City of Basketball Love

Andrew Robinson (@ADrobinson3)
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NORRISTOWN — It’s become habit for Joanie Quinn.

Starting with Cardinal O’Hara’s second-round PIAA 6A playoff game, the senior guard has gone for a pregame stroll around the court arm-in-arm with freshman Leah Hudak. Quinn’s also made a habit of following that walk up with a sterling performance, none better than the one she had Monday.

Quinn was masterful with 21 points as Cardinal O’Hara locked up District 11 champion Parkland 51-32, sending the Lions to their third state title game in the last four years.

“I thought that might have been Joanie Quinn’s best game in her four years,” Lions coach Chrissie Doogan said. “She was tasked with guarding an all-state type guard, then she broke the pressure. She was very good tonight.”

Quinn laughed when asked about the unusual pregame ritual. The senior, who is committed to La Salle, said it came about when Doogan told her players to get moving after a long bus ride before the second round.

Hudak’s the companion now, but the slow arm-in-arm stroll is nothing new for Quinn.

“I always walk with my grandma that way so to bring a teammate with me, when she comes into the gym it’s a way to show her ‘I’m thinking of you and I’m playing this game for you,’” Quinn said. “We sing a little bit, we sang a lot of ‘Mamma Mia’ today.”

Parkland, specifically the Trojans’ standout senior Talia Zurinskas, probably wished she kept that pace all night. Quinn got the job of face-guarding Zurinskas, a quick-twitch shooter with a lot of moves and a lot of range.

Cardinal O'Hara seniors Greta Miller (L) and Carly Coleman (R) celebrate with assistant coach Steph Garafolo (back to camera). (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Zurinskas had a good first quarter, scoring 10 points but Quinn played her even with eight markers and three assists as O’Hara built a 19-12 lead. Doogan didn’t want to get into a shootout or even more importantly, get behind the Trojans so the first quarter went pretty well.

“I told them, ‘guys, (Zurinskas) and (Madison Siggins) are who they want to get the ball to,’” Doogan said. “We gave up 12 points in the first quarter and 20 the rest of the game. They just got locked in and defended the heck out of it.”

Quinn still felt like she could be doing more and ramped up her defensive efforts. It wasn’t strictly Quinn, with O’Hara’s super-switchable defense switching superbly, but the senior was in charge as Zurinskas followed a 4-of-6 start with a 2-of-10 effort the last three quarters.

The O’Hara senior might have taken the role a little too literally, but it worked.

“I love face-guarding, I don’t have to do help defense, I’m going to be honest,” Quinn said. “I don’t have to worry about getting beat backdoor or always knowing where my player is.

“You probably saw, there was one possession my girl dove on the floor for a ball that I had no idea was there. It’s easier when you just have to focus on your man.”

On top of her game-high 21, Quinn added five rebounds, six assists and two steals. The passing was contagious, O’Hara racking up 15 assists on 20 made baskets.

Parkland made a punch early in the second, cutting the lead to 19-17. Molly Rullo came back with an inside hoop assisted by Quinn then played zone buster on back-to-back possessions, hitting two three-point looks to give O’Hara a double-digit edge.

“We were told before the game if there was a slow start, just continue playing defense and that will project to our offense,” Rullo, who scored 18 with five rebounds, said. “Once they go hand-in-hand, we’re pretty good.”

Senior Carly Coleman, who added nine points, six rebounds and five assists, elaborated.

“It’s so fun to play right now,” Coleman said. “We’re all trusting in each other, we all love each other. We’ve been here going at it for five months now but this is the part where it’s fun.”

Quinn was near-perfect after halftime, going 5-of-5 from the floor and 3-of-4 at the line. She had a terrific drive with a spin move into a layup early in the fourth as O’Hara made its return to Hershey a formality.

Friday night, before the Lions face Spring-Ford, Quinn and Hudak will probably take an arm-in-arm stroll around the Giant Center court. Then, she’ll go out and put her all into playing defense.

It’s just habit.

“Defense begets offense,” Quinn said. “Defense leads to better offense so being able to come in with a plan on defense,  knowing I need to play well on defense and it doesn’t really matter what I do on offense, that helps me play better.”

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By Quarter
Cardinal O’Hara 19 | 8 | 16 | 8 || 51
Parkland 12 | 5 | 9 | 6 || 32

Shooting
CO: 20-39 FG (7-17 3PT), 4-8 FT
P: 12-34 FG (4-12 3PT), 4-6 FT

Scoring
CO: Joanie Quinn 21, Molly Rullo 18, Carly Coleman 9, Megan Rullo 3

P: Talia Zurinskas 17, Madison Siggins 8, Isabella Hallal 5, Delaney Chilcote 2