District 1 girls basketball: Second-half rally puts Villa Maria in 5A title game

Radnor >> The boisterous and celebratory chant emanating for the visitor’s locker room at Radnor High School captured the mood quite succintly.
“Villa to the Ship! Villa to the Ship!”
Villa Maria Academy earned that celebration after rallying in the second half to knock off Radnor, 47-40, in the semifinals of the District 1 Class 5A Girls Basketball Tournament on Friday. Maura McHugh keyed the comeback by notchinbg 12 of her game-high 14 points in the second half.
The seventh-seeded Hurricanes (13-11) will face Bishop Shanahan in the championship at Temple University on March 5. It will be the Hurricanes’ first appearance in the final since winning it all in 2019.
“That was a really gutsy win by our team,” said Villa Maria coach Kathy McCartney said. “We dug in on defense, turned them over a lot, converted some stuff in the second half that we didn’t in the first half. A gutsy win.”
Villa outscored the sixth-seeded Raptors (15-8) 21-11 in the final quarter, holding them to 4-of-12 shooting and four turnovers — 17 for the game.
The fourth quarter started with Villa trailing, 29-26, but that quickly changed. Elainia Guerzon scored to cut it to one, then McHugh scored on an excellent cut to the basket to give the Hurricanes their first lead since scoring the first basket of the game at 30-29 with 6:14 left.
Ava Gummel scored to restore Radnor’s lead. Then, Villa took over. A 7-0 run over a three-minute span helped them build a 37-31 lead with 1:45 left. McHugh had two consecutive buckets, buoyed by a Carly Catania basket and a Guerzon free throw.
“We so wanted to get to the championship game, I’m so happy, like so estatic,” said McHugh. “My team pulled it together and we won. I think once we were patient, our fourth-quarter shots started to fall.”
A jumper by Paige Yurchak cut the deficit to 37-33. Then, a key moment happened. Kate Gallagher was called for an intentional foul. Guerzon made two free throws, then Cantania followed with two more on the ensuing possession for a 41-33 advantage with 1:20 to play.
The Hurricanes made 10 free throws in the last two minutes to keep the Raptors at bay.
Another turning point came when Radnor point guard Mary Sareen (13 points) was hurt late in the third quarter. She came back midway through the fourth with her knee taped, but was clearly hampered.
“We struggled down the stretch,” said Radnor coach Rob Baxter. “They made some big plays to get themselves back in, then they kind of took over. It was game over once they started making their foul shots. My point guard falls getting out of the time out. We didn’t lose because of that, but it didn’t help.”
A basket by Ellie Davis with two seconds left provided the final margin, but the Villa didn’t need to inbound again as the horn sounded and the team was joined by the student section, who showed up in costumes and were in full voice all game, to rejoice together.
“Awesome, awesome,” said McCartney. “They were so jacked up at school today. They had a ball up there.”
Radnor controlled things early, and they led 11-5 after one as Davis was big inside with four points. Catania provided some excitement by hitting a shot just inside midcourt at the buzzer.
Sareen tallied seven points in the second quarter as the Raptors took a 20-15 lead into the locker room at halftime.
Radnor now must regroup and face Springfield (Delco) in the playback round Tuesday.
“Our kids play hard and they’re resilient, so I think they’ll come back,” said Baxter. “It’s the first time they’ve been knocked down in a couple of weeks, so hopefully, they’ll pick themselves up and be ready to go Tuesday night.”
Now, Villa gets to face a team they lost to, 72-50, in the second game of the season, for a district title.
“Getting a chance to play for the championship is an honor and a privilege and these kids worked real hard, I think they earned that opportunity,” said McCartney.

Villa Maria 47, Radnor 40
Villa Maria: Guerzon 4 3-4 13; Irving 1 0-0 2; McHugh 5 4-8 14; Catania 3 5-6 13; Murphy 0 0-0 0; Iacone 0 0-0 0; Cronley 1 3-5 5. Totals: 14 15-23 47.
Radnor: Yunchak 1 2-2 4; Gummel 1 0-0 2; Sareen 4 3-4 13; McMahon 1 3-4 5; Davis 4 3-4 11; Bader 1 0-0 3; Gallagher 1 0-0 2; Dole 0 0-0 0. Totals: 14 11-14 40.
Villa Maria 5 10 11 21 — 47
Radnor 11 9 9 11 — 40
3-point goals: Guerzon 2, Catania 2, Cronley, Sareen 2, Bader.