In closely contested basketball games, the girls of Penn Charter have cemented their reputation as a fourth-quarter team. In both of their victories over Germantown Academy this season, the Quakers were behind at the start of the final period, once by a dozen points.

In their 2021 season finale last Thursday, host Penn Charter again faced a late-game predicament. The Academy of Notre Dame sprinted out to a 16-4 lead, and the Irish were also up by 12 points at the end of three rounds, 49-37. The Quakers fell even farther behind, trailing 57-42 with five-and-a-half minutes left to play. After that, though, Charter bore down at both ends of the floor, shutting out the AND offense the rest of the way and scoring 19 points of their own to win, 61-57.

"We save it for the end; we like to make things interesting," quipped Quakers head coach Joe Maguire afterward. "It was an intense game, and both teams knew it would be. We didn't get to play a lot this season, and I was happy that our last two games were against GA and Notre Dame because that would let us show what we're made of."

It was the season swansong for the Quakers, who finished 7-1, splitting two games with the Irish while winning all of their other contests. After playing at PC, Notre Dame defeated Germantown Academy and Episcopal Academy (in overtime) to finish at 8-1 against league opponents. It was Notre Dame's second contest against EA, whereas Penn Charter only played the Churchwomen once this winter.

On Thursday Penn Charter was powered by four double-digit scorers, sophomore Aleah Snead (16 points), junior Maddie Shoup (14), and sophomores Kelsey Bess (12) and Bella Toomey (11). Notre Dame received a game-high 24 points from junior Maeve McErlane and 10 from sophomore Katie Halligan.

Senior guard Kaitlyn Hnatkowski, normally a starter for PC, was out of town, while the Irish were missing their sixth man, sophomore Ava Bleckley.

Notre Dame junior Caroline Kemp scored in the opening minute, then the home side of the board got rolling thanks to a drive by Shoup. Smaller than almost anyone on the court in terms of both height and heft, the junior was bounced around the floor like a pinball in an arcade game, but she just kept getting back up to play tenacious defense while scoring seven points in each half.

However, two three-pointers and a 15-foot jumper by sharpshooter McErlane helped the Irish build a 16-4 lead in a little over four minutes. Notre Dame was fouling to stop PC, however, and the visitors' fifth team foul put Toomey on the line to make a pair of free throws, giving the home team its first points in more than two minutes.

The Irish became a little impatient on offense, trying to force passes to one another in the paint and turning the ball over. Buckets by senior Jamie Kubach (a runner), Toomey (off of her own steal), and Snead (a transition lay-up) got Charter back within three points of the leaders, but junior Julia Dever's jumper from the left end of the foul line had Notre Dame up 20-15 at the quarter.

Midway through the second period, two makes at the foul line by Bess (on AND's eighth team foul) tightened the score to 20-24, but the Quakers then missed a chance to draw even when they hit only one of four free throws over the next minute. McErlane then made four straight free throws in one sequence when a Penn Charter shooting foul was compounded by a technical foul.

Later, McErlane drained two more treys and the visitors had a double-digit lead going into the final minute of the first half (34-23). Buckets by Toomey and Shoup got the point spread down to seven points (34-27) for the intermission.

Toomey led the Penn Charter scoring effort at halftime with eight points, while McErlane already had 22. After that, Penn Charter curtailed the visiting junior's outside game; her last two points came on a jumper from just inside the three-point loop. Forwards Halligan and Kemp stepped up for the Irish, though, each with six points after the intermission.

Although Bess and Shoup both bagged three-pointers and Snead scored off a steal late in the third period, the Irish had a net gain of five points and entered the final stanza with a 49-37 advantage.

While PC netted just three free throws during the first two minutes of the fourth quarter, Notre Dame's Halligan scored two field goals from the paint and senior Izzy Casale nailed a baseline jumper. Toomey gave PC its first field goal of the period, but this was soon matched by AND junior Grace Hannah, and with just five-and-a-half minutes left in the game the visitors were ahead by 15 points, 57-42.

The one fly in the Irish ointment was the figure in the foul column. Kemp's third personal foul, Notre Dame's seventh of the half, put PC's Shoup on the line to knock down both shots of a one-and-one to make it 57-44 with 5:25 on the clock.

Penn Charter's Maguire immediately called a time-out; his Quakers still had a long way to go.

He related that he told them, "The only way you're going to win is if you hold them under 60."

Charter's press hadn't been very productive early in the game, and Maguire had called it off. Now, the situation had changed, and also, Notre Dame wasn't quite as fresh. The PC press went back on.

"We had to because we were desperate; there was nothing to lose and we were just running around and scrambling," the coach noted. "They had out-toughed us and out-worked us most of the game. The last five minutes we were checking out and we were getting the loose balls."

After the time-out, Charter continued on to complete a 19-0 dash to victory. Bess betted a short jumper from the right side, Shoup slipped in two more free throws, and senior soccer star Kait Haughey connected on a three-pointer from the right wing. Suddenly, it was a six-point contest with a little over three minutes to go.

Snead eliminated the Penn Charter deficit altogether. She scored off an offensive rebound and on a transition romp, and each time she made a free throw tacked onto the play. It was 57-57 with 2:22 on the clock, and the first of these fouls against Snead had put the Quakers in the double bonus.

Notre Dame got into the one-and-one with 1:42 left, but missed the first free throw. A little earlier, a tie-up had given the ball to Notre Dame.

Seconds after the missed AND foul shot, the teams were scrambling for a loose ball again, but PC's Maguire wisely called a time-out just before a jump ball was whistled, keeping the possession arrow pointing Penn Charter's way.

Bess moved the hosts ahead when she popped in two free throws after being fouled on a baseline drive. It was 59-57 heading into the final minute. Haughey caused a key Irish turnover for the Quakers by poking the ball away from the visitors' Halligan.

AND's Dever then committed her fifth foul, and on the line with a double-bonus opportunity, Toomey made the second of two shots with 20 seconds left. The Irish brought the ball up the right wing, but when Charter almost trapped the ballhandler along the sideline, she tried to pass the ball ahead to a teammate who was already stepping out of bounds.

The ball went over to Penn Charter, and following a Notre Dame time-out, Snead locked in the 61-57 final score by making the second of two free throws with 10 ticks remaining. A final attempt for a "three" by McErlane was well short of the mark, although Penn Charter came dangerously close to committing the sin of fouling the three-point shooter.

In addition to the four scorers in double figures, the winners had Kubach contribute five points while Haughey had three.