City of Basketball Love

By Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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GWYNEDD VALLEY — From the first game of the season, Mount St. Joseph’s girls have had something to prove. 

The Magic, super-young last year, missed out on the District 1 5A playoffs by one slot, fractions of a point in the district ratings system, one win away from the postseason. Determined not to let that happen again, they got out to their strongest start yet under seventh-year head coach Matt Feeney, winning their first eight games of the season and 10 of their first 11 overall. 

They rolled into Gwynedd Mercy Academy as confident as could be and made their loudest statement yet, downing the Monarchs 42-40 in a matchup of the top two teams in the Association of Catholic Academies (ACAA) this year. 

It was Mt. St. Joe’s first win at Gwynedd Mercy since Jan. 31, 2019, and has them currently sitting in the top spot on the District 1 website’s unofficial 5A rankings. 

“It’s a big game, it was a really big game for us, especially since they’re our rival team,” senior guard Morgan Cross said after leading her team with 12 points in the win. “First, it keeps us number one in the district, and second, winning against Gwynedd, it’s a big win for us and it’ll help us throughout the season.”

Caroline Dougherty played hero for the Magic (11-1, 4-0 AACA), knocking down two foul shots with 3.6 seconds left to break the final tie of a hard-fought contest that featured several down the stretch. 

The junior guard stepped to the line having missed a pair in the third quarter, but she’d converted on three tough layups since. The first one hit the front of the rim, rolled around the side to the back but then fell through, leading to a huge roar from all the Magic faithful in attendance. 

After a timeout, Dougherty knocked in the second one. 

“Like, insane,” she said afterwards. “Crazy. I feel like I’m on top of the world right now, I’m so happy.”

Cross set up the go-ahead bucket, leaping for a tipped pass and coming away with the loose ball with 10 seconds left. She found senior wing Bridget Horgan on the wing, who passed ahead to Dougherty, who drove the lane and drew contact. 

The steal was a big measure of redemption for Cross, who had traveled with just under 30 seconds remaining to give the Monarchs (10-3, 3-1) a chance at a go-ahead bucket. 

“I was like, I need to get something back,” she said. “When I got that steal, it was a sense of relief, yeah.”

Morgan Cross (above) came up with a big defensive play with 12 seconds remaining. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Gwynedd star Bailey Balkir, a thousand-point scorer and Gettysburg commit who led her team with 15 points, somehow got down the court in the final three seconds and managed to get a look at a game-tying shot, but it caught rim and bounced clear of the hoop.

That set off a MSJ celebration, first with the team and the bench and then with a jubilant group of alumni who’d been sitting under one of the buckets all game, providing a cheering section to equal the vocal group of GMA girls sitting on the stage at the other end. 

“It was a very loud, fun atmosphere,” Cross said. “The Mount community really came out today for us, and it was very exciting to play in. I feel like the atmosphere on the bench and in the crowd, it really helped us as well.”

All eight girls who got into the game got into the scoring column, with Cross leading the way off the bench. That’s been a typical role for the 5-foot-5 guard, also a long and triple jumper for the Mount, who was a First Team All-AACA selection a year ago. 

She provided an instant spark upon her insertion midway through the first quarter with her team trailing early, hitting a few pull-up jumpers to help the Magic generate some initial offense. She finished with three steals, two rebounds, two assists and a block in addition to her scoring, adding five points in the fourth quarter as well. 

“She gave us a spark, she defended really well which then fueled the other stuff,” Feeney said. “She makes a key steal at the end there, late in the game. That’s part of being a deep team, really helps us.”

Dougherty was second on the Magic with scoring, complementing her eight points with nine rebounds, including five on the offensive end. Sophomore Caitlin Cavallaro (7 points, 4 rebounds) hit a key fourth-quarter 3-pointer to help Mount erase a five-point deficit early in the fourth after they came back from down eight at half to tie it at 30 going into the final period. Sophomores Katie Eichenhofer, Carly Derouin and Nina Meierdierks all found ways to chip in as well as senior Bridget Horgan. 

“If you look at our box scores for this season, everybody’s contributing,” Feeney said. “We may have a kid who goes off for 20, but that’s a rarity for us. We’re a balanced team, we’re a deep team, and they play hard for each other, the kids really do that, that’s what helps us.

“We had six freshmen last year, they’re now sophomores, and they’re just mature and they handle situations better than we did,” he added. “Last year, down (eight) at halftime, we’re done, we’re not coming back. They’ve gotten more mature, we’re getting great leadership from our seniors and so it’s been fun to watch them grow. 

Gettysburg commit Bailey Balkir (10) gets to the hoop through the MSJ defense. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

The game was a defensive battle for long stretches, with each side forcing the other into minute-long possessions at points. The Monarchs finished 14-of-45 from the floor, including 4-of-21 from 3-point range and 8-of-11 from the floor; the Magic were 16-of-48 from the floor, 2-of-16 from deep and 8-of-15 from the foul line. 

“I think we just really couldn’t hit shots today,” Gwynedd Mercy coach Taylor Sweeney said. “We got a lot of open looks, we were hitting a lot on Tuesday [in a 53-49 win over Villa Maria] and today we just really couldn’t find a way to put the ball in the basket.”

The team rivals will meet again Jan. 27 at Mt. St. Joseph, a game that won’t be the last of the regular season for either side, but will be the final game of AACA regular-season play for both. There’s a real chance they’ll meet again in the AACA championship game a month from now, and with both in the top three of the District 1 5A rankings, more postseason clashes are possible. 

“We could see them two, three, maybe even four more times this season,” Sweeney said. “We’ll get through the games between now and then, and we’ll prep more and adjust what we did today to hopefully get a win back at their place on the 27th.”

By Quarter
MSJ:   6   |  13  |  11  |  12  ||  42
GMA: 11  |  16  |   3   |  10  ||  40

Shooting
MSJ: 16-48 FG (2-16 3PT), 8-15 FT
GMA: 14-45 FG (4-21 3PT), 8-11 FT

Scoring
MSJ: Morgan Cross 12, Caroline Dougherty 8, Caitlin Cavallaro 7, Carly Derouin 5, Bridget Horgan 4, Katie Eichenhofer 2, Nina Meierdierks 2, JJ Miros 2

GMA: Bailey Balkir 15, Brooke Evans 11, Chloe McCarthy 7, Brenna Tronoski 3, Riley Bazela 2, Kiersten Hasson 2