Gwynedd Mercy shuts down Villa Joseph Marie, earns 5th straight District 1-4A title
BENSALEM >> Gwynedd Mercy Academy’s defense put the squeeze on rival Villa Joseph Marie and the Monarchs played an inspired third quarter in pulling away to the District 1-4A Title Saturday evening at Bensalem High School.
GMA’s 41-29 victory produced a fifth straight district title for the Monarchs, who head to states playing their best basketball of the season.
“You don’t just wanna win it for yourself. You wanna win it for your team and your family — basically this is our family,” junior guard Hannah Griffin said of what has become an annual tradition this time of year for the Monarchs.
Its defense tightening as the game wore on and its offense drawing from multiple sources, GMA raised its unbeaten record to 24-0. Villa, now 18-8 on the year, also heads to states.
GMA led 21-15 entering the third quarter and had a bit of deja vu.
“That was the exact same score of the (Catholic Academies League) Championship, against the exact same team,” Griffin said of the Monarchs’ halftime talk. “So we knew we had to get the ball rolling. We had to regroup, come together and just fix what needed to be fixed.”
The Jems could find few open shots and second chances were almost nonexistent.
“The one thing that always jump starts our team is how we play defensively,” said GMA coach Tom Lonergan, who has guided the Monarchs to a tremendous run of success during his tenure. “It really starts with our ability on the defensive end to just clamp down and control the defensive glass.
“(Villa) has three tremendous players in (Samantha) White, (Victoria) Nigro and (Carly) Austin. They have some offensive weapons. It all came down to holding them to four points in the third quarter.”
By then, the Monarchs had a 30-19 cushion entering the fourth, and that was more than enough, given that GMA had surrendered 40-plus points only twice this season and 30-plus only five times.
Said Lonergan: “We had a great defensive team back in 2016 and this team definitely has surpassed them as far as (the points) they’ve given up.”
Meanwhile, the GMA offense continued to operate smoothly.
Griffin led the way with 15 points, including a pair of threes in the first quarter.
“The passing, the ball movement – that’s what really got me open for those,” she said.
Sofia Coleman added 13 for GMA, including a pivotal three in the third quarter.
“She was able to step up and hit those big shots,” Griffin said. “She’s just been getting smarter and getting better throughout the season. She has one of or possibly the best jump shot on the team. She’s been helping out with that and I just think she’s an amazing player. And Bianca too stepping up (was huge).”
Bianca Coleman had a timely layup to push the lead to 11 in the fourth. She and Maddie Newell each chipped in with five points.
“We have four players who can put up double figures any given day,” Lonergan noted. “I always felt that the key to our team from an offensive standpoint is teams may think they can zero in on one or two players, but when they do that, it’s that third or fourth player that does the damage for us. And our center sometimes get overlooked.”
That would be Dylan Burke, who had a pretty reverse layup to keep the Monarchs firmly in front. All of those reverse Mikan drills at practice payed off in a big spot for the sophomore.
“That was beautiful. Even for me on the sideline, it gave me a lift,” Lonergan said. “So I know it gave our team a lift on the defensive end of the floor.”
Austin and Nigro each had nine points for the Jems. Four of Villa’s eight losses this year came against GMA.
With another district trophy in the case, the Monarchs get ready for states.
“Coach always says, ‘respect all but fear none,'” Griffin said. “Every team is gonna be good. You lose, you go home, so we have to come out really strong.”
Said Lonergan: “I told them this season can end in one of two ways. I said I don’t even wanna talk about the one way. I wanna talk about the way it ends in Hershey.”
District 1-4A Final
Gwynedd Mercy 41, Villa Joseph Marie 29
Villa Joseph 7 8 4 10 – 29
Gwynedd Mercy 9 12 9 11 – 41
Villa Joseph Marie: Carly Austin 2 4-4 9, Emma Hagan 1 0-0 3, Michaela Joniec 1 1-2 3, Victoria Nigro 3 3-3 9, Samantha White 1 2-2 5. Totals 8 10-11 29.
Gwynedd Mercy: Maddie Newell 1 2-2 5, Hannah Griffin 3 7-8 15, Bianca Coleman 2 1-3 5, Sofia Coleman 4 4-4 13, Dylan Burke 1 1-2 3. Totals 11 15-19 41.
3-pointers: V-Austin, Hagan, White; G-Newell, Griffin 2, Coleman.
