Mount St. Joseph cruises by Villa Joseph Marie on Senior Day
SPRINGFIELD >> It was Senior Day at Mount Saint Joseph Academy Thursday night and the girls basketball team put on a show in a 49-31 Catholic Academy League win over Villa Joseph Marie.
The Mount led by 14 at the half, but it was the third quarter that really put the game on ice.
Senior Caitlyn Cunningham scored MSJ’s first 12 points in the first four-and-a-half minutes of the second half and assisted on senior Libby Tacka’s layup to give the Mount its largest lead of the night at 26, 43-17, to put the game out of reach.
“After I hit my first couple shots, I just kept going,” Cunningham said. “I was open, so I just shot the open shots.”
“I told them I thought the first six minutes of the third quarter we played our best basketball,” MSJ coach John Miller said. “We were executing all of our plays, everybody was touching the ball, we were getting everybody involved and then at the end we seemed to be making our shots, so that always helps. I thought that six minutes of the third quarter we played extremely well.”
The Magic (17-2, 8-1) defense also did its job against Villa, never allowing the opposing offense to get comfortable and run through its plays.
“Pressure in the backcourt,” Cunningham credited for the defense’s success. “Julie (Hoover) was really doing that, Libby did a good job doing that and we just wanted to pressure their point guard and contain them.”
“We wanted to harass them and make Villa work the full court,” Miller added. “Defense has been our staple the whole season.”
In the final moments of the game, Miller took his seniors out one at a time to get them one last standing ovation on Senior Day.
“It was pretty awesome,” Cunningham said. “I love everyone on this team. We all work great together and we love hanging out with each other. It’s going to be sad when this season ends.”
“It’s always nice to win on Senior Day,” Miller added.
Cunningham led the Magic in scoring with 17 points and Tacka joined her in double figures with 13.
Villa Joseph Marie’s (9-9, 3-8) leading scorer was Emily Keehfuss, who tallied 14 points. Annie Whalen added seven.
The Mount has three key games – all on the road – left in the regular season. It faces St. Basil Academy, a team with two league losses and a win over MSJ already, Gwynedd Mercy Academy, which is tied with the Mount with only one league loss, and Merion Mercy, who played MSJ tough earlier this season and will be playing an emotional final game in its home gym.
“We know we have three tough games coming up Gwynedd, Merion and Basil,” Cunningham said. “We know we have to win these three to get first place in our league. We are definitely focused and looking forward to playing in those games.”
