Hendrixson’s long-range assault sparks Cardinal O’Hara

RADNOR >> Facing a tall order is nothing new for this Cardinal O’Hara girls basketball team.

The District 12 champion Lions, who start five players who are listed in the program as guards, faced a much bigger Abington squad, District One’s ninth seed, in the opening round of the PIAA Class AAAA Girls Basketball Tournament Friday night at Archbishop Carroll High.

After three very even periods of play, O’Hara asserted its dominance in the final eight minutes and earned a 55-46 decision over the Ghosts (20-8). The Lions (23-3) will continue state tournament play Tuesday against District 11’s third-place team Easton (23-5), which claimed a 60-52 win over Harrisburg High (21-6), the third-place team from District Three, in another opening-round contest.

O’Hara sophomore Maura Hendrixson, who didn’t make a field goal in the first half, hit three of her four shots after the break, added a pair of free throws and chipped in with a pair of steals and two assists in sharing scoring honors for O’Hara at 13 points with Mackenzie Gardler and Mary Sheehan (seven rebounds, two steals).

Sheehan’s shooting was off, but she battled the bigger and stronger Lizzie O’Leary (7-for-8 from the floor for 19 points and nine rebounds) inside on both ends of the floor. O’Leary has played AAU ball for the Comets with Sheehan, Gardler and O’Hara point guard Hannah Nihill.

Hendrixson picked a good time to get hot Friday night. With 5:10 left in the fourth period, she drained a 3-point shot

to give O’Hara a 46-43 advantage. Two minutes later, with the score tied again, it was Nihill (11 points, five rebounds, four assists) setting Hendrixson up for another 3-ball.

A basket by Gardler and an Abington turnover were the signals for O’Hara coach Linus McGinty to have his players work as much time as they could off the clock.

“I’ve done that before,” Hendrixson said, talking about her first-half shooting woes, which included an air-ball, followed by her second-half accuracy.

“An air-ball, and then I started making everything. You just forget about what happened and keep trying to get open so you can shoot again.”

Molly Paolino, another sophomore who has missed extensive time during the late part of the season because of injuries, got very involved Friday night. She hit two shots for five points, and she was all over the floor creating turnovers by making three steals.

“I just wanted to be able to do something out there,” Paolino said. “At halftime (McGinty) really made us want to win. It was great seeing the way Maura just couldn’t miss (in the second half).”

McGinty was delighted with the play of his 10th graders.

“Maura made those big 3s to get us ahead,” he said. “And this was the first time Molly really looked like herself.

“This was the worst kind of team for us to have to play with all of their size. But we really played great defense in that last period.”

In the last eight minutes, the Lions allowed the Ghosts only five points — three from the foul line — and forced six turnovers.

“We adjusted our defense,” Nihill said. “(McGinty) told us to think of it as a 0-0 game and just play like we know how to play.

“I guess if a team has all that size, you can make sure it doesn’t always matter.”