City of Basketball Love

By Andrew Robinson (@ADRobinson3)
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UPPER GWYNEDD — Megan McDonnell knows she can bring a lot to the court for Gwynedd Mercy Academy.

What the Monarchs junior is working to do this year is bring it more consistently while not getting in her own way. After a rough game last Saturday, McDonnell was able to get back on track against Merion Mercy earlier in the week then looked to close out strong on Friday by bringing little of everything she’s good at.

McDonnell gave GMA a second half spark as the Monarchs downed visiting Conwell-Egan 51-40 on Friday, earning coach Tom Lonergan his 200th win with the program.

“It’s something that I wanted to shoot more and contribute more during games,” McDonnell said. “I was looking for open shots and taking it to the hole a little more. I still want to work on scoring more, making smart passes and not turning the ball over.”

Against the Eagles, McDonnell tallied 11 points, three rebounds, two assists, a steal and block plus a handful of other deflections in a really solid game. The forward, who’s about 5-foot-10 and has a similar rangy wingspan as several of the other Monarchs, only had two points at halftime but found her groove after Conwell-Egan got back in the game during the third quarter.

This is McDonnell’s third season as part of the varsity program, getting some minutes as a freshman spelling a veteran starting lineup, then moving into a more pronounced role last year. Lonergan has some good depth this year, so McDonnell has been both a starter and comes off the bench — like she did this week against Merion Mercy — but she’s certainly a player the coaching staff can count on to play big minutes.

“She gets herself in trouble when she tries to do too much and today she didn’t do that,” Lonergan said. “When she plays more relaxed, she plays more comfortably and she plays more of a role. I’m starting to feel very comfortable with our rotation and we had a lot of good contributions.”

Asked if there was anything she tried to sharpen or amplify this past summer playing with the Mid-Atlantic Magic, McDonnell quickly said defense. It’s Gwynedd Mercy Academy’s calling card, and it’s becoming McDonnell’s as well with the junior wing showing some good anticipation to get a hand on a few Eagles passes Friday.

“My whole life playing basketball I feel like I’ve been really good at reading people,” McDonnell said. “At times I’m thinking or seeing what they are before they pass the ball, so I feel like that’s something that’s always been a part of my game.

“Our assistant coach TJ (Lonergan) always talks about how a deflection is just as good as a steal.”

Part of that comes from her other sport. McDonnell also plays soccer at GMA and this fall was her first year as a full-time varsity player where she recorded three goals and an assist playing as a striker. Timing and anticipation are a big part of playing striker, McDonnell needing to be on the right step to avoid an offside call and plan for where the next ball might be going.

“Playing in the fall gets me in shape for basketball, so that’s always nice, and the toughness too,” McDonnell said. “In soccer, my coach Bill Daley is always talking about how he can tell I play basketball because on corners, I’m boxing out and some parts of it carry over.”

McDonnell’s been with the Magic since seventh grade, playing for Wendy Young the last couple summers in the HGSL circuit. She’s also played with Egan’s standout forward Lily Milewski with the Magic, so when foul trouble had GMA needing to switch up defenders on Friday, McDonnell stepped up to the task.

“Lily and I play AAU together, I’ve been with her three or four years, so I’ve had to guard her in practice,” McDonnell said. “Mostly, I had to watch out for catching in the post and getting it in the post. If she gets it in the post and you’re on her back, she’s scoring. That’s something she’s always been good at in the summer when we practice, she’s always making post moves.”

It was an encouraging sign for the Monarchs coaches that McDonnell wanted the matchup, and it let them make a needed defensive change with Conwell-Egan having played its way back into the game.

“Our zone was very slow and nonaggressive and with those athletes, we shouldn’t be,” Lonergan said. “That’s where Megan came up big. TJ said we had to get out of the zone and Megan said, ‘I’ll play (Milewski)’ and she did a really good job.”

After Eagles senior Brianna McFadden, playing a couple hundred feet from her future home at Gwynedd Mercy University, buried a three to tie the game 30-30 with 1:43 left in the third, McDonnell came through on the offensive end. The junior had a look on the left wing, sized for a second then fired, hitting three in response to McFadden when the Eagles answered with another triple to tie it again, McDonnell was able to put enough spin on a tough shot that fell in for a 35-33 lead GMA wouldn’t give back.

She added another key basket early in the fourth, making a hard run to the rim, catching an outlet from Cara Lapp and laying it in for the and-one as part of GMA’s 7-1 run to open the quarter. She’d add a steal and post a block by closing out strong to clip a piece of an Eagles’ three-point attempt in the final minutes.

McDonnell knows there’s a lot she can bring to the court for the Monarchs. The junior is trying to be a little more consistent in doing it but at the very least, there’s always one thing she’ll always bring.

“Our coach is big on being a good defensive team, so that’s something I can always control,” McDonnell said. “If my shots aren’t going in or falling, I can always focus in on that.”

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Gwynedd Mercy 51, Conwell-Egan 40

It wasn’t the Monarchs’ best offensive effort, not by a long shot.

GMA not only missed far too many free throws for their coach’s liking, the hosts also weren’t particularly great from the floor either. However, there was a positive lining under the low percentage in that most of the looks the Monarchs got were actually fairly good ones.

“We know we’re not playing anywhere near where we can play and not shooting the ball the way we can,” Lonergan said. “What I was extremely pleased with was where we got our shots. We were around the rim and even our outside shots were wide open, we had a field day as far as where we were getting them, we just weren’t putting them in.”

Bailey Balkir led GMA with 15 points, also adding eight rebounds. Emilia Coleman added eight points, five rebounds, four assists, a steal and block, Cara Lapp and Lauren Drakeley each had six points and freshman Ali Kaltenbacher had another robust game on the glass with 11 boards, seven of them on the offensive end.

“When we make those short, quick passes, we have a deep team where a lot of people can score and do different things,” McDonnell said. “I feel like we’ve been passing really well and we’re rebounding, our freshman Ali has been getting a lot of rebounds.”

Lonergan cited Drakeley, one of the team’s senior co-captains who recently returned from injury, as giving good minutes off the bench.

Molly Milewski had the high for Conwell-Egan with 10, while Brianna Jackson put in nine. The Monarchs’ defense on the Eagles’ top two scorers in Lily Milewski and Brooke McFadden certainly reflected in the score.

“Defensively, I was very proud of them in three of the four quarters and that third quarter, it was because we sat in the zone for too long,” Lonergan said. “That team has some players who can score and we held their two leading scorers, who are averaging close to 30 together, to nine points.”

GWYNEDD MERCY ACADEMY 11 | 13 | 11 | 16 || 51

CONWELL-EGAN 8 | 8 | 17 | 7 || 40

Scoring
GMA: Bailey Balkir 15, Megan McDonnell 11, Emilia Coleman 8, Cara Lapp 6, Lauren Drakeley 6, Carsy Kelly 2

CE: Molly Milewski 10, Brianna Jackson 9, Lily Milewski 9, Brianna McFadden 6, Peyton Watson 6