GA’s clutch shooting helps hold off Upper Dublin

FORT WASHINGTON >> After watching a lead whittled down to four points, the Germantown Academy girls basketball team responded.

On three straight possessions, three different players took and sank 3-point shots, pushing the lead back into double figures in another example of the Patriots’ depth and arsenal of weapons. GA needed all of those points later in the game as Upper Dublin tried to make a furious comeback.

The Patriots held, topping the host Cardinals 52-48 to win the Cardinal Classic Saturday afternoon.

“We kept our composure really well and played as a team,” GA junior Jaye Haynes said. “Our bench is so strong, our legs were still there late and we could still play strong.”

The X-factor on Saturday was GA’s sophomore center Becca Booth. The 6-foot-2 Booth scored eight points and had 10 rebounds but also drew the assignment of guarding UD’s all-state center in junior Jackie Vargas.

While Vargas ended with 12 points and was a factor in UD’s fourth-quarter rally, Booth did a solid job defensively and gave GA some important baskets. It was her layup off a feed from Maddie Vizza that put the Patriots 50-44 with 40 seconds left on the clock.

“Before the game, my coaches said push her right, so I tried to do that,” Booth said. “I like playing against people who are around my height because it pushes me to play even better.  It makes me play better, it pushes me more when I guard someone in the post who’s that challenging and makes the game more fun.”

Upper Dublin coach Morgan Funsten knew his team would have its hands full defensively with GA. The Cardinals were well-aware that the Patriots love to shoot off screens and they did a solid job of switching or showing, not giving the GA shooters too much room to fire.

After Rachel Balzer, the tournament MVP, drained a long 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer to send GA into the locker room up 30-22, UD came back strong in the third quarter.

“We were one or two stops away at multiple times in the game, not just when we were playing crazy catch-up in the fourth quarter,” Funsten said. “That third quarter we came out looking great, we just needed one or two more stops. Every time they needed a big shot, they made it.

“I didn’t think we needed to be perfect to win today, but the way they played and the way they shot the ball, we almost needed to be perfect.”

GA shot 10-of-19 from 3-point range in the game, a mark Funsten noted came with a lot of those hits coming in key moments.

After Vargas scored to cut the GA lead to 32-28 with 5:36 left in the third, GA came right back. Haynes fed Balzer for a trey, Vizza hit a pull-up triple and Haynes splashed a 3-pointer off an Elle Stauffer assist to push the lead out to 41-28.

“The energy changed so much,” Haynes said. “It motivated us as a team to keep going and say we weren’t losing this game. They definitely knew a lot of our plays, so we had to adapt and react to that.”

Neither team had a standout scorer, with Balzer and Haynes tying for GA’s high with 10 each, Vizza adding nine and both Booth and Stauffer chipping in eight. Vargas and Dayna Balasa led UD with 12 points while Polin and Kara Grebe had 11 apiece.

A trey by Vizza put the Patriots up 46-32 with 7:37 left in the game, but this time it was UD with the response. Polin canned a three, hit the front end of a pair of free throws and had Vargas rebound the missed freebie for a bucket to get within nine points.

Booth scored in the post on a feed from Stauffer to slow the momentum, but Upper Dublin wasn’t going anywhere.

“I don’t think the pressure got to us, but they were playing hard, they’re state champions, it was going to be a close game so we had to lock in,” Haynes said.

After Vargas forced a steal and turned it into a layup, Polin poked away a steal, then Vargas had another steal leading to a Balasa 3-pointer that cut the lead to 48-44.

Booth was able to find a gap in Upper Dublin’s press and ran under the hoop, where Vizza found her on a lead pass to notch a key basket.

“As a team, we trust each other and feel confident in each other,” Booth said. “We don’t look to score for ourselves, we look for the best shot.

“I was able to sneak behind their players and we focus on looking up the court for an open player, so we all did a good job with that.”

Despite coming out of Saturday with a loss, Funsten felt it was an effort his team could gain momentum from. Even when they went down 14, the Cardinals stayed positive and got themselves back in the game pretty quickly.

“We have to find a way to get big stops and not play the major catch-up game we played but once again, I thought the girls showed a lot of positivity when things weren’t going well,” Funsten said. “Playing in games like this is going to make us better. We can continue to get better and I’m excited for things that are ahead of us.”

GA ends the 2018 portion of its schedule with a 10-0 mark and will head down to New Orelans next week for a couple games.

“It feels great, we’re off to such a great start,” Haynes said. “We bring a lot of energy on and off the court. Our bench is always fired up, that energy is what makes us go.”

GERMANTOWN ACADEMY 13 17 13 9 – 52

UPPER DUBLIN 8 14 10 16 – 48

GA: Elle Stauffer 3 1-1 8, Maddie Vizza 3 0-0 9, Jaye Haynes 3 1-2 10, Rachel Balzer 3 2-2 10, Becca Booth 4 0-0 8, Maddie Burns 2 0-0 14, Jess Moore 1 0-0 3. Nonscoring: Sarah DiLello, Lindsay Putnam Totals: 19 4-5 52

UD: Jess Polin 3 2-3 11, Kara Grebe 4 2-2 11, Dayna Balasa 4 0-0 12, Jackie Vargas 4 4-7 12, Anajae Smith 1 0-0 2. Nonscoring: Meg Barbera, Sarah Eskew, Bliss Brenner. Totals: 16 8-12 48

3-pointers: GA – Vizza 3, Haynes 3, Balzer 2, Stauffer, Moore; UD – Balasa 4, Polin 3, Grebe