Villa Maria’s defense gives undefeated Conestoga fits in Pioneers’ 43-41 win

Tredyffrin – Villa Maria Academy’s aggressive defense kept the pressure on undefeated Conestoga Tuesday evening, as the Hurricanes rolled to a 14-8 first-quarter lead and kept battling all the way to the final second.
The Pioneers (14-0) eked out a 43-41 win – a last-second three-point attempt by Villa Maria in the final second missed to the right – and Conestoga knew it had been in a tough battle.

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Villa Maria head coach Kathy McCartney said, “Coming into this game, we were using this [contest] as a benchmark, as a way to ask ourselves, ‘Are we are getting better?’ By the end of this game, I’d have to say the answer was a resounding, ‘Yes!’
“I’m happy with the way we battled. Our offensive execution was not great, but our transition game was good – we scored a lot of points in transition.”
After leading 14-8 at the end of the first quarter, Villa Maria (10-5, 5-1) hung tough with the Pioneers the rest of the game, trailing Conestoga by only two points at halftime and taking a 36-35 midway through the fourth quarter.
Conestoga head coach Chris Jeffries said, “At halftime, our [locker room] talk was about character. Sooner or later, you’re going to have an off night, and then the question is, ‘Did you do what you had to do to win?’ And we did that tonight. Julia Weiss hit a big free throw [with 19 seconds left]. Liz Scott was grabbing loose balls all over the place, and inbounding the ball against Villa Maria’s defense without a single turnover. [Senior forward] Emma Powell and [junior 6-5 center] Katie Mayock were great inside and at the foul line.”
Mayock scored 19 points, grabbed a number of key rebounds and shot 7-for-7 from the free throw line. Powell finished with 11 points, and her back-to-back inside baskets at the beginning of the second quarter put Conestoga back into the game after the Hurricanes’ 14-4 run ended the first period.
During Villa Maria’s fiery first quarter run, a trio of Hurricane forwards did all of the scoring – freshman Paige Lauder, sophomore Abby Walheim and senior Marissa Picinich. Lauder triggered a couple of takeways, then drove in for layups; Walheim was on her way to scoring 17 points (including three treys); and Picinich was tough in the middle, finishing the game with 12 points.
“[Picinich] did a nice job battling on the glass against a bigger foe tonight,” noted McCartney.
Villa Maria ran into a little foul trouble in the third quarter, and Conestoga surged to a 30-21 lead midway through the third quarter for its biggest lead of the night.
But the Hurricanes clawed back with a 13-4 run (10 of the points were scored by Walheim, including a pair or treys) to tie the game at 34-34 midway through the fourth quarter.
Powell made a free throw to give the Pioneers a 35-34 lead, but when Villa Maria’s Morgan Warley nailed a short basket from inside, the visitors had a 36-35 lead. It was the Hurricanes’ last lead of the night.
“Kudos to Villa Maria, their young kids played well,” said Jeffries. “Kathy {McCartey] has been coaching them for 30 years, and has had a lot of success there over the years. … I think in the second half, we used our size [better].”
Powell scored inside to give the Pioneers a 37-36 lead; and then following a Villa Maria turnover, Conestoga guard Sarah Mascioli put up a three-point attempt from the right corner that did a 360 degree turn around the hoop, then dropped in, as the hosts took a 40-36 lead with 2:02 left.
Mayock added to the Conestoga lead when she pulled down an offensive rebound, then a few seconds later was fed perfectly for a short layup to give the hosts a 42-36 advantage.
Villa Maria wasn’t finished. Picinich scored inside to make it 42-38 with 28.6 seconds left, then following a Conestoga turnover three seconds later, Walheim hit a three-pointer from the left side to make it 42-41 with 20.8 seconds left.
With 19.1 seconds left, Pioneer junior Julia Weiss was fouled, and her free throw gave Conestoga a 43-41 lead.
Villa Maria brought the upcourt one last time, but a last-second shot from three-point terriory missed to the right.