Seniors lead GMA to second straight district title

HOLLAND >> When Tom Longergan arrived at Gwynedd Mercy Academy three years ago, he realized his group of sophomores had all the talent needed to take the program to new heights.
There were some setbacks, like Brigit Coleman tearing an ACL as a sophomore, and some work, like changing Erica DeCandido’s mindset on offense, but that first year did set the foundation. The next year, the Monarchs were District I champions.
Now in Year Three, they did it again and it was the four seniors, Coleman, DeCandidio, Maggie Cameron and Mary Claire Casey as the cornerstones. Led by the vets, GMA handled Villa Maria 54-37 Saturday at Council Rock South to win its second straight Class AAA title.
“The last thing we said to them as we were walking out was to remember the seniors and we reminded the team it was for the seniors,” Lonergan said. “Everybody knew how exciting and how sweet it was last year to win the district for the first time so I said it would even be that much sweeter to do it a second time.”
After a slow start, GMA as usual leaned on its defense to get rolling. The Monarchs were relentless on the defensive end, swarming all over Villa’s ballhandlers and post players on the occasion that they managed to catch the ball.
Yet, the Monarchs couldn’t pull away because they were missing too many easy makes inside. After opening up a 10-6 lead, the Monarchs watched it get washed away on back-to-back 3-pointers by the Hurricanes, putting them down 12-10 with 1:10 left in the first.
“It was hard in the beginning because we weren’t making a lot of shots but we have great shooters on this team and we just had to keep feeding them,” DeCandido said. “We couldn’t put our head down, we had to keep driving forward.”
But DeCandido did what she’s done all season, going right down the floor and scoring to tie the game, then putting her team back in front with 15.8 left in the opening stanza. After DeCandido stabilized the game, Brigit Coleman built on it. The senior guard poured in eight points in the second quarter, using every bit of her experience to do it.
One possession saw the guard drive, use her body to separate a defender and sink the close-in shot. In the third, she did an homage to Dwyane Wade with a pump-fake to draw a foul, sinking the first shot and the freebie for good measure. Coming into Saturday’s game on a roll, Coleman quickly picked up on what would lead her to a game-high 17 against the Hurricanes.
“There was no one really in the lane so I recognized that and just drove,” Coleman said. “Coach Lonergan told me to tell everyone that there was no one in the lane and let me go.”
“I just try to get to the basket and I know she won’t miss,” DeCandido said. “But just in case on that one rare occasion she does, I want to be there to get the rebound.”
Gwynedd led 30-15 at the half thanks to the defensive work of Cameron and Danielle Senour. Casey, who thrives as a Swiss Army Knife off the bench, also got into the act, using her length and quickness to harass Villa.
“I just try to bring my hustle and energy,” Casey said. “I’ve been working hard in practice with the other girls on the second team and we’ve been pushing the girls on the first team really hard.”
Villa, which scored just three points in the second quarter, found its stroke in the third and only lost the frame by two points. GMA got a number of big plays to keep the Hurricanes at arm’s reach, including Coleman’s three-point play, a Cameron steal and layup off an inbound and a jumper by reserve Megan Dougherty.
While GMA’s lead was never really in jeopardy, the offense did go into a bit of a rut in the fourth quarter, allowing Villa to creep back to 45-30. But DeCandido rectified that by taking the ball to the hole and getting fouled, starting a 7-0 run that put the Monarchs up 52-30.
“You could tell (the seniors) weren’t going to let it slip,” Lonergan said. “When I got them as sophomores, I knew right then they had so much potential.”
That potential has gone fulfilled, and the Monarchs are going back to states. After exiting in the first round last year, their expectation is to take things a little farther this time.
“To their credit they focused on each goal at a time,” Lonergan said. “We’ve got one more tournament. This is it.”