City of Basketball Love

By Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)
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WAYNE — Trailing by one in the final seconds, the Penncrest girls basketball team stuck to what it knows.

The Lions put in the set ‘Boston’ last season, a simple play that gets the offense moving. That was the call coming out of a timeout with the game on the line and 11 seconds left against Radnor in the first round of the Central League Playoffs on Thursday night.

 "We're not under pressure. It’s a play we know we can run that works," senior Emily Huggins said.

“It’s either I go off the screen or I look for the roll, and I just saw a complete wide open, so I went for it."

Huggins got into the lane and floated the ball right off the top of the square and through the basket with 4.2 seconds left on the clock. The clutch bucket proved to be the game-winner in a 40-39 playoff win over Radnor.

Senior Kathryn Harding scored 14 and Huggins had all nine of her points in the second half to hold off the Raptors and advance to Saturday’s semifinal against top-seeded Haverford.

“The best feeling ever,” Harding said of the last-second shot. “She’s been wanting a buzzer beater, so it finally came through.”

Radnor sophomore Nyah Yao looked like the hero before Huggins’ big shot. She matched senior Kate Gallagher with a team-high 13 points, including 11 in the fourth quarter.

The Raptors trailed by seven, 34-27, with 3:37 to play before Yao scored six of her team’s next eight points, tying the game 35-35 on a foul line jumper with 1:07 to play. 

Harding had an immediate answer on the other end, converting an and-one less than nine seconds later. Gallagher hit a pair of free throws to pull the Raptors within one and after a quick foul and two missed foul shots by the Lions, Radnor had an opportunity to jump ahead.

Penncrest nearly came up with a steal before Yao corralled a loose ball and drove baseline to give her team a 39-38 lead with 18 seconds left.

“I think she just just made something out of nothing on that play,” Radnor coach Rob Baxter said. “She kept us in it almost single-handedly down the stretch.”

Huggins came into the game cold and was scoreless before halftime. She drilled a triple less than a minute into the second half and came off a screen for a pull-up jumper one step inside the 3-point arc a moment later to cap a 13-0 Penncrest run that turned a seven-point deficit early in the second quarter into a 25-18 advantage midway through the third.

After Yao’s big bucket, Penncrest got the ball near halfcourt before calling a timeout with 11.5 seconds on the clock. 

“It’s not like we had to rush our shot,” Huggins said. “We took our time and got the right shot off.”

Penncrest's Emily Huggins (10) and Radnor's Anna Reger (3) watch Huggins' game-winning shot float in the air during Thursday's Central League Playoff game. (Photo: Mark Jordan/CoBL)

When they left the huddle, Huggins knew she would have the ball in her hands to make a play — a few recent makes on the mind certainly didn’t hurt her confidence.

She took a dribble hand off from junior Lila Curci, and with her defender chasing, took a few dribbles and got off a soft runner in the lane, banking it in.

“I just wanted that feeling because I was in a bad slump with my shooting,” Huggins said. “I was good shooting, and then I went bad with my shooting. Last game I was really second guessing myself, but I was like I just gotta have confidence, so I finally got them falling this game.”

Radnor took down Penncrest twice during the regular season. The Raptors entered on a 10-game win streak that included a 38-33 victory Jan. 25 over the Lions. Radnor rallied from as many as nine down in the third quarter to go up late, but fell just a play short — though Gallagher got off a running 3-point attempt at the buzzer. Senior Caroline Monahan added nine points and four steals.

Baxter’s squad is currently the No. 2 seed in the District 1-5A power rankings, so the focus over the next week and a half will be to prepare as best as they can to avoid a repeat of last season when they were upset by Phoenixville in the first round to end their season.

“We want to kind of avenge that,” Baxter said. “Hopefully we make some noise.”

The Lions continue their chase for a championship Saturday at Haverford, who they upset on Jan. 6. 

“We don’t want to be overconfident,” Harding said. “We know they’re a good team. We respect them and what we do. We just have to stick to the game plan.”

Penncrest 40, Radnor 39

By Quarter

Penncrest  12 | 6 | 11 | 11 || 40
Radnor  14 | 4 | 6 | 15 || 39

Scoring

Penncrest: Kathryn Harding 14, Emily Huggins 9, Alex Bruce 7, Carrison 4, Makayla Johnson 3, Lila Curci 3.

Radnor: Kate Gallagher 13, Nyah Yao 13, Caroline Monahan 9, Blayse Jennings 2, Anna Reger 2.