Germantown Academy's shooting is on the mark

It would be hard to improve on Germantown Academy's shooting performance Friday night in its big 65-46 Inter-Academic League win over previously unbeaten Penn Charter. The game pitted the Patriots, the No. 2 ranked team in Southeastern Pennsylvania by The Inquirer, against the No. 6-ranked Quakers.

Germantown Academy shot an eye-popping 68 percent from the floor, 23 for 34. The Patriots canned seven three-pointers.

"Our focus was on fundamentals," said Patriots coach Sherri Retif. "We felt we could push the ball up the floor and run with them."

Jaryn Garner and Kiernan McCloskey led the way with 14 points each. Garner, who missed a couple of games because of a sprained ankle, returned to shoot 6 for 10 from the floor, while McCloskey was 6 for 11. Sophomore Natalie Toner didn't miss at 2 for 2, and senior Dana Lotito was 3 for 5.

But it wasn't just the team's shooting that impressed. Senior Alexa Gallagher, the Patriots' 6-foot-1 big gun, grabbed 8 rebounds to go with 7 points and passed out 8 assists. The 6-foot-1 McCloskey pulled down 13 rebounds, and Angela Upright added 6 more. Garner, a guard, had 4 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 steals.

"We just tried to get everybody, including the bench, in the act," Garner said.

"It seemed for every play Penn Charter made, we had an answer," added Gallagher. "We hit some big shots."

Gym dedication. On Jan. 27, West Catholic will dedicate its gym in memory of Dolores Purcell, longtime coach and physical education teacher. She was a 1948 graduate of West and went back to the school in 1965 to coach basketball.

The dedication will be at 6 p.m. before the Catholic League basketball game between West and Neumann-Goretti.

Purcell, who died July 28, 2010 at 79, coached West to a pair of league championships in 1970 and 1977. Her teams made the league playoffs eight times. She retired in 1993.

In March 2010, she was elected into the Philadelphia Archdiocese Catholic Youth Organization Hall of Fame.

Big disabled list. Foot injury. Concussion. Dislocated shoulder. You name it, and coach Tom Stewart's Archbishop Prendergast team has experienced it. Yet the Pandas won their first 10 games of the season and have moved into The Inquirer's top 10.

The string included three convincing victories in the Westminster Academy (Fla.) tournament over the holidays.

Jordan Monaghan, a top player off the bench, suffered a foot injury. Then Mary Kate Sullivan dislocated a shoulder when she took a charge against Conwell-Egan.

Brianna McGrory suffered a concussion in the team's first Catholic League game against Lansdale Catholic. Maura McLain was in an auto accident but did not suffer serious injuries.

"Mary Kate has been OK'd to play, but I want her to be 100 percent," Stewart said. "Fortunately, other players like Kerry Farrell and Brandi Flowers have stepped up to help out. They will be valuable down the stretch."

Team Record

Records are through Saturday.

Last week's rankings in parentheses.

  1. Archbishop Wood (1) 10-1

2. Germantown Ac. (2) 12-2

3. Mount St. Joseph (3) 14-0

4. Prep Charter (4) 9-0

5. Council Rock N. (5) 9-0

6. Penn Charter (6) 13-1

7. Cardinal O'Hara (7) 9-2

8. Villa Maria (NR) 9-3

9. Spring-Ford (NR) 12-2

10. Cheltenham (NR) 9-3

Under consideration (listed alphabetically): Archbishop Carroll (5-5), Archbishop Prendergast (11-0), Archbishop Ryan (8-3), Boyertown (13-1), Council Rock South (7-4), Nazareth Academy (9-4).

- Don Beideman
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