City of Basketball Love

Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)
__

WAYNE — After running the table through its first seven Philadelphia Catholic League games, Lansdale Catholic had a gauntlet waiting for it to conclude its PCL slate.

Cardinal O’Hara, Archbishop Wood and Archbishop Carroll awaited; all programs the Crusaders hadn’t taken down in a long, long time. (MaxPreps had LC a combined 0-for-50 against those three PCL powers dating back to 2006).

LC dropped the first one of those tests against Cardinal O’Hara and came into this week with matchups against perennial powers Archbishop Wood and Archbishop Carroll still looking to prove itself among the league’s elite.

After locking down Wood on Tuesday and holding on for a 42–39 victory over Carroll on Thursday, the Crusaders put themselves among the league heavyweights and locked up a share of the PCL regular-season title and likely the top seed in the league tournament beginning Feb. 16.

“For us, Lansdale Catholic’s never been No. 1 in the PCL, which is amazing,” said senior Gabby Casey, who led LC with 21 points. “It shows the hard work that we’ve put in throughout the offseason and continuing throughout the season.”

“It’s great especially in the same week, taking them both down,” she added.

Carroll led 10-9 after the first before LC (19-2, 9-1) reeled off 14 straight points in the second quarter, going up 23-10 with 1:29 in the period on a bucket by Casey. She had 10 in the second quarter alone in 15 total before halftime. 

Patriots junior Brooke Wilson didn’t put Carroll’s (10-11, 7-3) first points on the board in the second until an and-one with 42.4 points in the period and the Patriots went into halftime down, 23-13.

“The first half, we didn’t make our shots. Everyone could see that. We’re really going to have to work on putting the ball in the basket,” Carroll senior Taylor Wilson said. “We got in our heads a little bit in the second quarter and kind of let their run get to us and we just can’t let that happen. That’s something we’re definitely going to work on in practice.”

LC led by 12 with a little under six minutes left in the third before Carroll scored eight straight to cut the lead to 30-26 on another Brooke Wilson and-one. Brooke and her older sister Taylor combined for 35 of the team’s 39 points in the game, 19 from Brooke and 16 from Taylor.

Carroll senior Courtland Schumacher scored the first basket of the game, but after that the Wilson sisters combined for 28 straight points for Carroll. Despite multiple junk defenses being thrown at them, the Wilsons clawed the Patriots back into the game. Freshman guard Alexis Eberz added the only other non-Wilson points to pull the Carroll within two, 34-32, about halfway through the fourth.

“They’re super tough,” Lansdale Catholic coach Eric Gidney said. “I’m big fans of my team first and foremost, but if I had to pick two other kids in the PCL that I really admire how they play and their resiliency, they’re determination, it’s those two. I even said to Taylor during the handshake line, ‘Good luck at Army, but I’m not going to miss you.’”

The Patriots were within two in the final minute after a Taylor Wilson steal and coast-to-coast score made it 38-36. Carroll had multiple possessions to tie or take the lead, but LC’s defense stood firm. A pair of Helm free throws after pulling down a rebound pushed the advantage to four.

Brooke Wilson drilled a deep three with 1.2 seconds left. A successful inbound and two Casey free throws ensured the clutch shot went to waste.

“It was a testament to our character,” Helm said of LC's strong defense late. “I think it showed us what we’re made of and the areas we can improve on down the stretch of close games, which we’ll be in a bunch for sure throughout the playoffs and moving forward.”

Helm, who missed a pair of free throws that left her two points shy of reaching 1,000-point milestone, had six of her 10 points in the fourth quarter. She had eight after halftime to help the Crusaders’ offense with Casey slowed after the break.

“Jaida always comes through with the tough shots and the great defense, especially she played great defense the whole game on Taylor Wilson and that was really the key for us,” Casey said. “Those clutch shots, take the pressure off me and her hitting her shots, really helped us and pushed us through and kept us going.”

Carroll finishes the PCL regular season in fourth, two games behind Wood, O’Hara and LC and a game ahead of Neumann-Goretti, who the Patriots will face in the first round of the league playoffs. After a 34-20 loss to Wood back on Jan. 20, and a 40-36 loss to O’Hara on Jan. 26, Thursday’s second-half comeback effort showed the Patriots they are right there with the top of the league if they can piece their best effort together.

“The second half is one of the best halves of basketball I think we’ve played as a team,” Taylor Wilson said. “I think it showed a lot, but we need to play like that all four quarters, and that’s been something we’ve been working on a lot. This year, we’ve struggled usually in a half or a quarter, so getting that to play consistently throughout the whole game is something we’re really working towards.”

There’s a pretty good chance Carroll will face LC in the PCL semifinals if the Patriots can get past N-G in the first round.

“It’s up for grabs, anyone can win,” Taylor Wilson said. “We work so hard everyday at practice and we can win this and we know we can. It’s just about working hard, beating a team and winning.”

Finishing tied atop the conference standings at the end of the regular season is a nice benchmark for the Lansdale Catholic program. That wasn't the final mission they set out for at the start of their season, however. 

“A lot of folks anointed us kind of one of the PCL favorites, and I’ve still said, ‘There’s a lot of teams who have a lot more hardware than us,’” Gidney said. “So yeah, it feels good to be in the conversation, in the mix, but we haven't earned anything yet."

By Quarter

Lansdale Catholic:  9  | 14  |  7  | 12 ||  42

Archbishop Carroll:  12  | 13  |  11  | 6 ||  39

Scoring

Lansdale Catholic: Gabby Casey 21, Jaida Helm 10, Olivia Boccella 5, Sanyiah Littlejohn 4, Nadia Yemola 2

Archbishop Carroll: Brooke Wilson 19, Taylor Wilson 16, Courtland Schumacher 2, Alexis Eberz 2