Notre Dame falls short late in final against Shipley

For Academy of Notre Dame, the Pennsylvania Independent Schools Athletic Association championship was there for the taking Saturday afternoon.

The Irish and favorite Shipley were knotted up with four minutes remaining. All Notre Dame needed was one final burst to the finish line. It never came. Shiply scored the final 10 points on the way to a 47-37 victory over Notre Dame.

The Irish end their season with a 15-11 overall record.

Junior guards Maggie Pina and Mandy McGurk paced the Irish, as they have all season long. Pina scored 14 points and handed out three assists, while McGurk had 12 points and three assists.

“This was a huge accomplishment for our team,” McGurk said. “It was the first time since 2011 and first time in my career we made the finals. We worked hard all year, played a difficult schedule hoping it would pay off.”

Trailing by nine points after the first quarter, McGurk and Pina helped the Irish fight their way back into the game, slicing the lead to 22-18 heading into halftime.

Following intermission, McGurk and Pina picked up where they left off, sparking a 9-2 run to give their squad a brief 2724 lead. Shipley had an answer and shot 10 of 14 from the free-thow line in the second half.

“All year we have faced deficits, and all season we kept our calm and played our game,” said McGurk. “When we fell behind today, we just kept calm and played tough defense which sparked our offense.”

Allie Lynch, who was the hero in Notre Dame’s double-overtime win over Abington Friends in the semifinal round, tossed in seven points.

“When we fell behind we just told the team they had been there before and too keep fighting,” McNichol said. “We played great defense but unfortunately some open looks did not fall. You have to make shots if you want to win.”

Shipley (20-7) captured its fourth PAISAA title in the last six seasons.