Sheehan, Cardinal O’Hara too much for Lansdale Catholic

LANSDALE — Maybe on another night, the Lansdale Catholic girls basketball team would have given Cardinal O’Hara a tough contest.

But the way the visiting Lions came out shooting Friday, there wasn’t much the Crusaders could do in the Philadelphia Catholic League matchup.

O’Hara came out on fire, knocking down five three-pointers in building a 25-10 lead after a quarter and cruised from there for a 64-34 victory.

“Normally, that’s the way we beat teams. We try and spread them out and shoot,’ Lions sophomore Mary Sheehan said. “And when our shot’s off, we try and penetrate, but so far we’ve been pretty lucky, we’ve hit some shots. And that’s a great way to start off a game, hitting them.

Sheehan finished with a game-high 18 points — all in the first half — while Maura Hendrixson chipped in another 13 points for the Lions (18-2, 9-1 league), who led by as much as 36 in earning their fifth straight win.

Abby Ward led Lansdale Catholic (12-10, 7-5) with seven points. Lauren Crim added six for LC, which now waits to find out its seeding in the PCL playoffs. O’Hara, meanwhile, hosts Archbishop Wood Sunday then visits Bonner-Prendergast Wednesday.

“We’re excited,’ Sheehan said. “Both games are rescheduled games from (being) snowed out, so that (was a) big disappointment, so I think we’re going to be really motivated going into the games because we’ve been waiting so long to play them.’

Lansdale Catholic had a lead in the contest at 2-0 after Lexie Ferko inside bucket. O’Hara collected the next five before Kim Talley scored to pull LC to within one. But from there, the Lions got things going on offense.

Sheehan and Hendrixson hit three-pointers to make it 11-4 — forcing a Crusaders time out at 4:10. Another Sheehan trey and a Hendrixson easy layup off a backcourt turnover put O’Hara up 16-6.

Mackenzie Gardler buried the Lions’ fifth three-pointer of the quarter for a 21-8 edge. After a Sheehan jumper off an inbounds had the Lions up 15, Talley connected from the baseline, but a foul-line jumper by Hannah Nihill made it 25-10 entering the second.

As the Crusaders continue to miss, Cardinal O’Hara pushed its advantage higher — going up 34-13 on a Bridgette Hoy three. A free throw from Kristen Denoncour gave the Lions a 41-15 lead at intermission.

“That was probably one of our best shooting halves we’ve had this whole season,’ Sheehan said. “Probably not defensively, the second quarter was probably our better defensive quarter — I think we held them to five points. We gave them some easy shots in the first quarter and they just rimmed out, some unlucky bounces. But, I think definitely it was one of our best halves so far.’

Cardinal O’Hara had its biggest lead in the third as Emily Helms hit a jumper to put the visitors ahead 53-17. With both benches emptied, Lansdale Catholic outscored the Lions 13-9 in the fourth.