Pope John Paul II comes through late, rallies past Phoenixville 28-27

PHOENIXVILLE >> Pope John Paul II didn’t shoot well, turned the ball over frequently and was out-rebounded in the first three quarters Tuesday night at Phoenixville. But somehow, the Golden Panther girls managed to hang around with good defense and determination.

Then PJP hit some big shots in the fourth quarter – the biggest being two free throws by Elena Colliluori with 13 seconds remaining – for a come-from-behind 28-27 Pioneer Athletic Conference Frontier Division win.

Nadia Platt led Pope John Paul (2-0 Frontier and PAC, 4-3 overall) with 11 points – nine of them in the final period – and Katie Nilles had five points and a team-high seven rebounds. Riley Ford-Bey led the Phantoms (1-1, 4-3) with 12 points and 10 boards.

“Determination and intensity,” said Colliluori. “I think it was mostly the sideline hype. On the sideline and on the court. All five of us coming together. The intensity. We wanted to win this game so badly.”

“A lot of effort,” said PJP coach Jack Flanagan. “We gave ourselves a chance. When it came down to it, the shots went in. And Elena made the free throws. You can’t win a game in the first quarter. League games, division games, are won in the fourth quarter.”

The Phantoms got six points from Ford-Bey and four from Jaime Michaud, forced 12 turnovers, held the visitors to 4-for-17 shooting from the floor and won the battle for rebounds 18-15 on the way to a 15-9 lead at the break. Then Ford-Bey went inside to open the scoring in the third quarter and give the hosts their largest lead of the night at 17-9.

But PJP’s Sarah Bell made two free throws (the first trip to the line all night for the Panthers), Aubrey Delpha hit a short shot from the left baseline and Bell made another foul shot to cut the deficit to 17-14.

“We needed to pick it up a notch,” said Colliluori.

Then Platt, who sat out much of the game with foul trouble, scored nine points in the fourth quarter before fouling out with 1½ minutes to play, the last three on a 3-point play to tie the score at 23-23 with 3:49 remaining.

Nilles kept the momentum going by making two from the line to give Pope John Paul a 25-23 advantage, its first lead since it was 2-0, and added another for a 26-23 lead with 1:36 to go.

Ford-Bey scored off a rebound and went inside for another basket to put the Phantoms up 27-26 with 20 seconds left.

But Colliluori sank her two crucial shots from the stripe to put her team back on top for good.

“I’m not the biggest scorer in the game on regular shots,” she said. “But I try my best to put it in the basket. That’s what the whole team did. I put my mind to it and said a prayer.”

PJP got the ball back under the Phoenixville basket with five seconds left after a Phantom turnover and threw the ball long. The Phantoms intercepted the pass at mid-court, but had time for only a long throw from there at the final buzzer.

“We threw it long,” said Flanagan. “You have to not do something bad. That’s a great team. Tracey Sterling is a great coach. To come in here and give a well-coached team like that a good game is a credit to our program.”

The Phantoms finished with a 40-35 in rebounding, helped by eight boards from Maliyah Warren. The Panthers wound up with 20 turnovers to Phoenixville’s 13, but lost the ball just three times in the fourth quarter while forcing seven Phoenixville errors.