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LOWER GWYNEDD – The game started on a bit of a shaky note.Upper Merion easily won the tap and appeared heading for an easy layup only to have the ball clank off the rim and into the hands of a Wissahickon defender who was trailing the play.
“The first layup of the game – we have this thing called a curse,” Viking senior Lisa Ridgeway said. “Me and Paola (Tinari) always get the ball on the tap, and we always go for the layup, but we have yet to make one.”
In truth, it was an omen of things to come for both squads.
The Vikings found themselves clinging to a tenuous 14-13 halftime lead, and not a whole lot changed in a third quarter that saw the Trojans rally from five down to take a 23-21 lead into the final frame.
The Trojans still led by two (29-27) midway through the fourth quarter but never scored again. The Vikings seized the moment, closing it out with a 14-0 run to earn a 41-29 win over the Trojans in a battle for second place in the Suburban One American Conference standings.
“It means so much,” Viking junior Alex Galdi said of the big win. “Upper Merion hasn’t been in second place for a long time, if ever. We wanted to do it for Mr. Schurtz.”
Upper Merion and Wissahickon now boast identical 4-2 records in league play.
“We haven’t had a lot of success here,” Viking coach Tom Schurtz said. “They’re a very good home team, and I was just happy that the girls came out, and they really just stayed with it today.
“My assistant and I were talking after the game, and his line to me was, ‘That’s why you play good defense because offense doesn’t show up every game.’
“We struggled today. We struggled from the line, we struggled from the field, but we just kept playing defense. I attribute that to how hard these girls are willing to work for one another. That was a real team win today.”
Ridgeway led the Vikings with 14 points and six rebounds. Galdi added 12 points and seven boards. She scored most of those points from the low post.
“I’m trying to get a bit better there – pushing big girls around,” Galdi said with a laugh.
The Trojans – who were led by the eight-point efforts of Rachel Schaible and Anne Bracaglia – remained behind closed doors long after the final horn sounded. This had been a bitter pill to swallow.
Just two nights earlier, the Trojans fell to league-leading Cheltenham (6-0) by a very respectable 41-37 score. On Friday, the Trojans endured a fourth quarter that saw the Vikings put up 20 points while they managed just six.
Until then, it was anyone’s game.
When Jessica Moore turned a Paola Tinari bounce pass into an easy bucket at the 3:09 mark of the third quarter, the Vikings had a 21-15 lead. In a contest where points were difficult to come by, that six-point lead appeared to be all but insurmountable.
But the Trojans suddenly showed signs of life.
Bracaglia ignited her team by burying a three-pointer from the top of the circle, and after Schaible came up with a block and the ball on the defensive end, she rolled to the hoop for a bucket that made it a one-point game.
With time winding down, Bracaglia hit nothing but net on a high-arcing trey to put the Trojans on top 23-21 heading into the final quarter.
“Their team can get hot really fast,” Ridgeway said. “They have great shooters. We had been playing great defense the whole game, and we kind of let up a little bit when it came to their run.
“We took a timeout and said we had to step it up, and we took it back.”
A pair of Schaible foul shots to open the fourth quarter upped the Trojans’ lead to four, but freshman Cassidy Koenig sank a trey for the Vikings. A putback by Galdi gave the Vikings a 27-26 lead. “If you miss her on a cut, she’s going to make you pay because she can finish right, she can finish left, and she’s got a really soft touch,” Schurtz said of Galdi.
Kristy Ragbir put the Trojans back on top when she connected on a pair of foul shots. Ridgeway sank one-of-two from the line to knot the score. A Ragbir jumper from just inside the three-point arc gave the Trojans a 29-27 lead with 3:59 remaining.
They did not score the rest of the way, but for the Vikings, the fun was just getting started.
Galdi sank one-of-two from the foul line, and after a Trojan turnover, Ridgeway ducked under her defender for a bucket that put the Vikings on top 30-29. A putback by Moore triggered a Wissahickon technical.
Moore connected on one-of-two, and then Ridgeway duplicated that feat, making it a 34-29 game.
“We were frustrated at the beginning because we weren’t finishing, but I think we used that frustration to our advantage,” Ridgeway said. “At halftime, we really got fired up. We knew if we finished, we could take a strong lead in the third and fourth quarters.”
The Vikings led by jsix with 1:18 remaining when – after a missed foul shot – Ridgeway slid in for the putback to put the Vikings on top 37-29, sealing the Trojans’ fate.
“We watched them play throughout the year, and they play a lot of teams tough,” Schurtz said. “They’re a very good basketball team.
“In a lot of ways, they’re very similar to us. Every single player they put on the floor can make a shot. You want to play a team like that. You want to play a team that is equal or better than you are, and in the end see what happens.”
With the win, the Vikings (8-3) upped their winning streak to seven.
“We’re excited after every win,” Ridgeway said after the players emerged from a noisy locker room. “My freshman and sophomore years and even into my junior year, we were struggling to play as a team. This year we finally found a group of girls that are willing to play together as a team.”
It’s made all the difference in the world.
UPPER MERION 41, WISSAHICKON 29
Upper Merion (41) – Katie Boyk 0 0-0 0, Briana Alvarez 2 0-2 4, Paola Tinari 0 1-2 1, Jessica Moore 3 1-2 7, Lisa Ridgeway 4 6-12 14, Cassidy Koenig 1 0-2 3, Alex Galdi 4 4-5 12. Totals 14 12-25 41
Wissahickon (29) – Casey Bill 0 0-0 0, Kristy Ragbir 2 2-2 6, Colleen Hinde 2 2-2 6, Anne Bracaglia 3 0-1 8, Rachel Schaible 3 2-5 8, Hillary Hunter 0 1-2 1, Natalie Draham 0 0-0 0, Jessica Scannapieco 0 0-0 0. 9 7-12 29.
Upper Merion 6 8 7 20-41
Wissahickon 6 7 10 6-29
Upper Merion 6 8 7 20-41
Wissahickon 6 7 10 6-29
Three-point goals: Cassidy Koenig, Anne Bracaglia 2.
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