Pope John Paul II prevails over feisty Owen J. Roberts

ROYERSFORD >> Owen J. Roberts, unable to buy a field goal for much of the first half, just wouldn’t go away.

And now it was getting uncomfortably close for PAC-10 Frontier Division leader Pope John Paul II. Unable to put the pesky Wildcats away despite OJR’s scoring difficulties, the Panthers saw their 12-point lead from late in the first half shrink to four on two occasions in the third quarter.

The last time came when OJR’s Maddie Albaugh scored on a lane drive with 2:14 left in the third, making it 30-26 PJP. Shortly thereafter, two PJP players, junior point guard Rachel Yerger and senior guard/forward Gabby Troisi – both of them consistently impactful on both ends of the floor this season – started putting their foot down.

Troisi made a 3-pointer and Yerger a free throw after she made a steal. Those points provided a strong third-quarter finish for the Panthers, and Yerger added another steal and fast-break layup to open the fourth quarter, giving PJP a 10-point lead. Having finally established control, the Panthers maintained it, moving on to a 51-35 homecourt PAC-10 victory Friday night, a margin that did not indicate the degree of difficulty posed by the Wildcats.

“They definitely did catch up, but I knew if we worked well as a team we would win,” Troisi said.

PJP improved to 5-2 in the PAC-10 and evened its overall record at 7-7. Troisi, who attacks the basket, hits outside shots and finds her teammates with crisp passes, scored a game-high 22 points, including 8 of 12 from the foul line. PJP attempted 31 free throws, making 19, but it was PJP’s foul trouble in the second quarter and aggressive OJR’s foul shooting in that frame – 13-of-16, led by forward Taylor Evans’ 6-for-6 – that kept the Wildcats in the game.

“We did well in the first quarter, keeping them from scoring very much and playing defense,” Troisi said. “It was just the second quarter, I think we let off a little bit.”

OJR (5-9 overall, 2-5 in the PAC-10) commendably kept battling harder and harder despite its shooting woes. PJP partly paid for missing some good early opportunities coming from its typical hard-driving, pressing style, and OJR hung around a long while.

Making only field goals through the first two quarters, OJR was down only seven at halftime, 25-18. Some key frontcourt players for PJP like Stephanie Petery were in foul trouble.

“Two of our bigs were in foul trouble, so we knew we had to step it up,” Troisi said.

An inside basket by Evans (17 points) and a free throw from Alexi Arias (seven) pulled the Wildcats within 25-21 early in the third quarter. A putback by Troisi and a floater from Yerger (12 points) pushed the lead back to eight, but back came the Wildcats who, after coming up empty on a three-shot rebound flurry, got a 3-pointer from Evans and a driving bucket from Albaugh to whittle the deficit back to four, 30-26.

After the fast third-quarter close by PJP, OJR never got closer than six. Kylie Cahill’s jumper from the right elbow and Albaugh’s transition hoop cut the lead to 36-30. But PJP then paraded to the foul line, and for the fourth quarter cashed 13-for-18. The Wildcats, after shooting 16 of them in the second quarter, got only two free throw attempts in the second half.

The Panthers, who have good depth and showed it again Friday during the foul trouble, never got into a consistent offensive flow. But their attention to detail on defense and pride in pounding the boards pays off when the shooting isn’t going their way.

“We picked it up in the second half and played as a team,” added Yerger. “Our coach tells us to stay positive when shots aren’t falling.  We have to pick it up on defense.”

“You can do other things to improve in the game other than scoring,” Troisi said. “Defense and rebounding.”