To view action photos of the game, visit the Photo Gallery by clicking on the following link: http://photos.suburbanonesports.com/ Additional photos will be added later this weekend.
VILLANOVA – John Miller’s game plan for Friday night’s District One AAAA title game against Council Rock North included trying to stop Lauren Gold.“I had our matchups on the blackboard in the locker room, and I actually had her name on the board,” the Mount St. Joseph Academy coach said. “As I’m going through the matchups, one of my players said, ‘Geez, coach, we saw her coming in, and she’s hurt.’”
Gold arrived at Villanova University on crutches with her right leg in an immobilizer, and without their standout ball handler in the lineup, the Indians were no match for the stifling pressure defense the Magic threw their way.
Plagued by turnovers and forced shots, the top-seeded Indians looked lost without their floor general. By halftime they trailed 21-4, and it got even worse before a late flurry made the final score a bit more respectable as the Mount rolled to a 45-23 win to capture the district crown.
“We played scared at the beginning,” said junior Alyssa Dumont, who led the Indians with eight points. “I don’t know why.
“We’re not a one-girl team, but it was so sad because looking over at the bench and seeing Lauren – it was so hard.”
Hard doesn’t begin to cover it. The task of setting up an offense against the Magic was next to impossible, and it wasn’t only because Gold was absent. The Mount’s defense just might be that good.
“This is no exaggeration – after I saw us practice in November and after our first five, six, seven games in December, I said to my team, ‘Girls, I have been coaching for 40 years, and you are the best man-to-man defensive team I have ever coached,’” Miller said. “For the first time in my life, I put no zone in this year. I just thought – why take away from what we do best.
“Our defense has just been the key the whole season. I have coached a lot of terrific teams at La Salle, at Ryan and at Bonner, and this is the best man-to-man defensive team I have ever coached.”
The Mount’s defense took the Indians out of the game from the opening tap. On the Indians’ first possession, they turned it over on a five-second call. After a Mount miss, they turned it over again. They turned the ball over on three of their first four possessions.
“I didn’t expect us to be frightened, and I think we were frightened,” coach Lou Palkovics said. “I think they must have picked our pocket three times at midcourt, and suddenly people didn’t want to handle (the ball), suddenly people didn’t want to run things.
“I definitely thought there were places we had the advantage, but we couldn’t exploit them because we couldn’t get into a halfcourt offense.”
The Indians actually scored first when junior Megan Cunningham scored over her defender on a tough drive at the 4:45 mark. Bridget Higgins, who led the Magic with 15 points, answered with a three-pointer. After Higgins turned a steal into a bucket, the Magic led 5-2.
The Mount answered with a 7-0 run that was capped by a Steph Smith bucket in the closing seconds to put the Magic on top 12-2 at the end of one quarter.
The Magic went on top 17-2 after Mary Jo Horgan – who had 14 points in a superb effort at point guard - turned a steal into a layup midway through the second quarter.
The Indians broke a scoring drought of close to 10 minutes when Devin Gold turned a steal into a layup at the 2:56 mark. The Mount answered with back-to-back buckets to go into halftime with 21-4 lead.“I thought defensively we played great,” Palkovics said. “Our goal was to disguise some defenses. Without Lauren being able to put a lot of pressure on their point guard, we decided we were going to mix some zone in with our man.
“We hold a team to 20 points (in a half) – I’m okay with that.”
The Indians’ offensive woes continued in the third quarter as the Magic – sparked by a pair of Horgan buckets – opened the half with a 10-0 run to go on top 31-4.
“They did play defense very well, and our shots weren’t falling,” Cunningham said.
A Cunningham bucket – this time to break a nine-minute scoring drought – seemed to breathe life into the Indians, who outscored the Magic 9-4 to close out the quarter. Dumont buried a trey to cap the Indians’ mini-run.
“In the second half, the shots started to fall, but their lead was too high for us to come back,” Cunningham said. “In the first half, I think we lost our confidence. At halftime, our coach said we were all good ball handlers, and we all could run the offense. We had less turnovers in the second half.”
“I thought it was a much better second half,” Palkovics added. “When shots fall, you look better. We lost the second half by five points. We have to build on the second half.”
The two teams played to a 10-10 draw in the fourth quarter, but the Indians scored half of those points at the foul line as they struggled for 32 minutes against the Mount’s defense.
“My son said when we walked off the court, ‘I don’t understand – you were bigger. Why didn’t you get the ball inside?’” Palkovics said. “I said, ‘Don’t think that wasn’t our game plan?’ We couldn’t get the ball deep enough to get the ball inside.“I thought Emily (Grundman) was doing a good job in there. A couple of times she had people sealed, and we couldn’t get a look inside to the post. Give them credit – they played tough, hard-nosed man defense.”
There was no mistaking the disappointment the players were feeling as they emerged teary-eyed from a lengthy post-game meeting.
“We’re all really mad about what just happened,” said Cunningham, who finished with seven points. “We’re going to practice hard, and do everything we can hard to go as far as we can in states because we know we’re a better team than this. We can play better than this even if Lauren’s not in the game.
“This will make us stronger. This will make us better.”
“We’ll regroup,” Palkovics added. “I said – ‘You better not pack it in for states because the number two seed coming out of this district has a nice little path.’”
The Indians will face the sixth place team out of District Three in the opening round of states.
“In states, we’re going to come out strong,” Dumont said. “This is a wake-up call. We know we are so much better than what we showed this game.
“When we come off a loss, we have to come back 10 times harder. Next week we have to have the hardest most focused practices we have had all year. We have to come back stronger.”
MOUNT ST. JOSEPH ACADEMY 45, COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 23
Council Rock North (23) – Devin Gold 1 2-4 4; Alyssa Dumont 3 0-0 8; Emily Grundman 1 2-4 4; Megan Cunningham 3 1-2 7; Helena Gemmell 0 0-0 0; Melissa Moller 0 0-0 0; Dana Storjohan 0 0-0 0; Alyssa Jett 0 0-0 0; Melissa Rowland 0 0-0 0; Ally Mangogna 0 0-0 0; Lauren Hirele 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 8 5-10 23.
Mount St. Joseph Academy (45) – Maddie Kohler 1 0-2 3; Mary Jo Horgan 6 2-2 14; Cailin Schmeer 1 0-0 2; Bridget Higgins 5 2-2 15; Steph Smith 3 0-0 6; Alex Louin 1 1-1 3; Meg Geatens 1 0-0 2; Meg Black 0 0-2 0; Carly Monzo 0 0-0 0; Meg McCabe 0 0-0 0; Ann Burgoyne 0 0-0 0; Meg Black 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 18 5-10 45.
Council Rock North 2 2 9 10-23
Mount St. Joseph Academy 12 9 14 10-45
3-point goals: CR North – Dumont 2. Mount – Higgins 3, Kohler 1.
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