Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Villa Maria reaches AACA final
WYNDMOOR » There was one common theme in the postgame talks between Mount St Joseph and Villa Maria Academy on Sunday night.
Both Magic coach Jim Roynan and Hurricanes coach Kathy McCartney felt their respective teams played exceptionally hard but also with plenty of miscues. Granted, AACA teams tend to do that to each other and the league usually produces tight games that come down to the final minute, so it seemed natural that the team that could make the most plays late would win on Sunday.
The Hurricanes made enough free throws and got enough clutch rebounds as they edged the Mount 52-40 in the AACA semifinals at La Salle College High School, advancing to Tuesday night’s title game.
“We found a way to win when it was tough, I’m thrilled we won this game because Mount played great,” McCartney said. “They played like the underdogs they were and they brought it. We took every punch they had.”
The story of the first half was rebounding, with the Hurricanes decidedly owning the rebound-
ing margin, especially on the offensive end. Mount gave up seven offensive boards in the second quarter alone and Villa’s athletic front line was able to convert several into secondchance baskets.
The Hurricanes led just 13-11 after a hard-fought first quarter but stretched the lead out thanks to their rebounding prowess and
were up 26-17 before Mount made a surge back into the game.
“They did everything they needed to do and if were able to make a couple more shots down the stretch, we keep it closer and keep a little more pressure on them,” Roynan said. “We were keeping track of the offensive rebounds and told the kids they had too many in the first half. They got a few more in the second half, but not as many. We just decided we were going to rebound.”
Villa’s Paige Lauder led all
scorers with 19 points and 14 rebounds, while Abby Walheim also posted a doubledouble with 13 points and 10 boards. Both teams committed a high number of turnovers, with the Hurricanes giving the ball up 19 times and Mount losing it 20.
That’s the type of thing both coaches feel can be corrected, as long as their teams keep showing up with the kind of energy they played with on Sunday.
“If we take this kind of effort into districts, we can make a big run,” Roynan
said. “If we compete that hard and play that hard every time we take the floor, we’re going to be really hard to beat. Someone’s going to have to bring their best effort to beat us and I think Villa Maria did that tonight.”
Villa Maria will face St Basil Academy in the final Tuesday at 6 p.m. back at La Salle. St. Basil topped Gwynedd Mercy Academy 43-32 and used a 16-0 run to open the second quarter to pull away from what had been a tight first quarter.