City of Basketball Love

Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)
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DOWNINGTOWN — Ella Iacone attempted a three on Villa Maria’s first possession Friday night against Bishop Shanahan. Following the miss from deep, the Hurricanes senior didn’t let another long ball fly until late in the fourth quarter with her team trying to pull away in the District 1-5A semifinal.

“I was kind of down on myself, and I was like, ‘Alright, something has to go eventually or else I don’t know what’s going to happen,” Iacone said.

Villa coach Kathy McCartney wasn’t so sure about the attempt. Even after it left Iacone’s hand, the ball went about halfway down, popped back out before finally hitting off the backboard and through the net. Iacone’s big 3-point shot was part of a late fourth-quarter run for Villa that helped send the reigning District 1 5A champion to next Saturday’s title game against West Chester Rustin with a 44-35 victory.

“It touched every inch of the rim, but it went through, it’s good,” McCartney said. “They put it on the board, so I’m happy. Actually, I was kind of like, ‘Don’t take it. Don’t shoot that.’ Then it went in, and I was like, ‘Great shot.’”

Villa senior Mara McHugh scored 16 points, and Shanahan senior Alyssa Brown was the only other player to score double digits with 11.

Friday’s matchup was a rematch of the 2022 championship when the Hurricanes took down the Eagles. Villa also took down Shanahan, 55-48, back on Dec. 3. The third-seeded Hurricanes were in control for most of Friday’s game as they led 17-10 at halftime and built that advantage up to double digits 30 seconds into the second half.

Nothing came easy for Shanahan as VIlla’s defense, spearheaded by senior guard Elaina Guerzon, forced the Eagles into contested looks.

“Our team defense was really good tonight,” McCartney said. “A couple breakdowns with rebounding, but our defense was really good. That takes you far this time of year, defense and rebounding.”

Shanahan struggled to shoot the ball in its Ches-Mont championship loss to West Chester Rustin two weekends ago and the offensive struggles were back again in the first half against Villa.

“Shots weren’t falling,” Shanahan coach Jim Powers said. “We did that against Rustin in the championship game. We had a slow first half and then we did it again. Obviously we didn’t learn from Rustin to this game not to let that happen. The good thing is we played defense, held them to 17, but we didn’t execute offensively.”

McHugh had eight points in the first quarter to lead the way for Villa. After a quiet second quarter, she scored the first basket of the second half to set the tone and chipped in eight total points in the period as Villa went into the third with a 31-23 lead.

“Definitely patience,” McHugh said of her big night. “I tend to rush. Most of the practices, it’s like, ‘Mara slow down. Mara slow down.’ I was really focusing on patience and passing it around with my teammates and letting my teammates run the ball and let me get it in open, deep offense. Then I would score on the play honestly and it would help a lot, slowing down.”

The Villa defense put its focus on Brown heading into the matchup. Brown, who finished with 11 points, had just a pair of threes heading into the fourth, but reeled off five quick points to start the quarter to trim the Villa lead to five, 33-28. Senior Sami Blumenthal put back an offensive board a few moments later to get the Eagles within one possession and junior Faith Ambrose, who had three steals in the fourth, added another bucket to make it a one-point game, 33-32, with 5:20 remaining.

“I knew it was gonna be a battle,” McCartney said. “I said to the kids, ‘This isn’t over.’ They’re not going to quit, so they’re going to make another run and then they hit a couple threes, and I was like, ‘Oh geez. There they are right back.’ And then we answered.”

“It was very humbling that we weren’t just going to crush them,” McHugh said. “It was good to know that they were still playing their hearts out because it made us realize we weren’t going full throttle. When she hit the three, it ignited our flame and we killed it.”

The Hurricanes answered Shanahan’s run of seven straight points with a 9-0 run. Juniors Alice Nash and Carly Catania, who finished with nine rebounds and three assists, scored their only buckets of the game to start the run and push the lead back to five.

Then came the big bucket from Iacone that took some coaxing before it finally went in to give VIlla a 40-32 with three and a half minutes left in the game.

“I was like, ‘Please go in, please go in, please go in,’” Iacone said. “It was a lot of back and forth, is that gonna roll in or is it gonna roll out. I’m happy it went in.”

“I think that brought that feeling back up, the energy and everything. … All of the sudden that three went in and everyone was like, ‘BOOM. Let’s go!’”

Iacon added a pair of free throws with 1:14 to extend the lead back to 10 and the celebration was soon on. The Hurricanes will play top-seeded Rustin at noon on March 4 at Temple’s Liacouras Center.

“We’re excited,” McHugh said. “That’s what we play for all year, and I think that’s what we’re prepared for and ready for.”

Shanahan will play against Gwynedd Mercy in the third/fourth place game Tuesday at 7 p.m. before trying to go on a state playoff run.

“Hopefully we learn from it this time,” Power said. “Maybe this time, we’ll actually focus better and figure out the mistakes and figure out the little stuff like that is the reason.”

By Quarter

Villa Maria 10 |  7 | 14 | 13 | 44

Bishop Shanahan 4 | 6 | 13 | 12 || 35

Scoring

Villa Maria: Mara McHugh 16, Elaina Guerzon 7, Ella Iacone 5, Clare Cronley 4, Carly Catania 4, Ava Irvine 4, Alice Nash 2.

Bishop Shanahan: Alyssa Brown 11, Faith Ambrose 7, Sam Blumenthal 6, Alexa Bojko 6, Abbey Wolfe 5.