Upper Moreland staged a late-game comeback to win its fifth place game against Mount St. Joseph Academy.
Class 5A fifth place playback game
#5 UPPER MORELAND 30, #7 MOUNT ST. JOSEPH 26
‘What a game.’
It’s a comment from UM coach Matt Carroll that might best sum up the Golden Bears’ gutsy come-from-behind win in Tuesday’s playback game that saw Marie Meyers – with 1:05 remaining in regulation – score her team’s lone field goal of the fourth quarter. That basket, however, gave the Golden Bears a 27-26 lead and turned out to be the game-winner.
It’s safe to say no one would have guessed that Tuesday’s game was for nothing more than seeding purposes for the state tournament.
“This was anything but a who-finishes-fifth type of game,” Carroll said. “I told the girls before the game – it’s a fun game because there’s nothing to lose. If you win, you play this really hard team, and if you lose, you play this really hard team.
“I tell the girls all the time – I teach kindergartners, and if I’m playing a math game with a kindergartner, I don’t want to lose to them. Competition is competition. I said to the girls at one of the timeouts in the fourth quarter, ‘You guys don’t understand how important this game is for us.’ Just the atmosphere and the intensity is what I was referring to, and Holly said, ‘Yeah, but I still really want to win.’ I was like, ‘Me too.’”
Both teams brought spirited student sections to the game.
“The fans on both sides were electric,” Carroll said. “It was high intensity and both teams battled. It was a great playoff basketball game, and the people got their money’s worth.
“It was unbelievable. It was loud and going back and forth. I remember when I first started, we didn’t pull out the bleachers for the student sections. We had to ask the administration – ‘I know a lot of people don’t come, but could we pull these out just in case people want to show up.’ Tonight’s game was fun for everybody.”
The Golden Bears spent the majority of the game playing catchup. Behind seven points from Gohl and a 3 from Alyssa Wiley, the Bears battled the Mount to a 10-10 tie after one quarter but then managed just two points in the second quarter and trailed 16-12 at halftime.
“Offensively, we started well, especially Holly, but we really started to struggle in the second quarter,” Carroll said. “We had a lot of bad turnovers and weren’t adjusting to what they were doing defensively. We win because of our defense, and they really showed up today.
“At halftime I kind of got into Holly for her defense and EmmyFaith for her carelessness with the ball. We have unlimited expectations for them, and they weren’t helping us enough in those two areas. Mount got into the lane too easily and offensive rebounded too much. (Georgia) Pickett was really hurting us in the first quarter. She’s a very good player and out-of-this-world athletic. EmmyFaith was in charge of covering her, and after the first quarter, I thought she was great. Limiting that kid to four points, two on a really nice play call from Coach (Matt) Feeney, isn’t bad for the last three quarters.”
The Mount took a 23-21 lead into the fourth quarter but scored just three points in the final frame. The Golden Bears took 11 trips to the foul line in the quarter, connecting on seven of them. After Meyers scored the go-ahead basket, the Golden Bears added three foul shots – two from Wood and one from Gohl – for the 30-26 final.
“I thought Alyssa (Wiley) did a great job on (Kiersten) Pumila for 32 minutes, and Mikel (Lancit) was fantastic against (Lauren) Hoffman,” Carroll said. “I coached Lauren for three years with the Magic (AAU) so I’ve seen firsthand how good she is. Mikel was awesome making life difficult for her.
“The game came down to timely shots and holding them to one shot. The game was close throughout, and to be honest it’s all kind of a blur. The only basket I really remember was Marie’s baseline runner to take the lead late in the game. It was such a big shot but not too surprising because she is fearless. She’s not afraid of the moment and made a huge play. The girls stormed the court after the game, and I know a lot of coaches may think ‘It’s just a meaningless game why storm the court?’
“I told the girls after the game to never take winning for granted. Storm the court after every win. They work so hard and deserve all the excitement. They know how good Mount is. They know how difficult it can be to beat some of these private schools. They more than rose to the occasion, not just today, but all of the preparation leading up to it. Now we get a week and a half to get ready for states. See if we can continue to make a name for ourselves.”
Gohl’s 13 points – nine in the first half – led the Golden Bears. Meyers and Lancit both had six points.
Upper Moreland (21-6, 13-3 SOL) will face the District XI champion in the opening round of the PIAA 5A Tournament on Saturday, March 11.
Mount St. Joseph 10-6-7-3 26
Upper Moreland 10-2-9-9 30
Mount St. Joseph (26) – Kiersten Pumila 0 2-2 2; Lauren Hoffman 3 1-2 8; Chloe McGrorty 1 0-0 2; Carlie Shouldis 1 0-0 2; Georgia Pickett 6 0-2 12; TOTALS 11 3-6 26.
Upper Moreland (30) – Mikel Lancit 2 2-3 6; Alyssa Wiley 1 0-0 3; EmmyFaith Wood 0 2-4 2; Holly Gohl 5 1-2 13; Marie Meyers 2 2-2 6; TOTALS 10 7-11 30.
3-point goals: MSJ – Lauren Hoffman; UM – Holly Gohl 2, Alyssa Wiley.
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