MSJ sophomore Grace Niekelski gets ready to take the ball to the hoop against Bonner Prendie’s Alexis Eagan. (Photo by Tom Utescher)[/caption]

by Tom Utescher

Hosting a well-regarded squad from Bonner & Prendergast High School last Saturday afternoon, the Mount St. Joseph Magic had a 36-35 edge two minutes into the fourth quarter. Over the next two minutes, however, the visiting Pandas would out-point the Mounties 9-2 to begin to break open what had been a close game all the way up to that point.

Bonner Prendie would then score six more points before the Mount responded, and the visitors eventually came away with 59-46 victory that raised their record to 12-7 overall.

The Magic had sophomore Grace Niekelski and junior Taylor Sistrunk each deposit a pair of three-pointers, and they finished with 15 and 12 points respectively. Mount St. Joe emerged with an overall record of 6-9 while remaining 4-4 within the Athletic Association of Catholic Academies.

Despite the outcome on Saturday, second-year Mount head coach Jim Roynan felt there were a number of positives for his team.

“Today was a step forward,” he stated. “We went well into the fourth quarter staying with a really good team. We executed for most of the game, and now we just need to clean up the end of the game.”

With a lay-up by junior point guard Lauren Vesey, a drive by Sistrunk and a trey by Niekelski, the Magic got off to a 7-0 start. The Pandas climbed back within two points of the home team as the first quarter began to wind down, but a follow-in by Sistrunk and a lay-up by junior forward Kelly Rothenberg had the Magic up 13-7 when the period changed.

Midway through the second round Mount St. Joseph led 21-14, then Bonner Prendie erased most of its deficit with back-to-back three pointers by Maeve McCann and Alexis Egan. With under two minutes to go in the half another “three” by Bridie McCann pushed the Pandas ahead for the first time, with the score now 25-24.

The Magic had a chance to take a lead into the halftime huddle, but two different players each missed the first shot of a one-and-one down the stretch. Fouls were threatening to become a problem for the Pandas, though. In the first two quarters they committed nine to the Mount’s three, and forward Ariana McGeary had three personals.

The Mount’s Niekelski kicked off the second-half scoring with a trey from the left wing, but six minutes into the third quarter the Magic were once again down by one point, despite a three-pointer and a shorter jumper made by senior Lauren Cunningham.

Mount juniors Grace Morrow (left) and Kelly Rothenberg prevent the Pandas’ Dakota McCaughan from getting off a lay-up. (Photo by Tom Utescher)[/caption]

With 90 seconds left, Rothenberg hit a lay-up and not long after that the Magic called a time-out. Each team missed a shot on its last possession of the period, and the hosts had a 34-33 edge heading into round four.

A 15-footer by the Pandas’ Reagan Dolan was answered in kind by Niekelski with two minutes gone, but this would be the Magic’s last lead, at 36-35.

After Bonner Prendie’s McGeary converted off of a rebound but couldn’t hit an accompanying free throw, the Pandas rebounded the miss and got the ball to Dakota McCaughan for a three-point bucket. Cunningham hit from the left edge of the foul line to get the Magic back within two points, 38-40.

Cunningham would also score the Mount’s next two points with a lay-up, but that came with 2:07 left to play, following a 10-0 run by the visitors that had them up 50-38. The Mounties were more careless with the ball than they’d been earlier, and now it seemed the Pandas were capitalizing on every opportunity.

“We had been taking our time, we’d been running good sets and we’d been getting good looks at the basket,” Coach Roynan remarked, “but then toward the end we rushed things a little bit and we had some poor possessions.”

The foul situation had also turned around, with infractions piling up against the Mount while Bonner Prendie did not commit its first foul of the second half until only 1:44 remained in the game. The Pandas went two-for-two from the line in the third quarter, and then 13-for-18 in the fourth, getting into the bonus with a minute-and-a-half left to play.

For the Mount, the output of Niekelski and Sistrunk was supplemented with nine points from Cunningham, eight from Rothenberg and two from Vesey.

Maeve McCann produced a game-high 16 points for Bonner Prendie, and the Pandas received 11 points apiece from Bridie McCann and McCaughan, with the latter going eight-for-10 at the free throw line in the fourth quarter.

MSJ’s Roynan reflected, “The more games like this we play, the sooner we’ll get over the hump and be able to continue to execute late in the game. We shared the ball better today than we have all year. We found open players and all five girls on the court were involved.

“On defense we talked a lot and we moved and kept our hands active,” he continued. “If we keep playing like that, it’s only a matter of time before we string some wins together.”