©2006 The Chestnut Hill Local

Mount tops Titans in summer basketball
by TOM UTESCHER

For Mount St. Joseph Academy’s hoopsters, their basketball bout on June 19 was just a little different from your run-of-the-mill contest in the Hatboro Horsham Summer League. It was the first game for the Magic’s new coach, John Miller. The former women’s basketball coach at La Salle University and most recently the assistant coach for the Magic’s league rival, St. Basil’s Academy, Miller saw his new squad topple the Titans of Central Bucks South, 53-34.

All 10 players on hand for Mount St. Joe got in on the scoring Leading the way were rising juniors Alexa Buchanan and Ryann Gallagher, with 11 and 10 points, respectively, sophomore Elle Hagedorn, with nine points, and junior Sarah McGorry, with eight. Neither team was at full strength, which is not unusual for summer hoops contests. Many of the athletes are playing on AAU club teams at the same time, and there are often conflicting practices and games.

George Trabosh, the returning assistant coach for the Magic, had been piloting the summer squad, and in the C.B. South game he watched the Mount step out to a 13-1 lead over the Titans. McGorry’s breakaway lay-up off of a steal got the show started, and the team continued to run the floor well throughout the game.

C.B. South’s first field goal, a three-pointer, came with a little more than eight minutes remaining in the first of the 20-minute (running clock) halves. While not known as an outside shooter, MSJ’s Gallagher canned a pair of three-pointers in the opening period, and at halftime the Mount still led by a dozen, 27-15.

Over the first three minutes of the second stanza, a three-pointer by Laura Johnson (five points total), a fast-break bucket by Gallagher, and four-for-four foulshooting by McGorry outweighed a lone free throw for the Titans and extended the lead to a full 20 points: 36-16. Shortly after this, the Mount subbed in five new players, but continued to gain ground as Buchanan rang up seven straight points, including a three-pointer from the top of the key.

Over the last 10 minutes, C.B. South outpointed the Magic 14-10, but that still left the locals with a 19-point margin of victory. Sophomore Shannon Bridges finished with three points, and the Mount got two apiece from seniors Caitlin Eccleston and Meg Sabia, and from sophomore Jenny Sabia. The lone freshman, Norwood Fontbonne Academy grad Colleen Caldwell, contributed one free throw to the cause and, more importantly, she did not look out of place alongside the varsity players on the floor.

In their last game before the July 4 break, both the Mount and the Wissahickon High School Trojans found their squads depleted, and they wound up playing six-on-six. A distinct size advantage didn’t help the Trojans much against the speedy and tenacious Mount guards, and the Magic prevailed, 47-33.

Mount St. Joe romped out to an 18-3 lead, and even a second-half rally brought Wissahickon no closer than nine points. The Magic piled up points with their transition offense and with their outside shooting, knocking down six three-pointers in the opening period to build up a 36-21 advantage by halftime.

Meg Sabia scored 11 points and Gallagher hit nine to pace the Mount, which received eight points apiece from Buchanan and Jenny Sabia, six from Claire Kueny, and five from Caldwell.