Renninger helps Archbishop Wood cruise past Conwell-Egan in home opener

WARMINSTER >> Perhaps the Archbishop Wood girls basketball team’s slow start Thursday night could be attributed to it getting reacquainted with its home court.

The Vikings’ five games in December were all on the road, none of them in Pennsylvania as Wood twice made trips to the Washington, D.C. area with a jaunt over to New Jersey in between.

“After those long stretch of tournaments being away from home for a while, it is nice to get home,” Vikings junior Ava Renninger said. ”And play at home in front of your family and friends.”

Conwell-Egan was Wood’s first opponent of the season from the Keystone State and early in the Philadelphia Catholic League contest, the visiting Eagles held a 9-7 edge before the Vikings finally began to settle in.

Wood finished the first quarter with the last six points and with its defensive pressure overwhelming CEC, the Vikings continued its run into the second period until they had scored 20 straight to build a 27-9 advantage.

“I think it was a little nerves having our first PCL opener,” Renninger said. “But in the second quarter we started to get back into the rhythm of things and now we’re back in our home gym so we’re comfortable.”

Archbishop Wood took a 21-point lead into halftime then started the third with a 9-0 burst as it rolled to a 68-32 victory.

“It’s our first home game, it’s our first game in a long time, since New Year’s – had three days off over the New Year’s break – so I’m sure rust is some of it,” Wood coach Mike McDonald said. “But I told them we have to be ready to come out, you don’t want to give anybody a chance to get momentum and hope as we call it because that’s where games can get scary. So if you’re supposed to win that big, we want to come out and do it right away. But I’m proud of their effort.”

Archbishop Wood (4-2, 1-0 PCL) started the year with victories over Bullis School (Md.) and Maret School (D.C.) at the She Got Game Classic in the D.C. area before going to 3-0 by beating Bishop Ireton of Virginia at the Shore Games in New Jersey.

The Vikings’ second visit to D.C. for the St. John’s College-hosted Holiday Hoopla ended with losses to Georgetown Visitation Prep (D.C.) and Paul VI (Va.).

“We’re used to kind of traveling and doing this,” McDonald said. “The difference is we play some of these other teams, we say their Xs are bigger, meaning like Xs and Os, when they’re putting their Xs out it’s like they’re 6-1, 6-2. Some of the kids are just, it’s a matchup problem for all of us which makes our kids have to play with a different sense of urgency because if they’re not doing their work early, if they’re not tough, not smart it’s going to be an uphill battle. Which is kind of what Paul VI taught us the other day.”

After claiming its second straight PIAA-4A championship last year, the Vikings (4-2) enter January still sorting out roles and lineups, having to replace a pair of all-state selections in Ryanne Allen and Bri Bowen. Wood, however, does so with the benefit of a deep roster that includes all-state senior Albany commit Deja Evans and can share in the scoring responsibilities.

“Going into the season as coaches we felt like I could just be a balanced season where one kid might have 12 to 15, another kid might have eight, another kid has eight or a kid could have 20 if they’re leaving her open all night one night,” McDonald said. “But it could be a different kid every night for us this year and we’re OK with that.

“We’ve had that in the past, the last couple years we’ve had some pretty talented kids in Ryanne Allen and Kaitlyn (Orihel), things like that that have scored for us. This year we feel really good about our balance and on any given night one kid could go off if the other team decides to leave them open.”

In ending its two-game losing streak Thursday night, the Vikings had 11 players record at least two points with three ending up in double figures – Emily Knouse leading the way with 13 while Renninger and Allie Fleming both added 12.

“With obviously those players leaving we knew we had to fill in those roles and I knew I could fill in one of those roles,” Renninger said. “So I tried the best I can and I know all the other players are trying the best they can to fill those roles and just together as a team I think we’re filling them.”

Renninger – in her second year at Archbishop Wood after transferring from Central Mountain – provided Wood with its first five points, the point guard also collecting steals and pushing the pace off Egan misses as the Vikings raced away thanks to its 20-0 run in the first half.

“She’s the floor general, mature beyond her years,” said McDonald of Renninger. “Her work ethic has been incredible in the offseason too – 6 a.m. workouts, three hours, I mean lifting, working out, playing basketball then going to AAU practice, things like that. She really wants to be good at it and again just mature, great kid off the court and a great kid and great teammate on the court.”

Renninger had two of Wood’s 10 3-pointers, hitting her second for her last points of the night to give the Vikings their largest lead of the first half at 37-15.

“I think the biggest thing I’ve worked on this year is confidence,” Renninger said. “Looking to take my own shots too because last year I didn’t have as big as a role and this year I do. So just looking to attack more and take those better shots cause I have the role this year.”

Lily Milewski scored all nine first-quarter points for Conwell-Egan and finished with a game-high 16 points for the Eagles (6-5, 0-1), which lost their third straight.

Conwell-Egan hosts Gwynedd Mercy 1:30 p.m. Saturday while Archbishop Wood faces New Jersey’s Manasquan in the Blue Star Invitational 11:50 a.m. Sunday at Jefferson University.

A Milewski basket inside had CEC leading 9-7 but Evans collected a rebound and took it down the court for two and a foul to tie the game at 2:01 in the opening quarter. Knouse put Wood up for good then made it 13-9 at the end of the period with her breakaway layup after stealing an inbound pass.

Kara Meredith began the second quarter draining a 3-pointer with two Fleming free throws and a Renninger basket extending Wood’s lead to 20-9.

Two at the line from Meredith at 5:52 followed by a Knouse trey and Lauren Tretter’s fast-break bucket made it 27-9 before CEC finally snapped the Vikings’ run with two free throws by Molly Milewski at 4:15.

Up 37-16 at halftime, Meredith converted a 3-point play 11 seconds into the third while Fleming scored the next six, knocking down a trey before her 3-point play at 6:38 made it 46-16. Wood’s lead got as large as 40 at 68-28 in the fourth.

Archbishop Wood 68, Conwell-Egan 32
Conwell-Egan 9 7 5 11 — 32
Archbishop Wood 13 24 17 14 — 68
Conwell-Egan: Lily Milewski 7 1-1 16; Brianna McFadden 1 3-3 5; Brooke McFadden 1 1-2 3; Sara Aschenbenner 1 0-0 2; Kyliyah Carmichael 0 2-2 2; Ariella Parks 1 0-0 2; Molly Milewski 0 2-2 2; Totals 11 9-10 32.
Archbishop Wood: Allie Fleming 4 3-3 13; Emily Knouse 5 0-0 12; Ava Renninger 4 2-2 12; Kara Meredith 2 3-3 8; Delaney Finnegan 2 0-4 5; Deja Evans 2 0-3 4; Lauren Greer 2 0-0 4; Sophia Topakas 1 0-0 3; Alexa Windish 1 0-0 3; Campbell McCloskey 1 0-0 2; Lauren Tretter 1 0-0 2; Makayla Duffy 0 0-2 0; Totals 25 8-17 68.
3-pointers: CE-L. Milewski; AW-Fleming 2, Knouse 2, Renninger 2, Finnegan, Meredith, Topakas, Windish.