Bishop Shanahan shoots way past Unionville in Ches-Mont semifinal

WEST CHESTER >> For an outside shooting team like Bishop Shanahan, when the 3-pointers start to fall, its a very hard team to beat.

For the first two quarters in the Ches-Mont League Girls Basketball semifinal against Unionville on Saturday at West Chester’s Hollinger Fieldhouse, they fell enough for the Eagles to give them a lead that they wouldn’t relinquish for a 55-44 victory.

The win pushes Shanahan’s record to 20-3 abd set up a titanic clash with West Chester Rustin at West Chester at 6 p.m. on Tuesday. They are the top two teams in the District 1 5A Power Rankings.

“Most teams would be hard to stop when shots fall,” said Shanahan coach Jim Powers. “If we get our shots falling, it makes it rough on the other team.”

It definitely wasn’t easy on the Unionville side for coach Fred Ellzy.

“When the threes start falling so does my heart start falling,” he said. “I know they’re a very good oustide shooting team and that’s what we were working on. Hopefully, we would get a little luck with them missing and we’d be able to step up and defend it.”

The Eagles made nine 3-pointers for the game — eight of them in the first half.

“I thought we definitely fought hard and worked together to get open shots,” said Abby Wolf, who finished with 11 points.

Shanahan took control in the first quarter, going on a 13-0 run over a four-minute span. Trailing 4-3, Ambrose and

Alexa Bojko hit back-to-back efforts from deep to take a 9-4 lead, one that they wouldn’t surrender.

Five points from Wolf and and a bucket from Alyssa Brown closed the surge for a 16-4 advantage,

The Longhorns (18-5) did score four of the last seven points of the quarter to trail 19-10 after one.

Shanahan got into foul trouble in the second as Unionville got back into the game with a 6-3 spurt to slice the deficit to 22-17. But, Shanahan closed the half on threes from Wolf and Bojko to bump the lead to 28-17 at the break.

“The foul situation was a problem and they were able to battle through it and make sure we had that double-digit lead going into halftime,” said Powers. “Some kids really stepped up. They played hard. They took the adversity and pushed through it. Unionville got back in it, but they didn’t panic. They kept attacking, attacking and some shots started to fall.”

They kept the Longhorns at bay for the third quarter as the Eagles led by double-digits for most of the quarter, leading 39-26 after three.

Unionville did try to make a late run as Riley Angstadt scored consecutive baskets to trail 49-40 with 1:27 left.

Shanahan saw the lead cut to 51-44, but scored the game’s final four points to close the game out.

Angstadt led the Longhorns with 18 points and Ellzy spoke very highly of his senior.

“Riley is our engine and I will miss her when she’s gone,” he said. “She’s everything for us.”

The Eagles now prepare for a rematch of last year’s final, won by Rustin. But, Shanahan was missing two starters last year, and Powers feels a healthier team may turn the tables.

“This year I feel a little more confident because last year, we had two starters on the bench,” he said. “Now ehen we play them this time, we’ll have two starters back. It will give us a little better chance, But, we’ll see. They’re tough.”

Bishop Shanahan 55, Unionville 44
Unionville: Lang 3 4-6 10; Amoss 0 1-2 1; D’Angelo 0 0-2 0; Johnson 3 0-0 6; Angstadt 8 0-3 18; Megill 3 1-2 7; Della Barba 0 2-2 2; Menniger 0 0-0 0. Totals: 17 8-16 44
Bishop Shanahan: Ambrose 5 4-7 19; Wolf 3 2-2 11; Brown 5 0-3 11; Bojko 5 0-0 12; Griffin 0 0-0; Blumenthal 3 0-0 6; Oswald 0 0-0 0; Hubiak 0 0-0 0. Totals: 21 6-12 55.
Unionville 10 7 9 18 — 44
Bishop Shanahan 19 9 11 16 — 55
3-point goals: Angstadt 2, Ambrose 3, Wolf 3, Bojko 2, Brown.