February 28, 2008 Issue                                       

©2007 The Chestnut Hill Local

Local Sports

Mount falls to Villa in District 1 final
by TOM UTESCHER

Mount junior Elle Hagedorn only saw limited action due to an ankle injury at the start of the week. (Photo by Jimmy J. Pack Jr.)

Over the course of the multiple meetings between Mount St. Joseph Academy and Villa Maria that have occurred on the basketball court in the past two seasons, it seems that what goes around comes around – and around, and around, and back around again.

In their initial clash this winter, back at the beginning of January, the Mount Magic were up by 19 points on two occasions en route to a 48-39 victory at Villa. They would beat the Hurricanes in the regular-season rematch and in the Catholic Academies tournament finals, as well.

Last Saturday, in the teams’ fourth encounter, it was Villa which twice owned a 19-point advantage, including a 26-7 lead at halftime in the District 1 Class AAA finals staged at Villanova University. The Canes went on to defeat the Magic, 49-34, to claim the district championship, the same title the Mount had captured by beating Villa in 2007.

While Villa put forth an intense, focused effort, the Magic were playing with a partially-healthy Elle Hagedorn. The junior swing player, whose quickness and all-around athleticism disrupts opposing offenses and creates match-up problems when the Mount is on the attack, sprained her right ankle in practice on Monday and missed the team’s district semifinal game on Tuesday.

Third time is no charm against Shipley for GFS girls
by Justin Goldman

GFS Freshman Julya Loder scored 10 points. For more photos of GFS girls’ basketball, www.chlocalphotos.com. (Photos by Jimmy J. Pack Jr.)

It turns out that the third time was not a charm for the GFS girl’s basketball team.

Despite besting Agnes Irwin in the quarterfinals and putting up one of its best efforts all season long, the Tigers came up short, this time a 42-38 low-scoring decision against the vaunted Shipley Gators in the semi-finals of the Pennsylvania Independent Schools Tournament.

In the quarterfinals GFS used a 19-6 fourth quarter advantage to overcome a pesky Agnes Irwin team. The Owls closed the third period on a 6-0 run to cut the Tiger lead to 34-30. But the Tigers turned up the offense and defense in the fourth quarter. GFS went on a 16-4 scoring spurt in the first four minutes of the quarter to put the game away.

After setting up senior forward Marisol McKee with a gorgeous feed that led to an easy layup to help quench some of the momentum that the Owls built in the third quarter, shooting guard Nina Voith took matters into her own hands. She converted two midrange jumpers and one fast break bucket to push the Tiger lead to 50-34.

After getting frustrated and out of sync offensively in the third quarter, the Tigers completely turned the tables in the fourth quarter. GFS put the clamps on Owl sharpshooter Megan Pauley, who had 4 three pointers in the first three quarters. Germantown Friends became increasingly more conscious of where Pauley was on the floor, and she did not get a single look from the outside in the fourth period.

Former “Friends” gather at CHC men’s game
by TOM UTESCHER

CHC’s Kevin Whaley scored 17 points. For more CHC men’s basketball visit www.chlocalphotos.com.

In its first season of NCAA Division II basketball, the Chestnut Hill College men’s team continues to make strides towards becoming a prime-time player in the Central Atlantic Athletic Conference.

Philadelphia University, the undefeated conference leader, knocked off the Griffins by 38 points back in mid-January, but in the rematch two weeks ago the final margin was 13 points, and the gap was down to 10 late in the game. Last Tuesday evening, the locals visited second-place Holy Family College, where they made Tigers fans a little nervous before finally succumbing, 69-61.

Former Friends School League players were on both sidelines in the contest. Both CHC head coach Jesse Balcer and freshman guard Brandon Williams are graduates of Abington Friends School, while Holy Family head coach Alfred Johnson played for Germantown Friends. When Johnson later became coach of the Germantown team, his star player was Jonathan Haynes, now an assistant coach for the HFC Tigers.

After graduating from GFS, Haynes went on to play Division I college ball at Villanova University. Johnson’s career path took him down south. He was an assistant coach at his collegiate alma mater, Elizabeth City State University in North Carolina, and he filled the same role at Alabama State, Tennessee State and Tuskegee University.