Hoover leads Mount St. Joseph past Merion Mercy
SPRINGFIELD >> That’s now back-to-back solid wins for the Magic, and it was once again Julie Hoover holding the wand.
“This is the second game in a row where she’s just been the leader,” Mount St. Joe’s coach Claire Perry said of her senior guard. “It’s been awesome to see — the composure, everything. And she was handling it. And going hard to the basket like it was nothing.”
Hoover’s ball handling, defense and game-high 20 points propelled Mount to a 49-36 victory over Merion Mercy Thursday night in a Catholic Academies League game at MSJ.
“We start five seniors, and it was our second-to-last home game, so we’ve been talking a lot about playing for each other,” Hoover said.
The playoff-minded Magic (11-10, 7-4 league) blew the game open in the third quarter, and fittingly it was Hoover who began the push.
Her drive to the basket and free throw completed a three-point play, extending Mount’s lead to double digits for the first time, 25-15. She then got into the Merion passing lane, made the interception, and took it coast to coast to boost the margin to 12.
Another drive by Hoover made it 29-17 moments later.
“We got a lot of steals and easy points in transition,” Hoover said of the defense, which buckled down and held the Golden Bears to just six points in the third. “Our goal is always to keep the opponent under 40 points.”
Mount was closing in on 40 points early in the fourth, with a jumper by Ashley Smith putting the Magic in firm command, up 35-19. A layup by Hoover followed by sharp passing and a Hoover-to-Ashley Smith-to-Megan Dodaro connection helped make it 42-26 midway through the fourth.
“There’s more and more glimpses of it,” Perry said of what she hopes her team can become, “and now I just think we need to put it all together. Consistency is still a thing, still working on putting together that whole, four-quarter game.”
After trailing 6-2 early, Mount used a 9-0 run to take control.
Grace DiGiovani’s steal at midcourt and ensuing layup started to turn things around for the Magic, pushing them in front 8-6. DiGiovani later sank an open three to extend the margin to 11-6.
Said Hoover: “Grace did a really good job coming off the bench because we needed a little bit of a spark.”
Jada Smith’s layin at the buzzer tightening things up to 11-8 at the end of the first for Merion (8-10, 4-7 league).
More Magic defense shaped the second quarter, as Mount allowed Merion to convert on only two shots from the field.
Meanwhile, Hoover got going at the other end for Mount, snapping a pass inside to Grace Gelone for two and then hitting a three to give Mount its biggest lead to that point, 18-10.
Hoover drove through traffic and layed it in to produce the final points of the first half, with Mount in front 22-13.
“Even thought we lost on Saturday to Spring-Ford, we played well and it was a good game, and then we beat Villa Joseph Marie on Tuesday and played well again today,” Hoover said, “so that’s the first time we’ve had three very consistent, good games.”
Mount aims to keep it going Tuesday at home against Villa Maria and Merion, which was led by Shannon Carroll’s 12 points Thursday, travels to Council Rock North Saturday.
