McAteer, Garnet Valley advance to PIAA Class 6A final

WHITEMARSH — Garnet Valley is going to work on its foul shooting in practice this week. It is one of the few basketball teams remaining in Pennsylvania that can say such a thing.

Despite shooting 55.8 percent from the floor (19-for-34) in a PIAA Class 6A semifinal at Plymouth-Whitemarsh High School Monday night, the Jaguars incurred some problems at the charity stripe. Eight missed freebies had left the window cracked for Neshaminy, which had trailed by eight points with 45 seconds to play.

Amid the amplified roars of Neshaminy’s student section, Jill Nagy stepped to the line with 8.5 seconds to go. The senior guard missed the first shot, but made the second to put GV ahead by three points.

Neshaminy had a chance to tie. Senior guard Allison Harvey, who is probably the team’s best 3-point shooter, had an open look from the corner. The ball went in and out of the basket. Brooke Mullin corralled the rebound, but time ran out before Mullin could kick the ball back out.

Garnet Valley claimed a 51-48 victory and is going to Hershey Friday night to play for the program’s first state championship.

The Jags (30-1) will meet undefeated Peters Township (29-0), which defeated Upper Dublin in overtime in the other semifinal.

. @GVWBB is going to Hershey!

Final 51-48

Here is how it ended…. pic.twitter.com/iTvTXSgySo

— Matt Smith (@DTMattSmith) March 18, 2019

“It’s very exciting. We’re so close,” said senior forward Emily McAteer, who was sensational in the second half. “We worked so hard for this all season, and we’ve been so hyped all season. All the hard work is paying off.”

But those final ticks must have felt like forever, right?

“I was really hoping Nagy would make the second foul shot, which she did. At least if they made a 3, we would have overtime,” said McAteer, who led the Jags with 19 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals. “I mean, obviously, we have to work on our foul shots tomorrow. I was just hoping their last shot wouldn’t go in, and we would get the rebound. That’s what happened and now we’re going to Hershey.”

The Jags celebrated, though not too seriously. There wasn’t a big pile up on the court or anything. They can save their big dance for Friday.

“Right now we’re excited to finally make it to the championship,” said senior Brianne Borcky, who has been McAteer’s partner-in-crime all four years at Garnet Valley.

This rematch of the District 1 final figured to have a much different flow. Back on March 2 at the Liacouras Center, Garnet Valley led 20-3 in the second quarter as Neshaminy began the game in a 1-for-15 shooting funk. GV never looked back and cruised to its first district championship.

The Jags knew the Redskins wouldn’t give a repeat performance of that ghastly outing. They prepared to see a much-better team and they sure did.

“Last game we really dominated inside, so we knew they would try to stop us,” said Borcky, who poured in 14 points, grabbed seven rebounds and made two steals. “They were going to double on Emily, so we knew we just had to play real good defense and be ready for their real good shooters.”

That would include Harvey, Mullin and Kristin Curley; “all good shooters,” Borcky noted.

Neshaminy shot 6-for-25 from 3-point range this time around. Only Mullin, a crazy-good guard/forward, was a factor. She put the team on her back in the fourth quarter, leaning in for fouls and making tough shots. She tallied 12 of her game-high 22 points in the final period.

“The whole game we knew that if we stayed positive, stuck together, controlled the tempo, we were going to fine,” Borcky said. “Us five seniors, we’ve been playing together … so that experience really helps us in games like this. We stuck together.”

As Mullin did everything she could to save her team from elimination, McAteer dominated in the second half by driving to the basket and getting hard rebounds. McAteer, the school’s all-time leading scorer regardless of gender, posted six points, two rebounds and a steal in the final stanza.

McAteer has been great all season, especially in the playoffs, and Monday wasn’t any different, really.

“We knew that they knew we like to pound the ball inside. We knew they would try to cut off the inside, which they did,” McAteer said. “It took us a little while to understand that. Once the second half started, we just had to take our time on offense and work the ball around a lot more and take advantage of whatever we have.”

Harvey beat the first-quarter buzzer with a 3-pointer to give Neshaminy an 11-10 lead. But the Jags opened the second period on a 7-0 run and led 23-13 after a Madi McKee layup. That lead dwindled, but never entirely dissipated.

Kelli Kowalick’s bucket to start the second half trimmed GV’s advantage to 27-24, but the Jags answered with four straight points. When Mullin got to the rim and scored to Neshaminy within two points, McAteer responded with two foul shots and a field goal.

“We knew we had to keep getting the ball inside and score as much as we could,” McAteer said.

Although coach Joe Woods likes to have reserve players Liesl Dentinger, Kendall DiCamillo and Abbey Anderson contribute in the second half of close games, he decided to stick with his seniors Monday night. Woods trusted his starting five of McAteer, Borcky, Nagy, McKee (five points, eight rebounds) and Morgan Falcone (seven points, three assists) to get them to Hershey.

“They are my seniors,” Woods said. “That’s a group that shows a lot of character and they’ve been motivated all year long, ever since September. They deserve it.

“We’ve gotten close in the past … and they have had a taste of it in the past. And those five seniors, I don’t think I’ve ever had five solid senior starters before. This crew is really something.”