Ireland’s 1,000th point is reason to celebrate at Garnet Valley

CONCORD >> Each time Maddie Ireland shot the ball during the fourth period of Garnet Valley’s 45-27 victory over West Chester Henderson in the championship game of the Garnet Valley Varsity Club Holiday Invitational Tuesday night, a hush fell over the crowd.

Thirteen times, the hush was followed by a groan of disappointment as Ireland missed 12 field goal attempts and one free throw during those eight minutes of playing time.

Finally, 21.4 seconds before the horn sounded signaling the end of the contest, an Ireland shot prompted prolonged applause from those in the stands — and a sigh of relief from the 5-5 senior captain.

Ireland had made a free throw with 1:55 to play to bring her career points total to 999. She had a number of attempts to reach the 1,000-point mark before her last shot of the game fell through, making her GV’s sixth female 1,000-point scorer.

She joins former Jaguars Christy Yarnell (1,305), Cecily Scavicchio (1,291), Amy Tarr (1,221), Coley Ricci (1,201) and Carole Sperone 1,047) in the century club. Ricci, a University of Delaware lacrosse player, was among those in the stands cheering for Ireland.

“I was dribbling down and I guess I missed a shot or lost the ball,” Ireland said of her magic moment. “The other girl hit the ball and it came right back to me and I went in and scored.”

The other girl was Henderson junior Emma Bertrando, who ended up with seven points, five rebounds and one assist for the Warriors and provided a lot of help on Ireland’s big basket.

Bertrando’s father, Dr. Marc Bertrando, became superintendent of schools at Garnet Valley three years ago.

“It was such a big relief to have that shot go in,” Ireland said. “I wasn’t nervous all day. I was making my shots in warmups. Then the game started, and I really started struggling.”

Ireland (16 points, four steals, two assists), who was named most valuable player of the tournament, was 2-for-5 from the floor in the first half, scoring five points. Garnet Valley, which didn’t allow a field goal until the third minute of the second period, led by 12 points at the break.

And she’s done it!!! 6th player in GV history to score 1000 career points!!! pic.twitter.com/Q4NVkP5rDf

— JAG NATION (@JagNationGV) December 30, 2015

In the third period, Ireland went 1-for-6 from the floor but got closer to 1,000 by making three foul shots in a row after missing her first of the second half. She dropped in her first try from the field in the final period, then followed that by failing to connect on her next dozen tries before the drought ended and the celebration began.

“I just couldn’t make anything,” the recent Widener University commit said. “Sam (Tomasetti) came over and just told me to try to sing a song in my head and forget about everything else.”

Tomasetti, who grabbed six rebounds, made three steals, had two assists and blocked a pair of shots in addition to scoring two points, knew what her teammate was going through.

“She’s a very selfless player,” Tomasetti said. “She doesn’t go around thinking about how many points she’s scoring. We’ve been teammates since we were 7 years old, and it’s always been great being able to play together.”

The Jaguars (8-1) will take several days off before resuming practice as they continue defense of their Central League title.

“We definitely want to win the league again, do well in districts and get to states,” Ireland said. “We’ve gone to states three years in a row then lost the first game. We’ve got to get past that this year.”

Ireland is hoping that the addition of freshmen starters Emily McAteer and Brianne Borcky will pay dividends for the Jaguars as they gain valuable experience down the stretch.

McAteer (17 points, 10 rebounds, two steals, two blocked shots, one assist) joined Ireland on the all-tournament team. Borcky scored eight points and had five rebounds, but her playing time was limited because of foul problems.

“They’re going to be a big part of this program,” Ireland said. “It’s nice to know that we have them.”
McAteer had nice things to say about her senior teammate.

“(Ireland) never misses shots like those she was missing tonight,” she said. “She was just so nervous. She’s usually such a good shooter and passer.”

Bertrando, who was Henderson’s high scorer, and freshman teammate Erin Thompson (four points, three assists) also were named to the all-tournament team.

In the third-place game:

Archmere Academy 50, Academy Park 33 >> Elisha Hernandez earned all-tournament honors, but it wasn’t enough as the Knights fell to the Auks in the third-place game.

Hernandez paced Academy Park with 10 points. Raven-Monet Kemper and Trea-sure Ketter chipped in with eight and seven points, respectively. Archmere outscored Academy Park, 30-12, in the second half to erase a 21-20 halftime deficit.