GIRLS BASKETBALL: Spring-Ford grinds out win over Boyertown

Boyertown’s Kaitlyn Eisenhard and Spring-Ford’s Shelby Mueller battle for a rebound in the first half of Thursday’s PAC-10 girls basketball game. (Photo by John Strickler/The Mercury)

By Darryl Grumling
dgrumling@pottsmerc.com

ROYERSFORD — The Spring-Ford girls basketball team has piled up wins this winter in many different ways.
There’s the tremendous transition attack that has decimated many an opponent.
There’s the superior skill level that has enabled the Rams to run the table so far in Pioneer Athletic Conference play.
There’s the formidable frontcourt, headed by senior Sarah Payonk and junior Shelby Mueller.
There’s the blistering backcourt, led by Sammy Stipa, Brittany Moore and Sammi Haas.
And then there’s that bevy of bench talent, most notably Courtney Hinnant and Maggie Locke.
Thursday night, though, the Rams broke out their hard hats and lunch pails on the way to a blue-collar, workmanlike defensive effort that dispatched archrival Boyertown, 52-34.
Mueller scored 12 points to lead a typically balanced attack that also got 11 points apiece from Payonk and Stipa as Spring-Ford (11-0, 16-2 overall) clinched the top seed in next month’s Pioneer Athletic Conference Final Four playoff tournament.

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