olympic gold medal game as he warms up Sunday in Clearwater, Fla.

    “Yeah, that was awesome,” Schwarber said. “That was amazing. Probably one of the more exciting hockey games in a long time. I don’t get to watch hockey that much, but that will probably get me back into watching a lot more.”

    Which is precisely why MLB needs to follow the NHL’s lead.

    Harper and Schwarber are among 10 Phillies who will leave camp Saturday to join their respective countries’ delegations for the World Baseball Classic. For two weeks in March, national pride will be at stake.

    And players seem to be taking the WBC as seriously as ever.

    Since the tournament’s inception in 2006, Team USA has had difficulty recruiting the best pitchers, in particular, to compete in an international exhibition in the middle of spring training. But this time, both reigning Cy Young Award winners — the Pirates’ Paul Skenes and Tigers’ Tarik Skubal — signed on to wear stars and stripes.

    Justin Crawford is ready to show he can take ‘control’ in the Phillies outfield

    Shohei Ohtani, who famously struck out Mike Trout to end the last WBC in 2023, will return to lead Japan, albeit only as a hitter. The Dominican Republic’s lineup is loaded, with Juan Soto, Manny Machado, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Julio Rodríguez, and Fernando Tatis Jr. Venezuela, Mexico, and Puerto Rico are stacked, too.

    “This is our time to represent our country,” Schwarber said. “It gives you that motivation, you know? Being that we’re going to be heading into that and knowing what to expect. Obviously we’re not Olympians. But it’s our mini-Olympics. Right?”

    Sure. And players will compete with intensity. Anyone who thinks it doesn’t mean much to the players should hear Schwarber talk about what he did with his silver medal in 2023.

    “I don’t know where it’s at,” he said. “You only probably care about the gold one. You don’t want to get the second-place one.”

    Phillies designated hitter Kyle Schwarber (right) celebrates his solo home run with Bryce Harper on Sunday.

    But because of when the WBC is contested, there will be pitch limits and other health-related restrictions. At training camps in Florida and Arizona, teams will cross their fingers and toes that their players return intact.

    If anything, then, the WBC is closer to hockey’s 4 Nations Face-Off, last February’s riveting tournament that was still only the appetizer to the main course in Milan.

    Still, as international competitions go, it’s the best baseball has.

    Unless …

    “I know Bryce has been very outspoken about it, and I think [the Olympics] would be great for us,” Schwarber said. “We all grew up watching the Olympics and being kids and just tuning into all different kinds of events. Back in the day, the TV dinners, go get the pull-out tray, throw it on the couch, all the family sitting down at night. We’re watching the Olympics. We’re watching the gymnasts, the swimming, the diving. Those were all big ones. I loved watching the sprinters run.

    “It’d just be great for our game in general, to where you go to the Olympics and it’s worldwide. Everyone would see it, and it might reach a broader audience than just some countries that are really in tune to it.”

    The Phillies’ Trea Turner was still the fastest man in the league at 32. And it’s not due just to ‘genetics.’

    But would the players buy in? Part of what makes Olympic hockey such a draw is the passion exhibited by the players, especially among the Americans and Canadians, many of whom put aside their day jobs as teammates in the NHL to pound on one another on an international stage.

    “It’d be a no-doubter for a lot of guys,” said Schwarber, who played for Team USA in college. “When they ask you, you’re like, ‘Yeah, absolutely.’ And the cool thing for us is we have so many different cultures in our game that everyone’s going to separate from the [MLB] organization side of things and go to the country side.

    “I know, if I’m freaking 50 and they go, ‘Hey,’ I’ll be like, ‘Yes.’ I might be playing softball by then, but I’d say yes.”

    Harper was among the first players to commit to Team USA for the WBC in 2023 but had to withdraw after having elbow surgery in the preceding offseason. He hasn’t played for his country since he was a teenager.

    Kyle Schwarber hits a solo home run for the Phillies in the first inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

    “I can’t wait,” Harper said the other day. “Representing your country, there’s nothing better. Nothing better. The feeling of putting ‘USA’ on your chest and playing for something so much bigger than yourself, representing your whole country, there’s nothing greater.

    “And having Aaron Judge hit behind me is going to be a lot of fun, as well.”

    When Harper at last turned away from the television Sunday morning and walked to his locker, he politely declined to talk about the game. He appeared emotional, especially after watching Team USA bring two of the late Johnny Gaudreau’s children, Noa and Johnny Jr., onto the ice as part of the celebration.

    Watching it all, Harper surely must have thought about the possibility of 2028 in Los Angeles.

    “We’ll see,” he said.

    But anyone could plainly see what it would mean for baseball to have the best players in the world in the next Olympics.

  • Father Judge captures second straight Catholic League crown by beating Neumann Goretti

    Father Judge captures second straight Catholic League crown by beating Neumann Goretti

    The Philadelphia Catholic League title is staying on Solly Avenue.

    After a 27-year hiatus without winning a PCL crown, sixth-seeded Father Judge won its second straight with a 55-52 victory against No. 4 seed Neumann Goretti on Sunday at the Palestra.

    Father Judge held off a late Saints comeback attempt in the final seconds. Neumann Goretti’s Deshawn Yates hit a three-pointer with 18.8 seconds left to make it a one-point game, but the Crusaders sealed the win with free throws down the stretch.

    Senior Derrick Morton-Rivera led the champions with 14 points and junior Nazir Tyler added 12. Junior Marquis Newson had a game-high 19 points for the Saints.

    Father Judge’s Derrick Morton-Rivera is chasing his dream just like his mother

    At one point this season, Father Judge was 4-8, and the Crusaders lost to Neumann Goretti, 71-66, on Feb. 1. But on Sunday, the sixth-seeded team cut down the nets.

    Father Judge’s Derrick Morton-Rivera (44) reacts after sinking a three-pointer in front of Neumann Gorretti’s Deshawn Yates.

    “When we first got here, we talked about the Palestra and everybody thought we were crazy,” fifth-year Father Judge coach Chris Roantree said. “The players thought we were crazy. And then it just continued to build. You’ve got guys that have come through and accepted the culture, accepted being coached hard. … I think you have a community that’s invested. You have coaches who are invested. You have players who are invested. It makes it easy, but it also makes it enjoyable.”

    Father Judge went on a 19-5 run that stretched over the first and second quarters to establish a 25-16 lead at halftime. Seven players wound up scoring in the title game for the winners.

    Senior Max Moshinski, who has committed to Iona, dominated the paint for Father Judge, collecting a majority of the team’s rebounds.

    Neumann Goretti coach Carl Arrigale looks at the scoreboard in the second half against Father Judge.

    It all came down to the fourth quarter when Neumann Goretti began to chip away at Father Judge’s double-digit lead, staying within three and five points in the final minutes. Yates’ three-pointer with 18.8 seconds left was the closest the Saints got to taking a lead since they started the game with a 4-0 advantage.

    Longtime coach Carl Arrigale leads Neumann Goretti back to the Catholic League final

    But Father Judge leaned on its defense to force Neumann Goretti into bad decisions and the Crusaders wrapped it up with free throws.

    “[Already] being in those situations and being in those moments, when it comes, we’re not fazed,” Tyler said. “Give credit to our coaching staff as well. They schedule some tough games in December. So when we get into these moments in January [and February], we’re ready for them. … None of us was nervous.”

    Next up, Father Judge will prepare for the PIAA Class 6A state tournament, which begins on March 7.

    “There are some guys that are waking up at 6.30 a.m. to get themselves to school, and they’re on time,” Roantree said. “But, they want to be a part of something special. And I think we have something special.”

  • Audenried wins fourth straight Public League girls title behind 22 points from Nasiaah Russell

    Audenried wins fourth straight Public League girls title behind 22 points from Nasiaah Russell

    Audenried entered Sunday’s Philadelphia Public League girls championship with a chance to win its fourth straight title. The Lady Rockets took down Imhotep last year and had a chance to repeat history.

    The school’s last three championship teams were keyed by guard Shayla Smith, Philadelphia’s all-time leading scorer. Even without Smith, who now plays at Penn State, Audenried proved it could still bring home the title.

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    Behind 22 points from forward Nasiaah Russell, Audenried (22-4, 6-0) cruised to its fourth straight PPL title, and second straight against Imhotep (14-10, 5-1), with a 64-50 win. The Lady Rockets grabbed a comfortable lead in the first quarter and never looked back.

    “I feel awesome,” coach Kevin Slaughter said. “I feel great. Four straight Public League championships and some of my mentors came to the game today.”

    Russell dominated the paint in all four quarters against the Panthers. She had a game-high 22 points and recorded 12 rebounds to take home MVP honors. Senior guard Heaven Reese added 14 points while sophomore guard Chloe Kham chipped in 12.

    Audenried Charter’s Nasiaah Russell dominated in the PPL girls championship. Russell is headed to St. John’s in two seasons.

    Guard Geren Hawthorne led Imhotep with 16 points.

    “This is my fourth championship and it’s my first time being MVP,” Russell said. “It means a lot to me, even though last year it meant a lot to me, but other people got more recognition. So now that it’s all me, I feel appreciative.”

    Imhotep jumped out to a 5-0 lead after it received two technical free throws to start the game. The Lady Rockets marched back behind Russell. The St. John’s recruit had seven straight points to keep Audenried close before a 10-0 run by Audenried near the end of the first quarter gave the Lady Rockets a 24-14 lead that they did not relinquish.

    Audenried struggled offensively in the second quarter, scoring only eight points as Imhotep closed the deficit to 32-26 at the half. But Audenried started the second half on a 9-3 run, punctuated by two threes from Reese that gave it a 41-29 advantage.

    Every run that Imhotep attempted was answered by the Lady Rockets. Audenried scored three straight buckets to end the third quarter with a comfortable 50-35 lead. Imhotep never got closer than nine points in the final quarter.

    Audenried Charter coach Kevin Slaughter reacts as his Lady Rockets near another PPL title.

    “As a team, our sets and our stuff we were trying to run, we were not doing it right,” Slaughter said. “We were not efficient early, but as the game went on, our defense changed the game. Our defense and consistency. We are used to winning.”

    Imhotep continued to hang around midway through the fourth quarter, but Kham stepped up to help Audenried put the game out of reach.

    The 5-foot-1 guard got free for a layup to push the Lady Rockets’ lead back to double digits, recorded a steal a couple of possessions later, and scored another layup to make it 62-48. Kham extinguished Imhotep’s comeback hopes and helped Audenried close out a fourth straight title.

  • South Jersey reacts as Johnny Gaudreau’s jersey is displayed in Team USA’s golden victory

    South Jersey reacts as Johnny Gaudreau’s jersey is displayed in Team USA’s golden victory

    Bob Nark made certain to go to Mass on Saturday night. That way, he would be free Sunday morning to turn on his television to NBC, to United States vs. Canada in Milan, to an unforgettable hockey game with an unforgettable finish, to a celebration that moved him and hundreds more people throughout South Jersey to tears.

    Nark taught chemistry at Gloucester Catholic High School for 48 years, and one of those years, he happened to have Johnny Gaudreau in class. Before Gaudreau was a seven-time All-Star with the Calgary Flames and Columbus Blue Jackets, before he won a national championship at Boston College, while he was forging his legend as the star of stars within the South Jersey hockey community, he was to Nark just a conscientious student who would raise his hand to answer a question when no one would. “Besides being a great hockey player,” Nark, whose son Jason is an Inquirer staff writer, said by phone Sunday afternoon, “he was a great kid. I loved him.”

    So Nark made certain to watch not just the United States’ thrilling 2-1 victory but its emotional aftermath. Jack Hughes scored 101 seconds into overtime. The Americans won their first gold medal since the “Miracle on Ice” 46 years ago. And now three players — Auston Matthews, Zach Werenski, and Matthew Tkachuk — had lifted a Team USA jersey over their heads and were carrying it around the Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena like a flag.

    U.S. star Matthew Tkachuk carries Noa Gaudreau, the daughter of the late Johnny Gaudreau, on the ice after the gold medal win.

    A Gaudreau jersey, with his No. 13 on the back, for the teammate who would have been, for the friend they had lost in August 2024, when an allegedly drunken driver struck and killed Johnny, 31, and his brother, Matt, 29 — on the night before their sister, Katie, was to be married — as they rode bicycles along County Route 551.

    “I was so proud they remembered him for how great he was,” Nark said. “Today brought back a lot of memories, seeing them march his jersey around the ice.”

    That entire postgame sequence — from the players’ gesture with the jersey to their scurrying into the stands to make sure Johnny’s two eldest children, 3-year-old Noa and 2-year-old Johnny Jr., joined them for the team picture — sent a quiver across a region that the Gaudreau family turned into a hockey hotbed years ago. Guy Gaudreau, Johnny’s father, had helped to form the program at Gloucester Catholic, forging it into a powerhouse before Matt eventually coached there, too. All the while, Johnny was the example that every youth coach could hold up to every youngster who was wobbling on skates but dreaming big dreams.

    Team USA honors the late Johnny Gaudreau after winning Olympic gold in Milan

    “Just an inspiration,” former Gloucester Catholic coach Tom Bunting once said. “As a parent, you could tell your players or your kid, ‘Hey, anything’s possible.’”

    The days and weeks immediately after Johnny and Matt’s deaths had been nothing but a trauma for the entire community, a collective mourning that still hasn’t ended. “You never get past something like that,” said Tom Iacovone, Gloucester Catholic’s principal. “Johnny’s and Matt’s impact on us, it’ll never leave.” The challenge since has been to embrace what Ed Beckett, one of Iacavone’s predecessors as principal, called “the deeper Catholic tradition of remembrance, of the living memory of those who have gone before us.”

    Jane and Guy Gaudreau, the parents of the late Matthew and Johnny Gaudreau, at the U.S. team’s semifinal against Slovakia on Friday.

    So there are a golf tournament and fundraisers. There are photos and hockey sweaters hanging on the walls inside Hollydell Ice Arena in Sewell, where the brothers played and coached. And on Sunday, in a city more than 4,000 miles away, across an ocean, there was a moment when Johnny Gaudreau’s jersey and spirit were there for the world to see, a moment that choked the breath of everyone who knew and loved him.

    He never had the chance to compete for Team USA on this stage. These Olympics were the first since the 2014 Games in Sochi, Russia, to include NHL players. But with his family in the arena for the gold-medal game, with the United States’ players clearly keeping him at the front of their minds and the bottom of their hearts, with so many joyous and tender phone calls and text messages traveling among those connected to Gloucester Catholic and South Jersey hockey, Johnny Gaudreau was as alive Sunday as he has ever been since that dark night on County Route 551. After the game, Tom Iacovone took a picture of his daughter, Nora, who is 7 years old. She was wearing a Team USA scarf with the No. 13 on it. He texted the photo to Katie Gaudreau. A great and unforgettable day to remember a great and unforgettable kid, gone too soon.

    Dr. J, the first dunk contest, and the dawn of a new era for the Sixers and the NBA
  • Sixers rookie Johni Broome suffers torn meniscus in Blue Coats game

    Sixers rookie Johni Broome suffers torn meniscus in Blue Coats game

    Rookie big man Johni Broome suffered a torn meniscus in his right knee during the third quarter of the Delaware Blue Coats’ loss to the Maine Celtics on Saturday, the 76ers said Sunday afternoon.

    Broome “will consult with medical professionals to determine the next steps of his treatment plan,” the team said in a news release.

    “Obviously pretty serious injury,” Sixers coach Nick Nurse said Sunday during his pregame news conference in Minneapolis. “I don’t think they’re 100% ready on the next steps quite yet, but he’s going to be out a considerable amount of time. Probably for the remainder of the season, I would think.”

    Broome, the Sixers’ second-round pick in last summer’s draft, had appeared in 11 NBA games and averaged 0.9 points and 1.5 rebounds in five minutes. He had gotten more experience in the G League, where he scored a team-high 27 points in 23 minutes Saturday before the injury. He had a 50-point, 17-rebound game for the Blue Coats last month.

    A 6-foot-10, 235-pound frontcourt player, Broome was an All-American last season at Auburn and the winner of the Karl Malone Award given to men’s college basketball’s best power forward.

  • Lincoln University announces new plans for event safety following homecoming shooting last year

    Lincoln University announces new plans for event safety following homecoming shooting last year

    Lincoln University at its board meeting Saturday announced new safety plans for large events after the on-campus shooting at homecoming last October that left one dead and six others shot.

    No outdoor events will be permitted after dusk, and events will be held within “a controlled environment” so that guests can be screened, Lincoln University Police Chief Marc Partee told the board. The university will employ a zone plan for security with help from Chester County emergency management, the Pennsylvania State Police, and Lower Oxford Township, and at the upcoming Spring Fling event, only one registered guest will be permitted per student, Partee said.

    University officials did not say at the meeting when Spring Fling would be held this year — Partee did not return a call for comment Sunday — but it’s typically in April.

    Lincoln University is facing pressure from its Chester County neighbors after homecoming shooting

    “We’ve … cultivated those relationships that were sorely needed in this area so that we can do what we need to do and protect our students and keep the community itself happy about what we’re doing,” Partee said.

    Lincoln, a historically Black university with 1,650 students in rural Chester County, has been under pressure from its neighbors and Lower Oxford Township to make changes since the Oct. 25 homecoming shooting. Several officials in Lower Oxford had reported ongoing problems with parking, trash on neighbors’ lawns, disturbances, and, in some cases, crime when the university hosts events. After thousands gathered for homecoming, emergency personnel had to use all-terrain vehicles to transport patients on stretchers because ambulances could not access the campus, given how many cars were parked around the venue, they said.

    The township’s board of supervisors has been discussing a plan to enact a special events ordinance. A vote could come as soon as the supervisors’ March meeting.

    Lincoln University is conducting an ‘after-action review’ after fatal Homecoming shooting

    Andrew Cope, who lived near Lincoln for nearly two decades and still owns property there, said Lincoln’s plan is “progress compared to past years,” but that concerns remain. He said there should be screening at the university gates, not just at the entry to an event, and that there was no indication as to how parking and trash will be managed.

    A strong events ordinance is still needed with a permit process, he said.

    “I am encouraged that we have seen a plan come out of the university,” he said. “I need to give them credit for doing something. I’m pleasantly optimistic … but I would still like to see some of the T’s crossed and I’s dotted.”

    Partee said the new plans followed a meeting earlier this month between about 30 people from Lincoln, local and state law enforcement, emergency management, and the township. The Chester County district attorney and county detectives also participated, he said. And the collaboration will be ongoing, he said, as Lincoln plans for other events, such as homecoming

    “We’re getting a lot more resources, a lot more collaboration,” Partee told the board.

    But he said Lincoln ultimately has control over the plan.

    “We’re not stepping back and saying, ‘We had this immense tragedy. Come in and take over,’” he said. “This is still our legacy.”

    The plans also include input from the Student Government Association, he said.

    Events after dark would be moved indoors, he said, noting issues that have arisen after dark at outdoor university events.

    “What you’ll see is, and something that I saw, the crowd changed as the sun went down,” Partee told the board. “Our family started leaving. Other people started coming in.”

    He noted potential sites for outdoor events, such as the auxiliary field with a fence.

    “We’re able to control access to the fence, which means we can screen people coming in,” he said. “We have wands, all of these things that we can put in place to protect the event. We’re working on not having just a free-for-all because free-for-all gives people the impression that they can come here and do whatever they want to do.”

    A sign for Lincoln University on its campus in Chester County.

    He said events will be more structured, noting that students are talking about “zip lines and food trucks” for Spring Fling.

    As for the zone security, Partee said his university police and security would man the “center ring” or “hot zone” for Spring Fling. The outer ring will be covered by Pennsylvania State Police, which have allocated 10 troopers that will be deployed in two-man teams, he said.

    Other patrols will be stationed at areas outside the university gates to monitor illegal parking and other issues, he said. And Chester County, he said, has offered its mobile command post where cameras placed strategically around campus can be monitored and all radio communication can be patched together on one channel, he said.

    “We’re going to have somebody dedicated to just watch cameras from Chester County Emergency Management,” Partee said.

    For larger events, such as homecoming, more safety personnel will be deployed, he said.

    “We’re able to scale it up and down,” he said of the plan. “Spring Fling will be our test case.”