STORY ORIGINALLY ON THE THEREPORTERONLINE.COM ON JAN. 16, 2025 | WRITTEN BY ED MORLOCK

FORT WASHINGTON — Germantown Academy wasted no time jumping all over Agnes Irwin in an Inter-Ac matchup Thursday afternoon.

The Patriots scored the first 15 points of the game and never looked back. They led by double digits for more than 27 of the game’s 32 minutes with the advantage ballooning to over 30 points in the second half.

Germantown Academy grabbed sole possession of second place in the Inter-Ac with a 61-38 win over Agnes Irwin at Germantown Academy’s Griswold Gym.

“I liked our team defense,” GA captain Gabby Bowes said of the fast start. “We came in here saying that we wanted to stop their best players and I think we did that. We had really good perimeter defense and help-side defense. We really did come out ready to play as a team, which is just great in this part of the season.”

The defense forced turnovers on Agnes Irwin’s first three possessions, including a shot clock violation on their third possession. GA forced 15 turnovers in the first half while allowing just 15 points. They kept Agnes Irwin off the scoreboard until the 1:16 mark of the first quarter, when it was 15-0 GA.

Bowes led the Patriots (13-4, 4-1 Inter-Ac) with 17 points. She did all of her scoring in the first half, knocking down five three-pointers. She scored GA’s first six points on back-to-back threes on the Patriots second and third possessions.

“It was my teammates getting me the ball,” she said. “I can’t shoot if my teammates aren’t getting me the ball. I just appreciate every single one of them with the inside-outside game. We share the ball like a team and I just love my team. We really do play team basketball.”

Taylor Williams and Jo Owens joined Bowes in double figures, scoring 12 and 10 points, respectively. Williams grabbed six rebounds and Owens had five.

Hadley Zweiback led the Owls (9-7, 3-2 Inter-Ac) with nine points while Milan Harvey and Bailey Perkins each added eight. Perkins had nine rebounds.

The win is GA’s seventh straight going back to Jan. 5. They beat Shipley School, Hill School, Springside Chestnut Hill Academy, Episcopal Academy, Bishop Shanahan and Baldwin School before handling Agnes Irwin.

The Patriots last loss was Jan. 3 against Notre Dame, which is undefeated and sitting in first place in the Inter-Ac. That was a tight game throughout until Notre Dame opened up in the fourth quarter for a 51-43 win. The rematch is Tuesday, Jan. 21, at Germantown Academy.

“Our chemistry has definitely gotten better as we’ve gotten later into the season,” Bowes said. “That was huge for us – just getting our chemistry together and playing as a team.

“We’re ready (for the Notre Dame rematch). We’re excited. We’re coming off a really good winning streak, so we’re definitely really excited.”

Germantown Academy 61, Agnes Irwin 38

Agnes Irwin 5 10 7 16 – 38

Germantown Academy 19 22 13 7 – 61

AI: Harvey 3 1-3 8, Zwieback 3 2-4 9, Seibert 1 3-4 6, Comley 1 0-0 3, Perkins 4 0-0 8, Lynch 0 2-2 2, Nelson 0 0-0 0, Connelly 1 0-0 2, Aboud 0 0-0 0. Total 13 8-13 38.

GA: Harrington 1 0-0 2, Kolecki 2 0-0 4, Williams 6 0-0 12, McKee 2 2-3 6, Bowes 6 0-0 17, Fox 2 0-0 5, O’Connor 1 0-0 2, Weber 0 0-0 0, Owens 5 0-0 10, Beggs 1 0-0 3, Gofrey 0 0-0 0, Bibro 0 0-0 0. Total 26 2-3 61.

3-point goals: AI: Seibert, Harvey, Comley, Zwieback. GA: Bowes 5, Fox, Beggs.