Bishop Shanahan stays hot with win over Coatesville

CALN >> The Bishop Shanahan High School girls basketball team had a rough first half of the season. But now, with the postseason right around the corner, the Eagles seem to have straightened themselves out.

Shanahan used a spurt at the end of the first quarter, then two critical 3-pointers from Kelly Basile down the stretch, to seal the outcome for a 56-48 Ches-Mont League National Division victory Tuesday.

The win pushed the Eagles to 5-3 in the National, and kept them in contact with Downingtown East for first place in the division. Meanwhile the Red Raiders (6-2, 13-3) fell out of first place with the loss.

“That’s just what we talked about in the locker room,” said coach Fran Burbridge when asked about Shanahan’s resurgence. “We kind off flipped the script about three weeks ago. We were playing a certain way, and we thought it was the way to go, but it wasn’t the best for these guys, so we flipped it around. Now, we’re strating to get more solid with our game.”

The Eagles looked to be in a comfortable space, leading 41-31 with 5:43 in the fourth. Coatesville turned up the pressure and clawed its way back in. They forced a couple of turnovers and turned them into baskets from Brianna White, Sarah Huston and Megan Stanton to close the to 41-38, sending the crowd into its biggest roar of the evening as Burbridge called time out.

Basile silenced the crowd with a huge three. Moments later, she sent another dagger into the Red Raiders’ heart with another three.

“It’s kind of just natural,” said Basile. “I was open. I know how to shoot, so I shot it. And I was kind of feeling the second one. It felt good.”

Courtney Warley blocked a shot, then ran the floor and finished with a layup to cap an 8-0 run and build the lead back up to 49-38 with 3:17 left.

The Red Raiders were held to just one field goal in the final two minutes, which thwarted their comeback effort.

“We missed some shots when we needed to make them,” said Coatesville coach Tem Mack. “When you’re going against a championship team, you have to make shots.”

The Eagles made seven free throws — five from Courtney Warley — to seal the win.

Sammi McCarter made five threes, three in the first quarter, as Shanahan erased an early 6-0 deficit, to end with 19 points. Warley tied for game-high honors with 19 and Basile added 13.

Coatesville’s leading scorer, Dee Dee Irwin, struggled for large portions of the evening. She was held scorless in the first half, and finished with 10 points. Huston picked up the slack, scoring nine of her team-high 16 points in the first half.

The Eagles outscored Coatesville, 19-6, in the last five minutes of the first to take a 19-12 advantage after one. McCarter punctured the run as she beat the buzzer with a 3-pointer from the right corner after gathering in a rebound.

Coatesville continued to struggle from the floor, and trailed 27-22 at halftime.

“They went triangle-and-two (defense) and Dee Dee wasn’t really looking for her shot,” said Mack.

With a Final Four berth, and even a division title still to play for, Shanahan is hoping the roll keeps going for at least a couple of more weeks.

“Most definitely,” said Basile. “We’re not going down without a fight.”

Bishop Shanahan 56, Coatesville 48
Bishop Shanahan: McCarter 6 2-3 19, Sendi 1 1-2 4, Greenhut 0 0-0 0, Warley 4 12-13 19, Basile 4 2-3 13, Bailey 0 0-1 0, Cox 0 0-0 0, Hinkley 0 0-0 0. Totals: 15 17-22 56.
Coatesville: Brown 0 8-10 8, Irwin 4 1-2 10, Huston 5 5-6 16, Douglas 1 0-0 2, Boggs 0 0-0 0, Stanton 1 0-0 2, White 4 0-1 9, Worthington 0 0-0 0. Totals: 15 14-19 48.
Bishop Shanahan    19    8    12    17 – 56
Coatesville    12      10    7    19 – 48
3-point goals: McCarter 5, Basile 3, Sendi, Huston, Irwin, White.