Girone, Pats thrive in land of AAAA giants

By ERIC S. SMITH

The basketball season had been over for about three weeks, but was still fresh in the mind of Great Valley senior K.C. Curran when she walked into the classroom of her head coach.
There lying on Paul Girone’s desk was a copy of the newspaper from the day after the Patriots’ final game, a disappointing, second-round loss in the PIAA Class AAAA playoffs to Wilson. On the front of the sports section was a photograph of three Great Valley players with their heads in their hands in disappointment.
Upon seeing the picture, Curran demanded, “Get rid of that thing.”
It wasn’t just that the Patriots lost in the playoffs, but it was the way it happened. Great Valley had a nine-point lead in the third quarter but failed to score a single point in the last 12 minutes, and the Bulldogs went on an 11-0 run to earn the win.
“I haven’t watched the tape of that game yet,” admits Girone. “Unless you were there to see it evaporate the way it did, you can’t understand. It has a lasting effect and brings a disappointing feeling.”
“It was one of the only times we gave up a lead so late. That’s what really sticks in my craw. We’ve been so good at holding on to a lead, and it’s something we’ve built upon for the last four years. We just didn’t do it in one game.”
But one game does not tell the story of an entire season. Great Valley ran through the Ches-Mont League American Division with a 10-0 record a captured the league’s first title. They followed the league title with a fifth-place finish in District 1 and then made it to the second round of the state playoffs before the collapse.
All of those accomplishments, along with a 25-5 record, earned for Girone the Daily Local News Girls Basketball Coach of the Year.
He accomplished all of this in four years in an undersized AAAA program. Great Valley has 476 girls enrolled at the school, which is only 19 more than the minimum required for AAAA classification. On top of all that, Girone runs a complex Princeton-style offense.
“I’ve always felt we had to act like the underdog,” Girone said. “If you’re going to beat a team with more talent, you need to play defense with your offense and slow things down. It’s not important to blow a team out, but it’s more important to be methodical and not turn the ball over.
“I come from a time when the Palestra and the Big 5 were at their height, and I always loved watching Pete Carril’s Princeton teams. Instead of watching a 3-point shot, I’d rather watch a backdoor cut. It has a sense of beauty.”
Girone’s team ran the backdoor cuts better than most could dream of running them. And if Great Valley and Girone continue to perfect the system, who knows what the papers will say about the Patriots in years to come.

To contact staff writer Eric S. smith, e-mail esmith@dailylocal.com.