Mount takes two in summer hoops

by TOM UTESCHER

Spring sports team athletes have just turned in their uniforms, but summer league basketball is already going strong. Mount St. Joseph Academy picked up a pair of victories in the Hatboro Horsham League last week, knocking off Central Bucks South, 35-27 on Tuesday evening, and then topping Wissahickon High School the next night, 43-39.

Laura Johnson and Claire Kueny got the Magic off to a 6-0 start against CB South, but the Titans broke the ice with a three-pointer and eventually worked their way back to a 12-12 tie. In the last two minutes of the first of the 20-minute (running clock) halves, Sarah McGorrry went three-for-four at the foul line and Johnson and Kaitlin Eccleston added single free throws to put the Mount up 17-14 at the half. Kate Hagedorn and Meg Sabia also contributed to the MSJ offense in the opening period.

In the first ten minutes of the second stanza Mount St. Joe opened up a nine-point lead at 27-18, but CB South lined up two free throws, a three-pointer, and a transition lay-up to draw within two, 27-25. Alexa Buchanan put in a pair of foul shots for the Magic, then two successful drives by Kueny and a score off the rebound by Eccleston sealed the victory for MSJ.

Johnson was off playing with her AAU team the following evening, and the Mount looked a bit unsettled against Wissahickon in the first period. The Trojans first scored inside buckets off the transition, then went outside to hit three treys to attain a 24-11 advantage with a minute to go in the half. Up to this point the locals had relied on McGorry for all but two of their points, but the Magic began to diversify their scoring after this.

Eccleston and Kueny closed it up to 24-15 at the intermission, and the Mount looked to force turnovers at the start of the second period, which began with McGorry scoring off of a steal. Eccleston, Buchanan, and Aubrey Barrett then led the Magic back to a 27-27 tie with 12:31 remaining. Over the next six minutes, three-pointers by Barrett and Paige Kenney helped boost Mount St. Joe to a 36-30 lead, but the Trojans answered with a run of their own to go up 39-36 with under two minutes to go.

Hagedorn drove for a lay-up, and when she missed a free throw added onto the play, McGorry put the ball back up for another basket, giving the Magic a 40-39 edge with 40 seconds left. Wissahickon had to start fouling to try and gain possession of the ball, and from the free throw line Barrett hit twice and Kueny once to round out the final score.