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By: Kate Harman
Jabria Ingram was going to take the last shot.
The people wearing Neumann-Goretti’s black and gold knew it.
The people wearing Archbishop Carroll red and black knew it.
Both set of coaches knew it.
Her teammates and opponents knew it.
Ingram, a dynamic guard for the Saints – and the Catholic League’s Most Valuable Player – had spent the better part of Tuesday’s game against the Patriots driving to the basket, quickly shooting off the dribble, and generally causing problems for Carroll.
With her team down two points and less than 20-seconds remaining on the clock, the person Goretti wanted with the ball in her hands seemed to be a no-brainer.
And then the Hartford recruit passed it off to Tatiana Jones, who was just beyond the arc.
Swoosh.
The late game heroics from Jones catapulted the Saints over the Patriots in the Catholic League semifinals, 48-47, at Jefferson University.
Why’d she give up the ball? It was simple for Ingram.
“I trust my teammates. At the end of the day, I trust them,” Ingram, who led all players with 22 points, said. “She was open. She had my back.”
“What do you do?” Carroll coach, Renie Shields said. “You take away what you think they are going to do and you end up giving up something else. We had to guard the ball – we couldn’t let them get a layup.
“We knew Ingram was going to be the last shooter,” Shields explained. “But she’s such a good player she had four people on her and she found the player that was open.”
Led by the gutsy trio of Molly Masciantonio, Harlem Jennings, and Erin Sweeney, Carroll (16-7) kept it close the entire contest, earning a nine-point lead at the end of the third quarter. The majority of the game was played with just a few possessions separating the two teams but the Patriots found a way to separate itself due to sharp shooting and tough defense.
Then slowly, the Saints (15-4) made their way back, as Ingram scored 10 fourth-quarter points. In one particular 62-second sequence, Ingram scored a bucket on a drive, forced a steal on the other end, ran the floor to score another basket in transition and then knocked down two free throws to put her squad up a point.
The effort gives N-G another shot at a PCL title – something that has eluded them for the past two seasons.
“That’s all I wanted,” Ingram said. “That’s all I wanted was to get back to the Palestra. Freshman year we made it, we won. Sophomore year we made it to the Palestra, we lost. Junior year we didn’t make it – we actually lost in the semifinals on this same court. Senior year I wanted to get back. I’ve been thinking a lot about it.”
@Ka_harman
Archbishop Carroll 15 9 16 4 – 47
Neumann-Goretti 20 6 5 17 – 48
AC: Molly Masciantonio 15, Harlem Jennings 14, Erin Sweeney 12, Karli Dougherty 5, Ali Dreger 1
NG: Jabria Ingram 22, Tatiana Jones 14, Daijah Parmley 5, Kiara Kroger 5, Angel Ricks 2