Keeping her eyes on the basket, Mount St. Joe rising sophomore Taylor Sistrunk (with ball) forges through an Abington High double team. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

by Tom Utescher

After several years of not participating in a formal summer basketball league, the Mount St. Joseph Academy Magic jumped back into warm weather competition last Wednesday evening, opening night for a large league based at the SMG Sportsplex in Warminster.

A relatively young and inexperienced Mount squad that was missing some veterans lost a close opening game to Abington High School, 43-39, then immediately took the court again to find tougher going against Central Bucks East, falling 55-36.

Throughout the 2016-17 scholastic season the Magic started their five seniors, becoming the runner-up in the PIAA District I Class 5A tournament. The rising seniors for the coming year who were on the full-time varsity roster last winter are Liana Alcaro, Erin Bethel, Grace DiGiovanni, Megan Dodaro, Maddie Getty, and Deirdre Regan. Lauren Vesey also made the varsity team as a freshman, the only player who was not a junior or senior.

Dodaro, Getty, and Vesey were not able to attend the first night of the SMG League last week, so Mount St. Joe players moving up from last season's junior varsity saw a lot of action. Alexa Silvestri is a rising senior and Maggie Zipfel will be a junior. Rising sophomore Kelly Rothenberg is the sister of one of last year's senior starters, Sarah Rothenberg. Also playing last week were three more sophomores-to-be, Grace Morrow, Maura Scanlon, and Taylor Sistrunk.

In the first game on Wednesday the first points came on two made free throws by MSJ's Alcaro. By the middle of the 20-minute (running clock) first half, a three-pointer by Scanlon, two free throws by Sistrunk, and a breakaway lay-up and two free throws by DiGiovanni had the Magic ahead, 11-7.

Abington rallied by scoring in transition and also putting in some free throws, going up 17-13 by the break. Two of the more experienced Mounties, Alcaro and DiGiovanni, kept their team within striking distance into the second half, but later on the Ghosts opened up a double-digit lead, 38-26, with a little over seven minutes remaining.

Mount senior Liana Alcaro penetrates to the basket. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

The Magic stopped their slide, as a "three" by Bethel and a driving lay-up by Sistrunk helped them trade points up to 43-31. Then they pared down the Abington lead as DiGiovanni and Alcaro deposited lay-ups and Alcaro scored off a steal.

The Ghosts called time-out with 1:13 remaining and the score at 43-37. The Ghosts missed a pair of free throws, but Mount St. Joe only had time to tack on one more field goal, with DiGiovanni scoring the final bucket for a four-point final.

Moving to the court next door for another game, the Magic kept pace with CB East up to 10-10, receiving two field goals and a free throw from Regan, baskets by Rothenberg and Silvestri, and a free throw by Sistrunk, who left the court with an injury later on. The Patriots then went ahead for good with a 6-0 run, but at the intermission the Magic were still only down by six points, 19-13.

For about the first seven minutes or so in the second half the gap didn't grow much, thanks in part to a pair of three-point field goals by Zipfel. The tally was 36-29 at that stage, but then CB East really took control with an 8-1 surge and kept going from there.

Ill-advised passes that led to turnovers, already a problem in the first game, became more of a factor here. Inexperience was largely the cause, as it will take some time for the returning varsity players and the athletes moving up from JV to gel as a unit.

Late in the contest the Patriots were ahead 55-32, but the Magic were able to trim the final margin under 20 points as DiGiovanni scored on a drive and then sent a pass down the court to set up a transition lay-up by Zipfel.