Upper Dublin fell to Mount St. Joseph Academy in Wednesday’s District One AAAA semifinals. NP and CB West were winners in playback games. To view photos of the Upper Dublin/Mount game, please visit the Photo Gallery.
By Mary Jane Souder
NORRISTOWN – Libby Tacka undoubtedly wasn’t high on Upper Dublin’s list of players to stop if the Flying Cardinals hoped to win Wednesday’s night’s District One AAAA semifinal showdown against second-seeded Mount St. Joseph Academy.
Alex Louin, definitely.
Meg Geatens, for sure.
Adrienne Celluicci, perhaps.
Those three players combined for just six points in the first quarter of Wednesday’s game. Tacka, meanwhile, accounted for nine. The freshman guard buried her first three shots from the floor, all three-pointers, and with just over three minutes elapsed in the eagerly awaited showdown, the Magic – thanks to Tacka’s treys - led 11-4. The rest of the night was an uphill battle for the Flying Cardinals, who fell to the Magic 48-36 in front of a packed house at Norristown High School.
“The first quarter definitely killed us,” Upper Dublin senior Curtrena Goff said. “We played two of the four quarters. I think we outplayed them in the second half, but the first quarter really killed us.
“Nine points – I don’t even know the girl. I give her credit for making those. They were very clutch. She hurt us in the first quarter.”
Tacka never scored again, but the freshman guard had effectively set the tone. The Magic led 15-8 at the end of one quarter and took a 25-18 lead into halftime.
“They’re such a tough team to play catch-up against because of (Alex) Louin,” coach Morgan Funsten said of the Magic’s junior star. “If you get an early lead on them, they can slow the game down, and you’re fine with slowing the game down because you have the lead.
“But when they come out and Tacka hits three three’s - she’s a girl that’s averaging a little over five points a game, and for her to come out and make three three’s, that’s what they needed. That was our game plan – let’s make their other players beat us. Certainly, that is what happened.”
The Flying Cardinals, who trailed by as many as 10, suffered a setback when senior Lauren Rothfeld was whistled for her second foul early in the second half and, after a stint on the bench, drew her third with 2:37 remaining in the half.
The Flying Cardinals came out of the halftime locker room looking like a team on a mission. A bucket by Regan Gallagher on the Cards’ first possession of the half made it a five-point game.
When Rothfeld scored on a putback of her own missed foul shot, the Cardinals trailed by just three (26-23), and that deficit was erased when Kayla McAneney hit nothing but net on a three-pointer to knot the score midway through the quarter. The Magic went back on top 31-26 after Adrienne Cellucci sank a three, but Goff answered with a three-pointer of her own.
The Cardinals made it a 33-30 game after Gallagher sank one-of-two at the foul line, but then came perhaps the game’s most pivotal sequence. It began with the Magic misfiring on a shot as the final seconds were ticking off the clock and ended with Cellucci – after what Cardinal fans believed was a travel on the offensive rebound by a teammate – burying a shot at the buzzer to send the Magic into the final quarter with a 35-30 lead.
“I thought the play of the game was at the end of the third quarter,” Funsten said. “We had just made a great run. We got a defensive rebound, and they crashed down on us pretty hard. The ball got loose, and they made a shot to go up 35-30.
“Until then, we had played a fabulous third quarter. You could see the confidence gaining with every possession. That really hurt us, but we certainly didn’t quit. We kept battling.”
The Magic opened the fourth quarter with back-to-back buckets, and the Cardinals did not put any points on the board until Goff sank a pair from the foul line with 1:46 remaining. By then, the Mount had a 45-30 lead and had all but punched its ticket to the district final at Villanova on Friday night.
“A lot of the bounces were going their way,” Goff said. “But I thought we lost the game in the first quarter.
“We never had to play catch-up this season. Going on to our next season, which is states, I think we showed we can play catch-up. We gave it our all. That’s all you can say.”
Louin, the Mount’s gifted 6-0 junior point guard, led all scorers with 19 points, which included an 11-for-12 effort at the foul line. She also had 10 rebounds, two steals and a blocked shot and was a factor at both ends of the court.
“Defensively, we had trouble getting around her,” Funsten said. “They came out in a diamond-and-one, and when they played man-to-man in the second half, she’s so long. She dominates the game on the offensive end and defensive end.
“She made some tough shots where they needed points, and she gave it to them.”
Goff led the Cardinals with 14 points and seven rebounds while Gallagher added nine points and six boards.
Extra points: The Flying Cardinals struggled from the foul line through the first three quarters, connecting on just 5-of-13. They buried 4-of-5 in the fourth quarter, but by then the outcome had been decided. On the other side of the court, the Mount was a perfect 12-for-12 in the first half, 18-of-24 in the game…Wednesday’s loss snapped a 24-game winning streak for the Cardinals (24-2). Upper Dublin will host West Chester Rustin in Saturday’s third place game at 1:30 p.m. Rustin – which starts four sophomores and a junior – absorbed a 63-30 beating at the hands of top-seeded Spring-Ford in the other semifinal. The defending district champion Rams will face the Mount at Villanova on Friday at 7 p.m.
Upper Dublin (36) – Curtrena Goff 3 6-10 14; Brianna Spector 1 1-2 4; Regan Gallagher 4 1-2 9; Lauren 
Rothfeld 2 0-2 5; Kayla McAneney 1 0-0 3; Taylor Linus 0 1-2 1; Jackie Lillo 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 11 9-18 36
Mount St. Joseph (48) – Adrienne Cellucci 3 1-2 8; Libby Tacka 3 0-0 9; Alex Louin 4 11-12 19; Carly Monzo 3 0-0 6; Meg Geatens 0 6-10 6. TOTALS 13 18-24 48
Upper Dublin 8 10 12 6-36
Mount St. Joseph 15 10 10 13-48
3-point field goals: UD – Goff 2, Spector, Rothfield, McAneney. MSJ-Tacka 3, Cellucci.
#6 NORTH PENN 53, #7 BOYERTOWN 45
The Maidens survived a slow start to earn the win in a playback game on Wednesday. The Bears led 13-5 at the end of one quarter and still led 23-17 at halftime before the Maidens seized control of the game in the second half.
“They scored 10 points on fast breaks, and that never happens to us,” coach Maggie deMarteleire said. “In the second half, they didn’t have any transitions points. We also had 10 turnovers in the first half and only had four in the second half.
“Those were the two things we talked about at halftime. They started to trap, and we were struggling with it a little bit in the first half. We made some adjustments. We had to stop their transition, which we did, and we had to take care of the ball better, and we did.”
Junior Erin Maher had a huge game for the Maidens, contributing 18 points, nine rebounds and five assists.
“She had four three’s, and they came in a very timely manner,” deMarteleire said. “She really stepped up.”
Lauren Crisler, in what deMarteleire called a workmanlike effort, contributed 11 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and four blocked shots. The Maidens coach lauded the defensive effort of freshman Mikaela Guiliani on senior Kaitlyn Eisenhard, who became the school’s all-time leading scorer on Saturday. Eisenhard finished with 12 points.
“Mikaela did a really, really good job,” deMarteleire said. “Eisenhard might have taken one three. Most of her points were scored off of rebounds.
“We did some things different. We changed our starting lineup around. We said whoever does well in practice is going to start.”
The Maidens’ coach went on to laud the effort of senior Tehya Daneker after Giuliani was whistled for her fourth foul early in the fourth quarter and took a seat on the bench.
“Tehya came off the bench and really provided a spark for us,” deMarteleire said. “She finished a bucket on a press break, and she got two or three offensive rebounds in a four-minute stretch, which was really key because we had pulled away a little bit, and it allowed us to run some time off the clock.”
The Maidens (22-4) will host Central Bucks West in Saturday’s fifth place game at 1:30 p.m.
#8 CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 65, #20 PENNSBURY 35
The Bucks put on a deadly display of shooting from beyond the arc, connecting on 10 three-pointers on their way to the decisive win. Sophomores Nicole Munger (18 points) and Mackenzie Carroll (12 points) connected on three three-pointers each. Calypso Carty (eight points) and Kate McLaughlin (six points) both had a pair of three’s. Maggie Gratz and Cait Mautz each scored six points on a night that saw nine West players get their names in the scoring column.
West was in command from the outset, opening up a 22-12 lead at the end of one quarter and stretching that to 33-18 by halftime. The Bucks buried the Falcons with a 20-4 third quarter on their way to the big win.
Sajanna Bethea led the Falcons with 16 points while Kaitlin Kelly added seven.
The Bucks (19-6) will travel to North Penn for a 1:30 p.m. contest on Saturday. The two teams split their regular season meetings and shared the Continental Conference title. The Falcons (14-12) will travel to Boyertown to battle it out for seventh place.
#10 GARNET VALLEY 50, SOUDERTON 29
The Indians struggled to find their offense from the outset, scoring just three points in the first quarter and 17 through the first three in their season-ending loss.
“We scored two points on our first possession of the game and scored just one in the next 7:50,” coach Carroll said. “We just played poorly, and they played really, really well.
“It’s a shame for the season to end the way it ended today. You take a loss, but I feel for the girls. (Garnet Valley) got every loose ball even when we went hard after them. Nothing was going in the basket, and it felt like they were making everything.
“They had momentum all game long. Their point guard (Coley Ricci) is very good, and she made some tough, tough shots. It’s a bad time in the season to play poorly. It’s just bad timing.”
Allison Gallagher (nine points) and Bianca Picard (eight points) led the Indians, who closed out the season with an 18-8 record.
“I feel bad for the girls, but once they get some time away from the season, this isn’t what they’re going to remember,” Carroll said. “They have some great, great memories and some life-changing memories from this year, and that’s what they’ll remember.
“I wish for their sakes it had ended a little differently. Eventually we’ll realize this does not define who we were this year and doesn’t take away from the things we accomplished on the court and the things we went through off the court and how the girls handled themselves in moments that most teams don’t ever have to deal with. I just wish for their sakes it could have ended better.”
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