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Shorthanded PCA short on luck against JPII
BY Matt Welch, mwelch@acnpapers.com
The John Paul II girls basketball team received a combined four points from its top-three scorers Tuesday night against Prestonwood Christian Academy.
And yet, the Lady Cardinals enjoyed a double-digit lead at the half that swelled over the final two quarters en route to a 52-31 win against the Lady Lions.
"I've said all year that what makes us good is that on any given night, anyone can lead us," said Katie Hensle, John Paul head coach. "We've been working on our depth, allowing others to step up and make things happen."
"You look down at the bench and you're wondering where everybody went," said Steven Murray, Prestonwood head coach. "But you have to stay with some combinations that maybe you wouldn't normally and you've got to be more mindful of their fatigue."
The depth issues did Prestonwood no favors as the game wore on, with John Paul gaining distance after an offensive stalemate midway through the second quarter.
"We went into tonight wanting to pick up the pressure and the tempo," Hensle said. "[Prestonwood's depth] definitely didn't discourage us from doing it, but that was the plan going into the first half."
Following a layup by Prestonwood junior Antoinette Iroko that cut John Paul's lead to 20-15 with five minutes left in the first half, both teams went stagnant until the Lady Cardinals mustered a 6-0 run to close the half.
Aided by a jumper from senior Elizabeth Boddicker, sophomore Keaton Nelligan diced the Prestonwood defense for a layup with 20 seconds left for a 26-15 halftime lead.
Nelligan chipped in eight of John Paul's 27 bench points, adding three assists.
"In the first half, I didn't feel like we had a lot of rhythm or control," Hensle said, "and in the second half, [Nelligan] showed a lot of leadership and kept us under control. That's nice to see from a sophomore."
Nelligan's contributions were one of many on a night that saw leading scoring juniors Kindell Texada, Claire Ricketts and senior Hunter Schwantz combine for four points, five rebounds, three assists and five steals. Instead, the Lady Cardinals' supporting cast carried the day with sophomore Arabella DeAngelis leading all scorers with 11 points and junior Kelsey Sweeney adding eight points and four steals.
While John Paul's offense blossomed from the late second quarter on, Prestonwood was stuck in neutral.
The Lady Lions wouldn't convert another field goal until the 3:42 mark of the third quarter when a floater by senior Brooke Wendl equated a 35-19 deficit.
"We turned the ball over a bit against their 1-2-2, which doesn't help," Murray said. "But we had good looks that didn't fall. When it was 20-15 we were still getting stops; we just couldn't put it in the hole whether it was from two feet or 20 feet."
Junior Mackenzie McNamara led Prestonwood with 10 points, four boards and three blocks while Iroko and senior Rachel Dinger each chipped in six points.
A last-second LaMendola jumper closed Prestonwood's deficit to 39-26 after three quarters before the Lady Cardinals pulled back the reins for a four corners-centric fourth quarter that saw any points converted largely on ball movement from Texada and Nelligan.
That equated to a 52-31 John Paul win.
The Lady Cardinals will travel to Bishop Dunne at 6:30 p.m. Friday while Prestonwood hosts Trinity Christian Academy at the same time.
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