City of Basketball Love

Andrew Robinson (@ADRobinson3)
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RADNOR — This one was for Hannah.

For three quarters, Gwynedd Mercy Academy's Hannah Griffin had been delivering some form of the same message to her teammates: don't quit, don't give up, this game isn't over, a win is still within reach. The Monarchs had played about as poor a first half as they possibly could but Griffin just kept imploring them to keep pushing and she had started them on the comeback path in fourth quarter when she was fouled on a drive, landing awkwardly and slamming her head off the floor at Cabrini University with 6:52 left in the game.

Her teammates gathered, said a prayer and waited anxiously until their teammate was able to get up and be helped off the floor. Then, they went and won the game for her.

Top-seeded Gwynedd Mercy Academy had an almost surreal fourth quarter as they stormed back to beat fourth-seeded archrival Mount Saint Joseph 43-29 in the AACA semifinals on Saturday night.

"After Hannah went down, we all wanted to play for her and it rallied us," Monarchs senior Maddie Newell said. "She has so much fire and brings so much to our team, we wanted to win it for her."

"I said 'these next six minutes are for Hannah,'" senior wing Bianca Coleman added. "We did that for her."

It'd be very hard to argue there's a more heated rivalry in the AACA than the one between GMA and the Mount. Both schools had very loud student sections set up behind their respective baskets that had a few words for each other across the entire length of the court during the game.

Every time the teams meet, it's contentious and with the Mount having not beaten Gwynedd Mercy since the AACA semifinals in 2020, there was a lot on the line. Neither has played a lot of games in that type of environment since the pandemic began and the Magic's student section definitely part in shaking the Monarchs to their dismal start.

"We were so flat in the start and we let the crowd get in our heads," GMA senior Sofia Coleman said. "They were saying things about me, I had to regroup and mentally pick myself up, realize I'm better than they're saying I am and I've put in so many hours to win and prepare for these type of situations, we came so far, I didn't want to have it end by losing to Mount."

For Newell and the Colemans, winning an AACA title means everything. They were thwarted by their nemesis in the semifinals as sophomores, then lost a heartbreaking game in overtime on their home floor to St. Basil Academy last year in the title game and with just one more chance to get it done, they couldn't let Griffin's efforts go for naught.

Still, there was a significant hole to climb out of. GMA shot 4-of-27 from the floor in the first half, Bianca Coleman even agreed their defensive effort was lazy and Mount Saint Joseph just wouldn't miss, led by nine points from Lauren Hoffman, to take a 20-10 lead to halftime.

"We got up on defense more aggressively and even went full-court more aggressively which is difficult on the big court," GMA coach Tom Lonergan said. "You have to give them credit for hanging in there that long because we don't sub. Hannah was such a big part of cheering them on but also leading the way being aggressive, driving and getting to the line. There was no quit."

The Monarchs also have an ace in the hole in the form of their pressure defense, which Lonergan only likes to break out at just the right time. Prior to Griffin going down, the team hadn't subbed and playing on the bigger college court, he didn't want to burn his players out trying to press back into it during the first half.

With time running out, the Monarchs did go to their full-court defense to open the fourth quarter and it paid immediate dividends. Gwynedd Mercy's defense was much better in the third quarter, the close-outs actually getting to shooters and players working to stay in front of their mark, helping hold the Magic to just seven points in the frame.

"We work on it so much in practice it almost gets annoying because it's the same thing all the time, reps and reps and reps and we don't always use it," Sofia Coleman said. "But I know Coach Lonergan has a method to his madness and it always works, so we can't complain about something when it always works."

With Griffin's aggression and quick hands starting to generate turnovers, the Monarchs started chipping away.

"I like scaring teams," Bianca Coleman said. "Most teams don't like when you pressure them, so I like scaring them into mistakes that get us going."

Griffin had a pickpocket effort go for a layup a half-minute into the fourth that cut the lead to 27-23, then after Newell came up with a steal tightroping the baseline in front of Mount's student section, it sent Griffin the other way toward the net when was fouled going up. When Griffin didn't get up right away and the team's staff went out to help her, the rest of the Monarchs came together.

Sofia Coleman led her team in a prayer and they waited anxiously for their teammate and friend to get to her feet. Once Griffin did, the outcome was all but sealed in the Monarchs' eyes.

"Hannah holds us together," Sofia Coleman said. "After we said our prayer, we knew we weren't losing. She's our glue and we need her, but we were going to get it done for her tonight."

GMA came all the way back, tying it 27-27 on a bucket by Sofia Coleman. The team, which had started 0-of-15 on threes, then took its first lead on its first three when Newell sank a look from the right wing assisted by Coleman.

"Lonergan told us to stop shooting threes, but I was wide open and I just shot it with confidence," the senior guard said.

"The ones that mattered were the ones that went in, that's all I care about," Sofia Coleman, who sank a three assisted by Maddie's sister Morgan Newell on the next possession, said.

It ended up being a 22-2 quarter for the Monarchs, with the only Mount Saint Joseph Academy points coming via a pair of free throws with 3.1 left on the game clock. The Magic scored just nine points total in the second half and Lonergan credited his son and assistant coach TJ for the suggestion to switch out of the press into a 2-3 zone after taking the lead, which helped stymie the Mount in the final period.

After the game, Lonergan said that Griffin had been taken to a local medical center to get checked out but her father Curtis, a GMA assistant, had reported that she started feeling better after leaving the arena. The team is not expecting the junior guard to play in Monday's AACA title game, scheduled for a 6:30 pm start at La Salle College High School.

"We're doing it for Hannah, we have no excuse for playing flat," Bianca Coleman said. "We have to come out aggressive, even the bench players, we need them to step up because now we have more of a reason to win this."

By Quarter
Gwynedd Mercy:  2   |   8   |  11  |  22  ||  43
Mt. St. Joseph:     7   |  13  |   7   |   2   ||  29

Scoring
GMA: Sofia Coleman 13, Bianca Coleman11, Maddie Newell 8, Hannah Griffin 7, Dylan Burke 4

MSJA: Kiersten Pumilia 11, Lauren Hoffman 11, Chloe McGrorty 3, Georgia Pickett 2, Addison Smith 2

VILLA JOSEPH MARIE 47, VILLA MARIA ACADEMY 43

If Tori Nigro and Sammi White wanted to make sure the road to an AACA title still went through them, they were going to have to get their new team there first.

The Villa Joseph Marie seniors, both first-year players with the Jems after winning the league's title with now-closed St. Basil Academy last year, showed their winning experience in the fourth quarter Saturday. Nigro and White combined for 18 of VJM's 19 fourth quarter points as the second seed Jems fended off third-seeded Villa Maria Academy in Saturday's first semifinal game.

Their uniforms don't say St. Basil on the front, but they're still last year's champions and they want to bring a title to the team that took them in this past summer.

"We just know what to expect in those big games," Nigro said. "For me, I was just playing the game and letting it come to me in the first three quarters, then when it's crunch time, you have to take over."

Nigro, the team's point guard, was good early and better late. The Jefferson recruit had a part in 16 of the team's 23 first half points, scoring four and assisting a quartet of 3-pointers. She also had the shot of the game, blending some poise with some sort of basketball sorcery on a first quarter buzzer-beat she shot from behind the backboard from a near-impossible angle.

"It was like a H-O-R-S-E shot, I never expected myself to take a shot like that in a game but when the clock's ticking down, you just have to take it," Nigro, who led VJM with 15 points, said.

The Jems made the AACA playoffs as the fourth team to get in last year, but underwent a major makeover this offseason when a number of former St. Basil Panthers transferred in. Naturally, such a big change to a team's makeup led to some continuity and communication issues early that led to a few early season losses, including one to the Hurricanes.

Nigro only spent one year at St. Basil but White, who was a three-year varsity player with the program, it was a bigger adjustment to go from a winning culture to a program trying to forge a new identity. The senior, a DeSales recruit and also a team captain, found herself being the one teammates came to for advice or looked to in pressure moments.

"Defensively, at the beginning of the season, we struggled," White said. "We've really started communicating and we're finding our way."

It wasn't just the two seniors doing all the work. White actually struggled for much of the first three quarters and lauded her teammates for stepping up to hit some important shots and for their defensive effort against a very sound Hurricanes squad.

Emma Hagan scored nine points and was a defensive presence with five blocked shots while Carly Austin scored six and rebounded well. Senior Michaela Joniec, another St. Basil transplant, rebounded strong as usual as the Jems rolled out quite a few players off the bench in different spots.

"You have to keep reassuring them they're meant to be here," Nigro said. "They're on the team with us, they can play here and win games. If you keep telling them that to boost their confidence, they're going to walk out here and prove it to people."

Now, they get a chance to go out as league champions if they can find a way past an unbeaten Gwynedd Mercy Academy group that's already beaten them twice.

"I hadn't lost many league games before coming here, but I still feel like I have something to prove in a way," White, who finished with 14, said. "Coming into Villa completely new, it was hard at first but I know this isn't going to be the biggest challenge I face in my life. It's been a good experience being able to step up for this team."

By Quarter
Villa Joseph Marie:     12  |  11  |   5   |  19  ||  47
Villa Maria Academy:   9   |   6   |   8   |  18  ||  41

Scoring
VJM: Tori Nigro 15, Sammi White 14, Emma Hagan 9, Carly Austin 6, Michaela Joniec 3

VMA: Marah McHugh 11, Carly Catania 9, Ella Iacone 9, Clare Cronley 7, Ava Irvine 3, Elaina Guerzon 2