City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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As the fourth quarter ticked away, his young team clinging to a small lead on Penn Charter, Academy of Notre Dame coach Terry Mancini repeated the same word, over and over. He said it while his team was bringing the ball up the floor and getting into its sets, during dead-ball situations, in the timeout huddle.

Poise.

“I had to call timeout and just explain what poise was, I guess, is the best way to put it,” the Irish’s first-year head coach said. “They probably haven’t been in situations like this — I’m sure in AAU they have, but it’s a lot different, you’re in a league game and you want to win a league.”

It’s a trait his Irish hadn’t always shown this season, a few underclassmen thrust right into starting roles, others playing major roles for the first times in their high school careers. And the Quakers, two-time defending league champs, were putting on the pressure.

Finally, in the last two minutes, Notre Dame found its poise. The Irish made one big play after another down the stretch, leading to a season-changing 62-55 win over the Quakers on Friday afternoon.

In one fell swoop, Notre Dame handed Penn Charter its first league loss in two years, dethroning the defending champs in its first win over its league rival since the 2020-21 season. After losing to Germantown Academy, one of the other league favorites, on Wednesday, Notre Dame’s girls thrust themselves right back into the Inter-Ac race. 

“This game (created) a lot of momentum for us, helping us get better and move faster,” junior guard Sophie Hall said. “We have a lot of potential. The GA game we put behind us, focused on Penn Charter, got the win, now we’re just looking forward.”

Hall, a 5-foot-6 guard, was one of several standouts for the Irish (9-3, 1-1), leading her team with a 17-point, nine-rebound, two-assist performance. Notre Dame’s top recruit, she knocked down her first four 3-point attempts of the afternoon and then came up with several clutch plays down the stretch, including the game-sealing layup with under 30 seconds remaining.

“She would start for every team in our league and I don’t think she realizes how important she is when we bring her off the bench,” Mancini said. “She just changes the whole complexion of the game. She speeds people up on defense, she’s like the Tasmanian Devil, she’s all over the place. 

“You feel bad because she should be starting, but what she brings for us off the bench is phenomenal.”

A soccer goalie committed to Delaware for her ability to keep the ball out of the net, Hall said she relishes her time on the hardwood — where, she said, “I like having the position that’s not different,” not having to wait all the way at the other end of the pitch for the action to come her way, stuck wearing a different jersey from everybody else. 

“(At) goalie I’m kind of a different player — I have my moments, but in basketball I can make these moments and I can use my speed and energy on defense,” she added. “Being the first sub off the bench, I’ve always been that person to bring a lot of energy to the team.”

Hall certainly brought that on the defensive end, where she often found herself guarding Penn Charter’s star freshman, Ryan Carter. Carter got 12 points but had to take a lot of shots to get there, Hall and others bothering her into one contested jumper after another. 

“You can put her on the [opponent’s] best player, she can cover any position,” Mancini said. “I don’t think there’s another team, maybe in the city, that has a player that can change the game like she does when she comes in.”

Hall was one of four double-digit scorers for Notre Dame, all of whom did much more than just score. Freshman forward Grace Nasr had a 14-point, 10-rebound double-double with five offensive boards and a handful of blocks; senior Lizzie Halligan had 11 points, nine rebounds, and three assists; junior guard Chloe Knox had 11 points and 11 rebounds. Freshman Riley Davis added nine points and six assists. 

Knox had two critical layups in the fourth quarter, helping Notre Dame go up six with 2:33 left. Nasr came up with a bucket off an inbounds play to push the lead to eight with 1:43 left; Davis found Hall on a three-quarter-court pass to seal it.

“I think we kept our poise,” Hall said. 

Penn Charter got 17 apiece from junior Kaylinn Bethea and sophomore Marleigh Jackson. Bethea added six assists, six steals and four rebounds; Jackson was 5-of-5 from 3-point range in the first half and added four rebounds.

The Quakers face Archbishop Wood on Sunday in the Blue Star Invitational, then have Agnes Irwin and SCH Academy at home next week. The Irish play Upper Dublin on Sunday, Episcopal on Tuesday and then play Shipley on Wednesday in another non-league game before going to Agnes Irwin on Saturday, Jan. 13. 

With 10 games left in the Inter-Ac slate, there’s still a lot of work to be done for Notre Dame to bring the league title to Villanova, including a return game at Penn Charter on Jan. 23 and a visit from Germantown Academy to close out the year on Feb. 12. And the rest of the league has improved — Agnes Irwin, SCH Academy and the rest are all chomping at the bit to pull an upset.

“I think now we’re realizing that winning the Inter-Ac is even more achievable, now that we got Penn Charter and we know we can get them again, it’s just about beating GA” Hall said. “We still have to finish our (other) Inter-Ac games but those are our big two, and next time we’re (beating) GA.”

By Quarter
Penn Charter:  14  |  18  |   9   |  14  ||  55
Notre Dame:    16  |  17  |  10  |  19  ||  62

Shooting
Penn Charter: 20-56 FG (11-21 3PT), 4-10 FT
Notre Dame: 24-57 FG (6-19 3PT), 8-13 FT

Scoring
Penn Charter: Kaylinn Bethea 17, Marleigh Jackson 17, Ryan Carter 12, Ashlie Johnson 3, Liv Vieira 3, Mia DiBenedetto 3

Notre Dame: Sophie Hall 17, Grace Nasr 14, Lizzie Halligan 11, Chloe Knox 11, Riley Davis 9