— COLLEGEVILLE —Emma Kaercher is well-steeped in Spring-Ford basketball.
As a third grader in the Royersford-area school district, she went to see Lucy Olsen play for the first time, the future Villanova and Iowa standout then just a sophomore with the Rams. And a spark was lit.
“I was inspired and I just wanted to be just like her, play in front of everyone,” Kaercher said. “It’s been a dream to play and to help bring a PAC championship back there.”
Throughout her elementary and middle school years, she cheered on a Spring-Ford program which won the state championship in 2021, Olsen’s senior year, then developed another pair of Division I prospects in Anna Azzara (Wright State) and Mac Pettinelli (St. Bonaventure). She arrived as a freshman last year, eager to contribute, but knowing it wouldn’t be immediately, spending her first year of high school ball swinging between the junior varsity lineup and the end of the varsity bench…