Merion Mercy basketball squad enjoying recent success
Merion Station >> The Merion Mercy Academy basketball squad, enjoying its first winning season in five years, has been relying on depth and some dedicated seniors for its recent success.
“This has been a special senior class who have really helped turn around the program,” said Merion Mercy basketball head coach John Richardson. “Merion won three games their freshman year.”
The Golden Bears (12-10), seeded ninth in the upcoming PIAA District 1 5A tournament, are led by senior Lucy Curry (11 ppg, 10 rpg, 2.5 bpg), who has been named to the All-AACA first team this winter. Earlier this season, she was named Main Line Girls Athlete of the Week, and she received All-Main Line basketball honors last year.
Senior point guard Francesca Scarpone, a four-year varsity player, is a solid scorer (8 ppg) who has connected on 40 percent of her three-point attempts and is averaging 83 percent from the free throw line. Junior Mary Kate Gray is a solid scorer (8 ppg) and rebounder (6 rpg).
The Golden Bears’ remaining starters are junior guard Julia Richardson, who has been shooting better than 60 percent in her three-point attempts recently; and senior forward and captain Monica Merenda, who is among the team leaders in steals, rebounds, and 3-point field goal percentage.
“We have the benefit of being able to go 10-11 girls deep,” said John Richardson. “We bring inside presence and rebounding with subs Liv DeLucca and Maeve McMahon. Erin Devlin and Elle Kilgannon give us offense off the bench, and Annie Conway and Maggie Iannone provide additional ball handling at the guard position.”
On Friday (Feb. 18), the Golden Bears will face No. 8 seed Mount St. Joseph’s in the District 1 5A tournament opener.
“Our girls are really excited for the district playoffs,” said John Richardson. “We’ve achieved several of our goals for the season but we want to keep going. Qualifying for the district playoffs was great for our team and we’re focused on preparing this week to compete for 32 minutes against Mount. We’ve talked all season about focusing on one game at a time and this week will be no different.”
