Gwynedd Mercy wins first Catholic Academies title
SPRINGFIELD >> Two teams can’t be much closer than Gwynedd Mercy Academy and Mount Saint Joseph. The two Athletic Association of Catholic Academies schools split their regular season matchups and played a game that went down to the wire Tuesday night for the league championship.
When the dust settled, it was Gwynedd Mercy who came away with the AACA crown, 35-28, in front of a packed house at La Salle College High School.
It was clear early on that this was a game that was going to be won with defense.
GIRLS #BASKETBALL: @gmagirlsbball fans storm the court to celebrate @GMAAthletics' win over Mount in the AACA final pic.twitter.com/yM96aBdk3g
— Mike Cabrey (@mpcabrey) February 10, 2016
GMA took the lead for good, 27-26, with 6:25 remaining in the game when Carly Heineman made a shot from the right wing.
After that, Gwynedd’s defense took over. The Monarchs allowed just two more points the rest of the way, a Libby Tacka layup that cut a Mount three-point deficit to one, 29-28.
Danielle Senour made three key plays in the final minutes for Gwynedd. She made a layup with 1:30 to extend the Monarchs lead to three, 31-28.
After Brigit Coleman made two free throws to make it a two-possession game and extend the lead to five, Senour got it done on defense.
Senour was tasked with guarding the talented MSJ senior Caitlyn Cunningham. With 46 seconds on the clock, Senour was all over Cunningham and forced the guard to dribble off her foot and out of bounds.
On Mount’s next possession, when GMA was ahead by six, 34-28, Senour was matched up with Cunningham again. Cunningham tried cutting left and right and back again behind screens to get any separation but Senour was right on her, and eventually Cunningham lifted her pivot foot on a pump fake and was called for traveling.
MSJ’s Ashley Smith hit a three on the first possession of the fourth quarter to give the Mount its only lead in the final eight minutes, 26-25. Smith led the Magic in scoring with 12 points and Cunningham scored 11.
Senour led GMA with 10 points, Coleman added eight and Erica DeCandido added seven.
The two teams left the halftime break tied at 16 and Gwynedd won the third, 9-7, to take a two-point lead into the fourth. Cunningham hit a deep three in the final seconds of the third to keep MSJ within a basket.
GMA is the top seed in the District One AAA playoffs and has a first-round bye. They will play the winner of No. 8 Springfield Montco and No. 9 Pottsgrove Friday Feb. 19.
Mount Saint Joseph is the fourth seed in District One AAAA and will host No. 29 Radnor Saturday at 1:30 p.m.
