Late run lifts Unionville over GV

MARLBOROUGH » With the star players from Unionville and Garnet Valley suffering through difficult shooting nights, there was plenty of opportunity for somebody to take the game by the scruff of the neck.

Elle Johnson scored 13 points in the second half as the ninth-seeded Longhorns took control in the fourth quarter en route to a 49-38 victory over the No. 20 Jaguars in the District 1 6A Playbacks on Wednesday.

Unionville (21-6) will take on Abington in the ninth-place game on Friday, while Garnet (15-12) will face Conestoga for 11th place.

“If I had hair, it would be falling out now,” said Unionville coach Fred Ellzy. “Playoff basketball, everybody comes with their ‘A’ game and if you don’t do what you’re supposed to do, you can be down quick, like we were.”

The game was tied 2828 early in the fourth quarter, before the Longhorns went on a 21-10 run to end the game, holding the Jaguars to a lone field goal in the stanza. Unionville was impressive from the freethrow line, making 12-of14 in the fourth.

Unionville went on a 6-0 run to build a 39-30 lead with 4:20 left, punctuated by a layup by Milana Flores off a steal. Garnet Valley star Haylie Adamski had a miserable evening. She was held to seven points on 2-of-16 shooting.

She missed her first eight attempts and fouled out with 1:01 left in the game.

“All the credit to Unionville,” Garnet Valley coach Joe Woods said. “They had a nice defensive plan against her. It didn’t help in our last game we lost our starting point guard, so a lot more reponsibility fell on the rest of team, especially Haylie.”

Savannah Saunders picked up the slack for Garnet with 15 points.

“Savannah really stepped up and played her heart out,” Woods said.