Mount St. Joe’s holds off Radnor in District 1-5A Third-Place Game
FLOURTOWN >> Mount St. Joe’s turned up the pressure and it showed. Takeaways transformed into fast breaks and easy buckets.
The Magic rolled early, withstood a big run from Radnor late, and held on for a 50-41 victory over the Raiders in the District 1-5A Third-Place Game Saturday.
“It’s our 20th win and our last home game, so for us seniors, it was exciting,” said Kelly Rothenberg, who scored a game-high 14 points for the Magic. “Our coaches told us we had to get out and run on them. We saw them play against Great Valley so we knew how to beat their press and if we ran, we would get wide-open looks.”
Both squads now head to the PIAA-5A Playoffs. Mount (20-8) got back to playing the type of defense that propelled the squad throughout the season.
“We wanted to come out and put some pressure on them and attack,” Magic coach Matt Feeney said. “I felt we were a little bit passive in our last game so we wanted to try and apply more pressure.”
Early surge >> Mount had two big bursts in the first quarter.
Rothenberg found her way to the basket early, scoring twice on layups.
Mount’s defense kicked in right away, a breakaway layup by Lauren Vesey stretching the lead to 8-2.
Radnor then began to settle in, a three by Caitlin Higgins bringing the visitors to within 8-7.
Then came the other big burst by Mount.
Its defense creating turnovers and spurring fast breaks, Mount went on a 7-0 run, with a pretty Taylor Sistrunk-to-Rothenberg-to-Audrey Bryce passing combination getting the run going.
Grace Morrow came off the bench and contributed right away, making a bucket, and another steal and layup by Vesey widened the gap to 15-7.
Mount finished the first quarter up 16-8.
The Magic stayed in control into the second, their defense keeping Radnor in check.
Mount closed out the first half strong, with Kiersten Pumilia snapping a quick pass to Niekelski, her basket boosting the margin to double digits at the break, 25-15.
Pulling away >> Mount blew the game open in the third quarter.
A drive by Sistrunk got the Magic going, and then moments later Sistrunk set up Rothenberg for an easy two, and the lead was at 29-17.
Rothenberg drove in for a bucket and soon after Vesey drained a three, stretching the lead to 35-17.
A jumper by Georgia Pickett and two free throws by Niekelski helped give Mount a 39-24 advantage entering the final quarter.
Here come the Raiders >> But Radnor had a run coming.
“They’re a good basketball team,” Feeney said. “They didn’t get to the third-place game for no reason.”
The Raiders chipped away with baskets by Ellie Rinehart and Brienne Williams, and when Williams hit a three with about three minutes to play, suddenly Mount’s lead was down to 42-38.
“We picked up the energy, the bench got louder, and our shots started falling,” Raider senior Julia Rigolizzo said. “I feel like our confidence was low in the beginning, and then we realized we can play with them.”
Radnor, which got seven points each from Williams and Ellie Mueller, played a tremendous fourth quarter.
Mount stayed composed, building the lead back up, free throws by Niekelski and Sistrunk key down the stretch.
“We just knew we had to settle down and relax, and just play our game,” Rothenberg said. “It’s good to get the momentum (with this win) because it was really down after that loss to Springfield.”
District 1-5A Third-Place Game
Mount St. Joe’s 50,
Radnor 41
Radnor 8 7 9 17 – 41
Mount 16 9 14 11 – 50
Radnor: Brienne Williams 2 2-3 7, Cierra Hopson 2 0-0 4, Ellie Rinehart 2 0-0 4, Julia Rigolizzo 0 2-4 2, Ellie Mueller 2 3-4 7, Caitlin Higgins 1 0-0 3, Ellie Davis 1 0-0 2, Ava Gummel 1 1-2 4, Sally Austen 3 2-2 8. Totals 14 10-15 41.
Mount: Audrey Bryce 1-2 3, Grace Morrow 1 0-0 2, Kelly Rothenberg 7 0-1 14, Taylor Sistrunk 3 4-6 10, Lauren Vesey 3 3-6 10, Grace Niekelski 1 7-10 9, Danielle Dodaro 0 0-2 0, Georgia Pickett 1 0-0 2. Totals 17 15-27 50.
3-pointers: R-Williams, Higgins, Gummel; M-Vesey.
Follow Kev Hunter on Twitter @khunter10
