After dribbling down the court, the Mount’s Mary Jo Horgan pulls up to take a shot while Nicki Heinsinger (#25) of Sacred Heart hurries to catch up.

A 20-win season is an admirable achievement for any basketball club, but very few teams hit that mark while still sporting a zero in the loss column. In front of a large home crowd last Saturday afternoon, Mount St. Joseph Academy drew closer to that goal, putting away Country Day School of the Sacred Heart, 64-25, to reach a record of 18-0.

Sacred Heart remained winless in the Athletic Association of Catholic Academies and fell to an overall mark of 3-14, while the Magic pushed their league win total into double figures, 10-0.

Claiming the two victories needed to become 20-0 for the season won’t be easy for Mount St. Joe, since the next two games on the schedule are rematches with playoff caliber AACA squads, Nazareth Academy and Villa Maria. In the first round of league contests, the Mount won on a buzzer-beater at Nazareth, then had to come from behind on its home court to beat Villa, 43-34.

In the only other game the Magic played last week, host Villa Joseph Marie didn’t prove to be the easy mark that some Mount supporters expected. At halftime in the Tuesday evening encounter, the Jems held a one-point edge, 21-20, and it wasn’t until the third period that the Magic went ahead for good. Mount St. Joe led 36-28 at the three-quarter mark, and the league leaders won the AACA contest going away, 53-31.

CHA squash completes PC sweep
by TOM UTESCHER

Penn Charter’s Steve Harrington eyes up a backhand shot in his win over CHA number one Dylan Ward (background) last Tuesday.

Departing with the Class of 2008 were many of the squash players who propelled Penn Charter to national prominence over the last several seasons. As a result, the Quakers are back in retooling mode this winter, and they’re falling victim to a number of formerly frustrated rivals.

Last Tuesday the PC racquetmen visited Chestnut Hill Academy, where they suffered their second 7-2 defeat of the 2008-2009 season at the hands of the host Blue Devils. CHA improved to a record of 7-2 overall and 3-1 within the Inter-Ac League, while the Quakers went home 4-5, 1-5.

At the outset the visitors forfeited the number nine match; Charter’s regular player in that position was down in Washington attending the Obama Inauguration. Chestnut Hill had won at the number nine spot when the teams met at PC back on Dec. 11, and many of the other matches last Tuesday went the same way they had in the first encounter between the two teams.

GFS matmen nipped by Cougars
by TOM UTESCHER

Dame Fortune kept turning her smile from one side of the mat to the other during the final matches, and the winner in last Wednesday’s Friends Schools League wrestling meet at the George School was decided by… less than a pound.

Springside another victim for unbeaten GA
by TOM UTESCHER

GA‘s Jesse Carey (with ball) looks for a path to the basket as Springside’s Tori Baggio (left) and Courtney Caputo (#3) close in on her. In the background are Jess Erb of GA and Teghan Boyle of Springside.

A Girls Inter-Ac League basketball team experiencing a successful 2008-2009 campaign ran into one having an even better season last Friday, and the visiting Springside Lions bowed to the undefeated Patriots of Germantown Academy, 66-33.

GA (6-0 in league play) received a productive effort from juniors Maggie Lucas (22 points, five assists, seven steals) and Tory Thierolf (19 points and eight rebounds), while senior point guard Jesse Carey contributed eight points, eight assists, and four steals.

Three seniors fueled a balanced scoring attack for Springside (4-4 Inter-Ac). The Lions got 11 points, six rebounds, and six assists from Katie Rutan, 10 points and nine rebounds from Tori Baggio, and nine points and five boards from Amanda Walker, while three points from junior Colleen Caldwell rounded out the visitors’ total.