City of Basketball Love

Missy Dougherty (@Missyingyou)
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MALVERN — Carly Catania’s last-gasp effort from a step inside half court bounced off the backboard and kicked off the rim as the buzzer sounded.

The shot came close to willing her Villa Maria Academy girls basketball team to an improbable come-from-behind victory Saturday in the PIAA Class 5A tournament. But a 10-point halftime deficit was too much, and the Hurricanes fell to Dallas 43-41 in the first round at Great Valley High School.

Catania, a New Hampshire signee, played in her final game in a Hurricanes uniform and seemed to be everywhere all at once in the second half as Villa Maria forced the Mountaineers to sweat out their victory.

It was a tale of two halves for Villa Maria (17-9). It trailed 23-13 at the break before head coach Kathy McCartney “lit a fire under them a little bit.”

“The sad thing is, when you look at this game, if we had played for a couple minutes in the first half, we win the game,” McCartney said. “We kind of sleep-walked through the first half.”

“Credit to them (Dallas), they did what they had to do. We knew they were fast. We knew they wanted to run. It didn’t click for us until too late in the game.”

Catania was one of those who took the heat for the first-half performance. And she responded.

“I called her out pretty hard at halftime,” McCartney said. “And that’s what good kids do. Good players respond, and she did. She knew. We went all year as Carly went. She really played well in the second half, and she came to life.”

Scoring 16 of her team’s 28 second-half points, Catania did indeed come to life, and the rest of the Hurricanes seemed to follow suit.

“It wasn’t our best first half,” Catania said. “We couldn’t make shots. We weren’t playing the best defense. We kind of let them run the game, so it was our job to come back and that’s exactly what we did. We tried our best, but just came up a little short.”

Villa trailed 36-25 when sophomore Sophia Tray drew the fifth foul on Dallas standout Molly Walsh on a tough drive with 5:26 on the clock. Walsh had led all scorers in the first half with 10.

Tray made both from the line, and Catania followed soon with a basket off a baseline out-of-bounds set to draw the Hurricanes within seven (36-29) with five minutes left.

Catania went on a personal 6-0 run, and the Hurricanes trailed by just three (36-33) with just over four minutes remaining.

Elizabeth Viglone converted a layup of her own to stem the Villa run with four minutes left, but the two teams traded points for the next several minutes.

Villa, the second seed from District 1, would not go away, as Tray scored in the paint off a baseline out of bounds play with 1:06 to bring the Hurricanes within two at 41-39.

Viglone answered once again with one at the line to put the Mountaineer’s to 42-39.

Senior Liz Sharp then came through with her lone basket of the game — a put-back of an Emma O’Hare miss — to bring Villa within one 42-41 with 26 seconds left.

Villa’s full-court pressure forced Dallas to call a timeout with 18.7 seconds left due, and the Hurricanes eventually came up with a steal before Dallas forced a walk with 3.8 ticks left on the clock.

The Hurricanes were then called for a hold on the subsequent baseline out of bounds, which resulted in Dallas freshman Brianna Casey going 1 for 2 from the line to put the score at 43-41.

Looking to extend her Villa career, and finish off the Hurricanes’ comeback, Catania raced against the clock to get the ball down the floor in a last-gasp effort, but her final shot in a Hurricanes’ uniform came up just short.

Viglone finished 6-for-8 from the free-throw line in the second half on her way to 10 big second-half points, and 13 for the game. Dallas went 13-for-18 from the line for the game.

The lone senior in the starting lineup, Viglone’s leadership proved invaluable down the stretch for the Mountaineers, especially after Walsh took a seat on the bench for the final minutes of the contest. 

“Free throws are what count at the end of the game,” Viglone said. “I knew we needed it. Sometimes that’s what comes down to it. Not having Molly in there, that hurt, but we did it for her, and that’s all that matters.”

While Dallas (21-7) moves forward to take on Archbishop Wood in the second round Wednesday at a site and time to be announced, Catania is grateful for her time as a Hurricane.

“It was the best four years I ever had,” Catania said. “I am thankful for all my coaches. They pushed me to the best of my ability every single day. If it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t be where I am today going to play college basketball, so I just want to thank them and this whole team.”

“She had a great career,” McCartney said. “She came in as a freshman very raw. She worked really hard. I think she’s ready to go to the next level.”

“Her biggest contribution this year was probably her leadership. Kids really did follow her. She mentored the young kids. We were very inexperienced, and she did a great job.”

McCartney, the longtime coach of the Hurricanes, feels this group definitely made its mark on the program.

“This was one of my favorite groups to coach,” McCartney said, “because they were so willing to do whatever we asked them to do.

“You saw that response in the second half. Some teams, you get on them at halftime and (they say) we are out, and they responded — they responded every day at practice, they responded in a lot of big games for us this year.”

By Quarter

Dallas: 9 | 14 | 9 | 11 || 43

Villa Maria: 8 | 5 | 12 | 16 || 41

Scoring

Dallas: Molly Walsh 15, Elizabeth Viglone 13, Mia Delgaudio 8, Caitlyn Mizzer 4, Brianna Casey 3

Villa Maria: Carly Catania 16, Sophia Tray 7, Abby Ferry 6, Briella Romeo 6, Emma O’Hare 4, Liz Sharp 2