Bright future for Villa Maria basketball squad
It may take Villa Maria Academy basketball head coach Kathy McCartney some time, but she does see a bright future on the horizon.
For now, she will take time to dissect her team’s disappointing 43-30 loss to Northern Lebanon, the fifth seed from District Three, March 5 in the opening round of the Class AAA state playoffs at Strath Haven.
“We definitely have a bright future,” McCartney said following the contest. “We had to play young players this year and today they made some mistakes young players will make. I’m sure I will look at things differently in a couple of days after I have had time to put things in perspective but I’m disappointed in the way we played. Northern Lebanon is a solid team but I believe this is a game we could have won.
“Today was definitely a winnable game but even though we fell short I am so proud of everyone and it felt great to make the state tournament as a senior,” said co-captain Marielle Picinich. “Not many people expected us to be here and to not only be in the district championship game as a number six seed but to also make the state tournament means so much.”
Fellow senior co-captain Laura Davis added, “It meant a lot to make the state tournament. We were only one of two teams from our league (AACA) to make it this far so I believe it shows how difficult our league is and how hard you have to work to get here. We tried to show the younger players to play with confidence. This game will definitely help them gain confidence for future success.”
Youth has appeared at many inopportune times for Villa and Saturday was one of those days with the Northern Lebanon duo of juniors Megan Brandt and Zoe Berman, who tallied her 1,000th career point who did most of the damage for the Vikings.
Despite the fact the final score did not go Villa’s way, McCartney has plenty to proud of including a nice regular season wins over Archmere Academy (Del.) along with a pair of buzzer beater wins over Lower Moreland and Merion Mercy Academy in the PIAA District One Class AAA playoffs.
“Our seniors did everything for us and taught us to never give up,” said freshman Julia Samar, who hit the game-winning shot against Lower Moreland Feb. 19 in the district playoffs. “They continued to push us every day and I couldn’t ask for anything more.”
With freshmen Abby Walheim and Samar along with juniors Murrrin Teague, Erin DiDonato and Marissa Picinich receiving significant playing time, the future certainly looks bright for the Hurricanes.
