Strong 2nd quarter helps Archbishop Wood top Mount St. Joseph in PIAA-5A first round

WARMINSTER >> The Archbishop Wood girls basketball team found a better way to focus their pent-up energy after a nine-day break in the second quarter of Saturday afternoon’s PIAA-5A first-round matchup with Mount St. Joseph.

The District 12 champ Vikings led just 11-8 after the opening eight minutes but better defensive pressure and offensive execution produced a 13-2 run capped by 3-pointers from Ava Renninger and Emily Knouse that put Wood up 29-12.

“I think we had just a ton of nervous energy,” Knouse said. “And then once we settled down, Kara (Meredith) was making shots, Ava was making shots, everyone, we were dishing it to Deja (Evans) and once we settled in and started doing our own stuff we were good.”

The Magic cut the margin to 13 at halftime and pulled to as close as 10 in the second half but Evans scored 15 of her game-high 19 points after the break to help Wood hold off visiting Mount and keep their run for a third-straight state title going with a 62-47 victory.

“We’ve been off for a while so that first quarter we’re excited to play,” Archbishop Wood coach Mike McDonald said. “I don’t know how nervous they were or not but I think they’re just excited and the energy was amped up to be playing again. So I think they just settled down in the second quarter, moved the ball better and applied a little bit more pressure to them.”

Knouse connected on four 3-pointers in finishing with 16 points while Renninger added 11 points as the Vikings (21-5) advance to face District 1 runner-up Villa Maria – a 48-32 winner over Scranton Prep – in the second round Wednesday at a site and time to be announced.

“We just played like a team at times that’s been off for 10 days I think and it showed,” said McDonald of Wood not playing since beating Freire Charter in the District 12 final 70-23 March 2. “Forty-seven points is a lot of points for us to give up so we have to clamp down a little bit better for Villa Maria Wednesday.”

Georgia Pickett scored 10 of her 16 points in the second half to pace Mount St. Joseph (13-15). Chloe McGrorty had 12 points with Lauren Hoffman chipping in 10 points for the Mount, which reached the state tournament for the first time since 2020 by placing sixth in District 1.

“We didn’t shoot the ball well in the first half period,” Mount coach Matt Feeney said. “We missed five layups that were pretty good looks and there’s 10 points. And they were shooting the lights out from three. So credit to them, their scheme was good, they got the looks, we knew they were going to look for three, we didn’t do a good enough job stopping ‘em.”

An Evans basket then a Knouse 3-pointer to start the third quarter extended Wood’s advantage to 34-16 but the Magic responded with a 10-2 run, consecutive threes from McGrorty and Kiersten Pumilia cutting the Mount’s deficit to 36-26.

Evans scored off a Renninger assist while Alexa Windish converted on a drive then collected two at the line at 2:08 to put Wood up 42-26. Knouse’s fourth triple of the afternoon made it 9-0 burst to give the hosts a 45-26 lead.

“We just really look for each other and if I was open then I was knocking shots and we just look for each other,” Knouse said. “Kara was knocking shots early so we were looking for her, I started hitting ‘em, Ava was hitting ‘em so we just really looked for each other.”

Four straight points from Pickett had Mount St. Joseph down 45-30 entering the fourth. A McGrorty trey then a Pickett basket to start the final quarter slicing the margin to 45-35.

The Magic pulled within 10 twice more, the last time at 49-39 after two McGrorty free throws at 5:44. Evans, however, scored and drew a foul at 5:32 then after Mount missed two foul shots the Albany commit provided another basket for a 53-29 Vikings advantage.

“That’s what we talked about after the game, that we have to use her more down low,” said McDonald of Evans. “We swing it around, we’re jacking shots up – if we’re hitting ‘em, nobody cares but when you’re not hitting ‘em you got to think about what’s easiest for us. So I’d like to go into her a little bit more and put pressure on the defense so we can try to take advantage of that 6-2 kid.”

A Hoffman trey had the Magic within 53-42 but Wood scored the next seven – Renninger making both ends of a 1-and-1 to put the Vikings up 60-42.

“You got to play four quarters and when you have a second quarter like we did, it’s going to come back to hurt ya,” Feeney said. “You leave yourself no room for error – we’re going to have some errors along the way. And there’s an experienced team, we weren’t going to rattle ‘em. They played well.”

In the first quarter, Meredith connected on a trio of 3-pointers, her third giving Wood an 11-6 lead before a McGrorty basket had Mount down three at the end of the period.

Knouse started the second quarter with a trey with an Evans bucket inside increasing the Vikings’ edge to 16-8. After a Picket putback, Wood posted the next seven – back-to-back Renninger baskets, a Delaney Finnegan free throw then an Evans two off a Renninger assist to make it 23-10.

Pickett’s bucket inside had Mount down 11 before threes from Renninger then Knouse had the Vikings’ lead at 29-12. Hoffman twice hit a pair at the line to get the Magic to within 29-16 at intermission.

Archbishop Wood 62, Mount St. Joseph 47
Mount St. Joseph 8 8 14 17 – 47
Archbishop Wood 11 18 16 17 – 62
Mount St. Joseph: Georgia Pickett 8 0-0 16; Chloe McGrorty 4 2-2 12; Lauren Hoffman 2 4-6 10; Emily Birmingham 3 0-0 6; Kiersten Pumilia 1 0-0 3; Totals 18 6-8 47.
Archbishop Wood: Deja Evans 9 1-3 19; Emily Knouse 6 0-0 16; Ava Renninger 3 4-5 11; Kara Meredith 3 0-0 9; Alexa Windish 1 2-2 4; Delaney Finnegan 1 1-4 3; Totals 23 8-14 62.
3-pointers: MSJ-Hoffman 2, McGrorty 2, Pumilia; AW-Knouse 4, Meredith 3, Renninger.