Senour’s two free throws send Gwynedd Mercy past Villa Maria
LOWER GWYNEDD >> With the score tied at 30 apiece, Maura Conroy dribbled down the clock, setting Gwynedd Mercy up for one final shot.
The ball went to senior Danielle Senour, who drove to the hoop, was fouled, and went to the line with just three seconds left in what had been a back-and-forth battle with rival Villa Maria.
“That was a lot of pressure,” Senour said with a smile, “but those are things we work on in practice and we came through at the end.”
Senour sank both foul shots and a desperation heave by the Hurricanes fell short of its mark, as the Monarchs held on for a 32-30 victory over Villa in a Catholic Academies League contest at GMA Saturday afternoon.
“We just worked together, fought through it, and just played basketball,” Senour said of the victory, which lifted the playoff-bound Monarchs to 16-5 overall and 8-4 in the league. “This is a big win for us and we knew we had to have it.
“Hopefully that puts us higher in the seeding for (District 1-3A) playoffs, depending on how we do on Tuesday (at Villa Joseph Marie) — we could possibly finish second.”
Defense was vital for the Monarchs, especially in the final eight minutes. The two teams battled into the fourth tied at 27, neither defense giving ground until a three by Conroy rattled around the rim and fell through, pushing GMA ahead 30-27 with 5:30 to play.
Villa trimmed the margin to two points when Abby Walheim made one of two foul shots, and with 1:55 left, Walheim drove and scored to tie things up.
Conroy worked down the clock, the Monarchs called timeout with 12 ticks left, and Senour was soon at the line for the decisive points.
Senour, headed to Drexel next year for lacrosse, scored eight points in the win for GMA, Carly Heineman led the way with 12 and Conroy added six.
“Our offense wasn’t really coming together at the beginning — we had a lot of fouls so we knew we had to pick it up,” Senour said. “When your offense isn’t working, you gotta rely on your defense to carry it through.”
After a bucket by Paige Lauder matched the Hurricanes’ biggest lead, 25-19, late in the third, the GMA defense — pressing Villa into miscues and turnovers — allowed just five points the rest of the way.
Villa, led by Marissa Picinich’s eight points, went up 12-7 after one when Emily Gillin banked in a three at the buzzer, but the Monarchs drew even by the break.
The Hurricanes (13-8, 9-4 league) led by as many as six in the third, but a pair of free throws by the Monarchs’ Sara White — GMA made 11 of its 15 free throws, including two big ones at the end — again notted things up at 27 apiece heading into the fourth.
“Nine of 19 from the foul line — that’s the ball game right there,” Hurricanes coach Kathy McCartney said of her team’s free-throw shooting. “(The Monarchs) were very good from the foul line. You’re running your offense and you’re getting fouled, which is exactly what you want, but you don’t make them pay by finishing the deal. So we’ll go back and work on it.
“I think we played really good defense today. We made some adjustments from the first time we played them (a 47-37 GMA win) and I thought we played really well on defense. They’re solid,” McCartney said of the Monarchs, “so we’ll play them again next Saturday (in the AACA Semifinals).”
Top Photo: Gwynedd Mercy’s Danielle Senour drives for a shot against Villa Maria’s Murrin Tague and Erin DiDonato during their game on Saturday, Feb. 4, 2017. (Bob Raines/Digital First Media)
