Mount Saint Joseph edges Gwynedd Mercy behind Niekelski’s strong 2nd half

LOWER GWYNEDD >> Grace Niekelski scored all 12 of her points in the second half as the Mount Saint Joseph girls basketball team took control in the fourth quarter to rally past Gwynedd Mercy for the second time this season, the Magic edging the host Monarchs 48-47 for an AACA victory Thursday night.

“We came out strong in the third quarter, hit a couple shots, got our confidence up,” Mount coach Jim Roynan said. “These girls run a lot on adrenaline and once we got going, made a couple shots and had a couple good defensive possessions, they just kind of dug in and went from there.”

An Alyssa Martin jumper gave GMA a 36-32 advantage early in the fourth but the Mount proceeded to go on a 15-5 run to lead 47-41 after Kelly Rothenberg put back a missed 1-and-1 free throw in the final minute.

The Monarchs (12-7, 7-5 league) pulled within three after a Reganne Flannery 3-pointer from the corner with 8.6 seconds remaining. With 5.7 seconds left, Niekelski made the second of two from the line to give the Magic (9-11, 7-4) a four-point edge — a margin that proved beneficial when Sarah White banked in a desperation three at 3.6 seconds. Mount, however, never inbounded and let the clock run out to hold on by a point.

“I was really happy that I made it,” said Niekelski of her late free throw.

The win gives Mount Saint Joseph a regular-season sweep of its Catholic Academies rival for the second time in three years with the Magic erasing fourth-quarter deficit for both victories this season — coming back from 10 down after three quarters to beat GMA 47-44 on Jan. 11.

“It was almost identical to the last time we played,” Gwynedd Mercy coach Tom Lonergan said. “In the fourth quarter, we stopped controlling the paint. If you looked at the shot chart, all their scoring again it came in the paint. We stopped keeping people in front of us and we started allowing them to get to the foul line.”

Lauren Cunningham paced Mount Saint Joseph with 14 points, hitting three of her four 3-pointers in the second quarter as the Magic won its seconds straight and third in its last four games.

“We scheduled some really tough games out of conference trying to get us to play at a higher level,” Roynan said. “We hung with just about everybody we played — I mean we lost to (West Chester) Henderson the defending District 1-5A champs in overtime. We were within two points of (Cardinal) O’Hara with two-and-a-half to go, we were within two points of Council Rock North with a minute-and-a-half to go.

“So we played some tough teams just to try to toughen the girls up a little bit, I think it’s starting to pay off — it looks like it’s starting to pay off. We played really well against Nazareth (Academy) last night, we came back and had a good game tonight.”

Held scoreless in the opening half, Niekelski’s points after intermission came in quick bursts. She scored six points during an 8-0 run in the third quarter that gave the Magic its first lead of the game at 29-27. Then in the fourth, the sophomore recorded five straight points — a coast-to-coast runner to get the Magic within 39-38 then a 3-pointer from the win to put Mount up for good.

“I think I was just standing around too much in the first half,” Niekelski said. “Moving more in the second half, I could get the ball more and make moves to the basket.”

White knocked down five 3-pointers to score a game-high 15 points for Gwynedd Mercy, which had its five-game win streak snapped. Kaylie Griffin added 11 points.

“Our game plan going was we knew we had to control the paint,” Lonergan said. “They scored 75 percent of their offense last time in the paint or getting to the line. We knew that’s what we had to do and the first half we did that. First half, we forced them to be pretty much outside and second half it was just a different story.”

The Monarchs step out of league play Saturday host St. Hubert at 2:30 p.m. then are home 5:15 p.m. Monday against undefeated AACA leader St. Basil.

“We started to really come around (on) defense, started to do a better job on the defensive glass, keeping people in front of us, being able to mix up our defense,” Lonergan said. “Today, we just had a relapse of just not being able to keep people in front of us.”

Mount Saint Joseph is also home Monday against Villa Maria at 5:15 p.m.

The Monarchs raced out to an early 12-4 lead before a Rothenberg basket inside had the Magic within six at the end of the opening quarter. GMA pushed its advantage back up to eight twice in the second quarter — the second time after a White triple made it 17-9.

“They came out on fire,” said Roynan of GMA. “They’re a good shooting team, we know they’re a good 3-point shooting team and we tried to go with our 3-2 zone a little bit, see if we could spread them out a little bit. They found holes and they knocked down shots. We were rushing on the offensive end, turning the ball over seven times — six times in the first quarter, giving them easy shots.

“Once we settled down, we got into our groove a little bit, figured out what defense we were going to play and the girls found some offense we got our stable footing and went from there.”

Mount chipped away at the margin with an 11-4 run, getting to within 21-20 on the third of Cunningham’s three second-quarter treys. Griffin, however, drove twice for buckets to put GMA ahead 25-20 at halftime.

Two Martin free throws had Gwynedd Mercy leading 27-21 at 6:15 in the third but the Magic ran off the next eight, taking a 29-27 on a Niekelski basket inside. Griffin, however, answered with a 3-pointer to put the Monarchs back up with another triple from Carly Bachinsky making it 33-29.

A Cunningham three had Mount within 33-32 before Bachinsky was fouled after an offensive rebound and her free throw with 0.9 seconds left made it 34-32 at the end of the third.

Mount knot the score at 36 in the fourth off a Lauren Vesey basket off a backcourt steal before White responded with a three for a 39-36 GMA edge. Niekelski’s runner in the lane make it 39-38 with Niekelski burying a three from the wing to put the Magic ahead 41-39.

“I was open and I knew that I made it we’d take the lead,” Niekelski said. “So after I made it, we started to focus in and take a bigger lead after that.”

Taylor Sistrunk got to the hoop for two, extending Mount’s lead to four before  Bachinsky scored inside to make it 43-41.

But Rothenberg hit both ends of a 1-and-1 with 1:42 left and when Mount missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 57.4 seconds, Rothenberg grabbed the rebound for a putback to extend the lead to 47-41.