Mount Saint Joseph’s first-half shooting too much for Upper Dublin

UPPER DUBLIN >> Mount Saint Joseph Academy built a 13-point halftime lead thanks to eight three-pointers in the first half against Upper Dublin Wednesday afternoon and never looked back, cruising to a 46-31 win at Upper Dublin High School.

The Magic (6-2) hit three three-pointers in the first quarter and five in the second. The long distance success helped turn an 8-6 game late in the first quarter into a 32-19 game at halftime.

“In the locker room we were so excited to play,” Mount guard Lauren Hoffman said. “We brought the intensity right away. We wanted to beat this team especially because they’re a 6A team and we knew it would help us for districts. We tried to get every shot we could. It was good for us, we were making the shots today.”

“That’s the best we’ve shot the ball all year from distance,” Mount coach Matt Feeney said. “We’re a good three-point shooting team and the good news is we have multiple kids that can make the three. You can’t just lock down on one kid because we have a bunch who can shoot it.”

Hoffman hit four three-pointers in the first half. Kiersten Pumilia added two and Erica Martin and Georgia Pickett each had one.

“We know they’re talented, a very good team,” Upper Dublin coach Morgan Funsten said. “Did not think they were eight three-pointers in a half type of team. A little disappointed in our defensive rebounding in the first half. We thought some of those threes came on open looks after maybe a good defensive possession, get them to take a shot maybe they didn’t want to, but then they get an offensive rebound and kick it out for a three. Just made too many mistakes defensively in the first half. It’s very unlike us to be giving up 32 points in a half.”

The Magic maintained a comfortable lead throughout the second half. They held the Cardinals (3-3) to just two points in the third quarter to take a 36-21 lead with eight minutes left.

“We knew we had to shut down (Upper Dublin’s Amy Ngo),” Hoffman said. “We knew she was a big scorer for them. We knew we had to play aggressive, bring intensity. We watched their game (Tuesday against Bishop Shanahan) and saw how they played. We knew what we needed to do and we knew we needed to be aggressive and run the ball, because they like to slow the game down.”

Upper Dublin’s defense gave the hosts a chance in the second half, forcing 11 turnovers and holding the Mount to 14 points, but the Cardinals were only able to trim their deficit to nine, 40-31, before the Magic ended the game with a 5-1 run.

“We just have to find a way to become more consistent in everything that we do,” Funsten said. “(Tuesday against Bishop Shanahan) was about as complete of a game as we’ve played so far. Then today we played well defensively for stretches and then we played very poor defensively. Offensively, we didn’t take care of the ball as well as we should have and we missed some shots. We just have to become more consistent.”

Hoffman led the Mount with a game-high 20 points. Pickett and Chloe McGrorty each added seven points while Pumilia and Martin each had six.

Ngo led Upper Dublin with 12 points. Aditi Foster added six points and Bliss Brenner had five.

Mount Saint Joseph Academy 46, Upper Dublin 31

Mount Saint Joseph Academy 13 19 4 10 – 46

Upper Dublin 6 13 2 10 – 31

MSJ: Pumilia 2 0-0 6, Hoffman 7 2-2 20, McGrorty 2 3-5 7, Martin 2 1-1 6, Birmingham 0 0-0 0, Pickett 3 0-2 7, Smith 0 0-0 0. Total 16 6-11 46.

UD: Brenner 2 1-2 5, Klammer 1 2-2 4, Sarnoski 1 1-3 3, Kleiman 0 0-0 0, Sanders 0 1-2 1, Foster 3 0-0 6, Ngo 5 1-2 12. Total 12 6-11 31.

3-point goals: MSJ: Pumilia 2, Hoffman 4, Martin, Pickett. UD: Ngo.