Slow starting Villa Maria stymied by Gwynedd Mercy
MALVERN >> In the cinematic world, a sequel is rarely better then the orignial, but Villa Maria head coach Kathy McCartney hopes that a second or third meeting with Gwynedd Mercy on the basketball court is better for her team than the first encounter.
The Monarchs jumped out to an impressive first-quarter lead, then held the Huriicanes at arms length the remainder of the way to stay undefeated with a 37-27 AAACA girls basketball contest Tuesday.
“I said to the kids we weill probably play this team at least two more times,” said McCartney. “If we learn from today, I’m fine with the loss. In the beginning of January, a loss is whatever it is as long you’re amarter because of it.”
Gwynedd improved to 3-0 in the league and 8-0 overall, while Villa fell to 5-3 and had a three-game winning streak snapped.
Villa started out slowly, making just one of 10 shots from the floor to fall behind 12-3 after one. They went without a field goal for the last six minutes of the quarter. Maddie Newell hit two 3-pointers to record six of the Monarchs’ 12 points.
“I’m going to put it off to, and I just said this to my team, we’re competively immature,” said McCartney on the tardy beginning. “This is a big game for us. We’re young and I think we were a little nervous in the beginning, a little star struck and tenative and that cost us. We were down by nine and we lost by 10.”
The Hurricanes had chances, neither team were especially protective with the ball in the first half, combining for 18 turnovers in the first 16 minutes of play. While Villa turned Gwynedd over 11 times, they missed from in close a number of times, squandering a chance to cut into the deficit. Gwynedd held on to gain a 21-9 advantage at halftime.
“I give the team a lot of credit,” said Gwynedd Mercy coach Tome Lonergan. “This is a tough place to play and we settled in when Villa made a run and it got loud.”
Gwynedd continued to build its lead after the break, building the bulge to 26-9 early in the third before taking a 30-17 lead heading into the fourth.
The one bright spot for the Hurricanes was the play of Ella Iacone, who accounted for all eight of their points in the stanza. She finished with a game-high 14 points.
“She battled. I called her out in the locker room,” said McCartney. “She’s the all-star of today’s game because she battled and kept at it. She was undaunted and that’s what we need more of.”
Villa turned up its defensive pressure in the fourth to keep Gwynedd off balaned. They scored the first six points of the fourth to cut the deficit to 30-23. But, Newell scored on a twisting, driving layup and hit the free throw to complete the three-point play to build the lead back to double-digits and smother the Hurricanes’ rally.
“I would have rather played them at their place first,” said McCartney. “We’ll be ready when we play them at their place. It’s tough to lose at home, but we’ll be ready when we play them again.”
Gwynedd Mercy 37, Villa Maria 27
Gwynedd Mercy: Mo. Newell 0-0 0; Lapp 0 0-0 0; Ma. Newell 4 1-1 11; Slork 0 0-0 0; McDonnell 0 0-0 0; Kelly 0 0-0 0; Griffin 3 0-0 9; B. Coleman 3 2-2 8; S. Coleman 2 0-0 5; Lowry 0 0-0 0; Burke 2 1-2 5. Totals: 14 4-5 37.
Villa Maria: Guerson 1 0-2 2; Irvine 0 0-0 0; McHugh 2 0-2 4; Catonia 1 0-0 2; Murphy 1 0-0 2; Iacone 5 1-2 14; Bailer 0 0-0 0; Broadhurst 1 0-2 2; Cronley 0 1-2 1; Carroccio 0 0-0 0. Totals: 11 2-10 27.
Gwynedd Mercy 12 9 9 3 — 37
Villa Maria 3 6 8 10 — 27
3-point goals: M. Newell 2, Griffin, S. Coleman
