Villa Maria gets past Mastery North with dominating second half
Villa (20-7) advances to the quarterfinals and will play Mechanicsburg, the third-place team from District 3, on Saturday.
Kathy McCartney has seen a lot of basketball games in her 31 years as the Villa Maria girls’ basketball coach. But the game she coached Wednesday night was special.
The Hurricanes grabbed a lead on District 12 runner-up Mastery Charter North in the second quarter, built on that lead in the third quarter, and then did all the right things to hold on down the stretch in a 56-44 win in a PIAA Class 5A second-round playoff game at Cardinal O’Hara.
Villa (20-7) advances to the quarterfinals and will play Mechanicsburg, the third-place team from District 3, on Saturday at a place and time to be determined. The Pumas got 17 points from Angela Sanders and finished with a 20-9 record.
The Hurricanes showed how much they have grown since the beginning of the season, especially in the fourth quarter.
“They showed a lot of poise,” McCartney said. “We showed a lot of poise at the end of the game. I said to the kids, ‘If this was a game in December, we would have lost this game,’ We would have turned it over, we would have missed some foul shots. We’ve shown a ton of growth and a ton of maturity as a team. They’re a different group than they were three months ago, which is awesome.”
Some of that growth was on display in the third quarter, when Villa senior guard Morgan Warley scored six of her team-high 16 points to help the Hurricanes take a 41-32 lead into the final quarter.
“The third quarter is usually our toughest quarter just because we lose focus at halftime,” Warley said. “But I think over the season, we’ve really worked on it and we became more mature. So I think this game really shows how the team developed.”
In the fourth quarter, Mastery North used a withering press in an attempt to get the ball and were successful to an extent. But six turnovers and some cold shooting led the Pumas to resort to fouling over the final 3 minutes, 31 seconds. Villa was up to the task, converting 9 of 13 attempts to hold Mastery North at bay.
The Hurricanes, who went into the tournament as the fifth-place team from District 1, lost in the quarterfinals last year to Southern Lehigh, 49-32. Villa would like to win in the quarterfinals Saturday and perhaps go on to win that elusive state title.
“That was a great win, right?” McCartney asked. “Now there’s eight teams left in the state. We’re so happy about tonight. We’ve been to the state finals and haven’t won it yet. Who knows? If the damn coronavirus doesn’t stop us, who knows? I’m going to enjoy the heck out of this win. This is a really good win for my kids. I’m really proud of them.”
Villa Maria 10 14 17 15 -- 56
Mastery Charter North 11 9 12 12 -- 44
VM: Morgan Warley 16, Maddy Ryan 12, Myla Warley 9, Faith Iacone 9, Carina Chieffalo 6, Jackie Ford 4.
MCN: Angela Sanders 17, Jaylah Robinson 12, Ayanna Eldridge 7, Brooke Thompson 4, Astan Kane 2, Ahjae Henderson 2.