City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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RADNOR — Renie Shields hadn’t seen anything like it.

Her Archbishop Carroll girls looked lost in the first quarter of their Catholic League game against Neumann-Goretti. There were turnovers, rushed shots, and an inability to guard the Saints’ star guard, Carryn Easley. 

Then the Patriots flipped a switch — and suddenly could do no wrong.

Counting senior guard Brooke Wilson’s bucket to end the first quarter, Carroll scored 29 straight points to close out the first half, which gave them all the clearance they needed to take home a 60-43 win on Friday night.

It was a 27-0 second quarter that stunned Neumann-Goretti, a nearly-nonstop eight-minute stretch that began with Carroll down 13-6 and ended with them up 33-13 after another Wilson bucket ahead of the half.

Carroll (10-8, 5-2 PCL) shot 10-for-13 from the floor and 4-of-6 from 3-point range; five different Patriots chipped in on the scoring column as they combined to pitch a shutout on the other end. 

“I remember, probably our ‘09 team, we went out to a tournament out in Phoenix and we were down big in the first half and came back in the second half,” Shields said, referencing her time as a Carroll assistant before she took the program over in 2016, “but nothing like a 27-0 run.”

“We knew we needed to wake up and play team basketball,” Wilson said. “A lot of us, including myself, were like ‘alright just jam it down their throats, let’s go score.’ We all took a deep breath and realized that ball movement and playing as a team was going to get us open.”

One of the biggest buckets in the run came in the form of a three-point play from reserve wing Bridget Archbold (5 points), who went strong to the hoop through contact, making the foul shot to help the Patriots pull within a couple points of the Saints (13-4, 6-2), the momentum starting to shift.

Eberz followed with her first 3-pointer of the quarter, and the run was on.

“Right when you need it, someone just comes in, swoops it,” Wilson said. “This game it was Bridget, and she always comes in with big plays when we need it.”

“I thought she made a good decision to go hard to the basket,” Shields said, “And I thought that was a big boost, anytime you have a kid come off the bench and score points, that’s big.”

Senior guard Felicity McFillin (7 points) added a 3-pointer later in the quarter; her younger sister, freshman Abbie McFilllin (4 points), added a layup. It was 33-13 at halftime, the second half played with both teams in cruise control, N-G never able to get any closer than 15, Carroll no further than 22.

Much of the offensive production in the decisive period came from the Patriots’ backcourt of Wilson (17 points, 7 assists, 5 rebounds) and sophomore Alexis Eberz (18 points, 10 rebounds). The pair accounted for combining for 19 in the frame, the two often finding one another for a post bucket or a 3-pointer. 

They both said that there weren’t any strategic tweaks between quarters. It was just a matter of slowing down, moving the ball, and getting open shots.

“(I started) off not really good, rushing shots and stuff, and then coming back out the second quarter, I recovered, had a different mindset,” Eberz said. “[Assistant coach] Mike [Perretta] told me to change my mindset by saying ‘let the game come to you’ and ‘take it one possession at a time.’”

“Right now, I’m working on doing everything slower, which is crazy to think about,” said Wilson, the 5-9 West Point commit always playing an aggressive, downhill game. “When I play at a slower pace, everything comes to me and I’m able to read the floor better and make better opportunities for my teammates and myself.”

Easley finished with a game-high 21 points for Neumann-Goretti, the Division I recruit finishing with five rebounds and four assists; freshman wing Reginna Baker added 10 points and six rebounds.

Carroll’s run was a critical one against a Neumann-Goretti squad ahead of it in the PCL standings with the regular season running out, the positioning getting tighter at the top of the league. The Patriots were coming off a loss to Cardinal O’Hara earlier in the week, and had already given away a double-digit lead late against Archbishop Wood. 

They close with three winnable games at Conwell-Egan and Bonner-Prendergast and then at home against West Catholic. Considering one-loss O’Hara and two-loss Neumann-Goretti and Lansdale all play each other in the next week or so, if Carroll wins out it can’t be any worse than third in the league.

“One game at a time, everyone has to play together,” Eberz said. “And don’t rush shots.”

By Quarter
Archbishop Carroll:  6   |  27  |  15  |  12  ||  60
Neumann-Goretti:   13  |   0   |  15  |  15  ||  43

Shooting
Archbishop Carroll: 24-50 FG (5-15 3PT), 7-8 FT
Neumann-Goretti: 18-41 FG (1-13 3PT), 6-7 FT

Scoring
Archbishop Carroll: Alexis Eberz 18, Brooke Wilson 17, Maddie McFillin 7, Felicity McFillin 7, Bridget Archibald 5, Abbie McFillin 4, Olivia Nardi 2

Neumann-Goretti: Carryn Easley 21, Reginna Baker 10, Amya Scott 6, Zion Coston 4, Tori Richardson 2