Mount Saint Joseph’s poise shows in close win over Gwynedd Mercy Academy

SPRINGFIELD >> One word adorned the whiteboard in Mount Saint Joseph Academy’s locker room on Tuesday.

Poise.

The first time the Magic faced archrival Gwynedd Mercy Academy, they lacked poise late in the game and ended up losing to the Monarchs. In the AACA, everyone plays twice and finding themselves yet again in another tight game late, the Magic found their poise when they needed it.

Mount’s second half defense and some timely, poised buckets helped the Magic avenge the earlier loss with a 46-41 win Tuesday to split the regular season series.

“Before the game, our coach put the word ‘Poise’ and it was on our minds the whole time,” Magic junior Grace Niekelski said. “We executed that, especially with the ball at the end. We didn’t make any dumb mistakes and did it together.”

Niekelski, who tied for the team lead with 15 points, scored her 1,000^th point in the win on a third quarter foul shot. The junior also got her team on the board with a transition layup after both teams started extremely slowly and didn’t score for more than three minutes to open the game.

For a half, the Magic (13-6, 9-4 league) didn’t have much of an answer for GMA junior Kaylie Griffin. The sharpshooting junior guard would lead all scorers with 21 points, but tormented Mount’s defense in the first half with 12 points, half her team’s total at the break.

“She’s a great player and the more comfortable you let her be, the better she is,” Mount coach Matt Feeney said. “In the second half, we tried not to give her as much comfort. Our approach was really, let’s just make her as uncomfortable as possible. She really is a heck of a player and I thought she was super tonight.”

Niekelski had seven at the break, leaving her a point short of the milestone but it was teammate Audrey Bryce who really gave the Mount a lift. The senior forward was just tough inside, using her size advantage well to score 11 of her 15 points before the intermission.

Aside from a three by Kelly Rothenberg that ended the second quarter, Bryce and Niekelski accounted for all the Magic’s scoring as they went to the break trailing 24-21. Rothenberg came out and scored the first hoop of the second half, then Niekelski drew a shooting foul with 7:05 left in the third.

She sank the first, tying the game 24-24 and reaching 1,000 points.

“I was just so happy I could do this with my team against our biggest rival,” Niekelski said. “It’s just so exciting, it’s amazing that it happened it this early.”

The difference was on the defensive end. Mount senior Taylor Sistrunk, who was limited by two first half fouls, senior Lauren Vesey and Niekelski at times all took turns guarding Griffin and trying to take away what made the Monarchs (12-7, 9-3) comfortable in the first half.

Griffin noted the changes in the defense definitely had her and the rest of her team off-guard.

“They were taking away the opposite side, the opposite side would drop which made it hard to kick to our player on the opposite block,” Griffin said. “That messed us up, we had a couple turnovers and they mixed it up with their 1-2-2 which made it hard to balance the floor and get a good look inside.”

Niekelski hit a three to tie the game 29-29, then Sistrunk scored on a drive for a lead with 2:43 left in the quarter before the Monarchs rallied to take a 35-33 lead in the final minute of the third. Vesey, who had a quiet first half, found Niekelski on a cut to the rim for a tie game in the final seconds and the Magic had some mojo.

Sistrunk drove baseline and scored to open the fourth, then Niekelski got a hoop for a four-point lead, Gwynedd tied it up on a midrange Sarah White jumper and a tough shot from Griffin, but Vesey put her team back up with a steal and layup coming with 2:35 to play.

“We’re using our advantages in athleticism, height and working well together,” Niekelski said “We’re a cohesive group and we’re all friends on and off the court.”

The shot of the game came with 2:10 to play as a result of the poise Feeney asked for pregame. Niekelski passed to a cutting Vesey, who caught the ball under the rim and whipped a quick bounce pass out to Rothenberg in the left corner. Rothenberg fired a three with the ball catching the far side of the rim, caroming up and off the top of the backboard, bounced off the rim three more times and finally dropped in.

“We didn’t do that in the first game, we’ve been preaching it for two weeks and poise was the word for today,” Feeney said. “If we stayed poised and find shooters, we were going to be OK. It’s a credit to the kids because they did just that. This is a fun atmosphere, it’s really the highlight game of the year.”

Gwynedd Mercy doesn’t have much time to wallow, with a key home game against Villa Maria coming up on Thursday. Close losses have bugged the Monarchs all season and Griffin said it’s coming time for the team to start erasing the mistakes that have led to them.

“We need to focus on our defense, remember we’ve beaten them before and get back to it,” Griffin said. “We need to tighten up and get after it.”

MOUNT SAINT JOSPEH 46, GWYNEDD MERCY 41
MOUNT SAINT JOSEPH 9 12 14 9 – 46
GWYNEDD MERCY 12 12 11 6 – 41
MOUNT SAINT JOSEPH: Lauren Vesey 2 0-0 4, Kelly Rothenberg 3 0-0 8, Taylor Sistrunk 2 0-0 4, Audrey Bryce 6 3-5 15, Grace Niekelski 6 1-4 15. Totals: 19 4-9 46.
GWYNEDD MERCY: Kaylie Griffin 9 1-2 21, Sarah White 3 4-6 10, Reganne Flannery 1 0-0 3, Bianca Coleman 1 0-0 3, Sofia Coleman 1 0-2 2, Hannah Griffin 1 0-0 2. Totals: 16 5-10 41.
3-pointers: MSJ – Niekelski 2, Rothenberg 2; GMA – K Griffin 2, Flannery, B Coleman.