Hurricanes Declaw Bears, 50-35, Head To AAA Semis

Whoever coined the phrase "playoff atmosphere" must have had Friday night in mind.

At the District 1 AAA girls basketball tournament, the Merion Mercy Golden Bears were routed by a torrid Villa Maria team that ran away with a 50-35 win in the wild confines of the Villa court.

The Villa student body crammed every open space of the Hurricanes home to help rattle a very sluggish Merion Mercy team and help send Villa into the district semi-finals against St. Basil's (14-10) on Tuesday night at Wissahickon High School.

While the Hurricanes (19-6) had their down moments—mostly a second quarter that featured more turnovers than baskets by both squads—Villa pretty much had the game under control from start to finish.

The game was close for a few minutes, as Villa led 4-2 at 5:59 of the first quarter. But they wasted little time the rest of the period building a nice advantage. Maddie McTigue's (younger sister of Immaculata University star Chelsea McTigue) basket at 2:18 had Villa rolling at 11-4, and Lisa Mirarchi's shot at the buzzer had the Hurricanes on top, 16-11.

The second installment was, in a word, ugly, as both teams had trouble finding the hoop. The best the host team could do was limp to halftime with a 21-13 lead after a 5-2 quarter.

But that would all change by the time the Villa dance team exited the floor and hoop play resumed. Starting with a pair of foul shots from Kristen Walheim (23-15), the Hurricanes kicked it into high gear. Seconds after Walheim knocked down her second shot, Mirarchi stole the ball and put it right back up and it was 25-15.

McTigue then dropped home two straight layups to make it 29-15, and Brooke Angelos intercepted a pass, raced down the lane and laid it in. At 2:12 of the third, the rout was on, 31-15.

Meanwhile, the Bears were cold as ice from the floor, and their cause was aided by just two field goals in the first six minutes. By the time the quarter ended, thanks to a couple foul shots from Angelos, Villa had things well in hand, 33-22.

The Hurricanes padded their lead throughout the fourth quarter, mostly from the foul line. A layup from Mirarchi at 4:57 had the difference to 40-22 and another from Angelos at 3:31 pushed it to 44-24. In between, Villa hit five-of-six from the charity stripe.

The last five minutes of the game took 17 minutes to play as both teams marched back and forth to shoot fouls. Overall, Villa had eight chances and converted six while Merion Mercy shot six times and hit five of them.

The contest ended when Katie Higgins, one of a countless bench moves head coach Kathy McCartney made in the final eight minutes, hit a jumper with 0:01 showing on the clock as Villa celebrated their third win over the Golden Bears this season, 50-35.

The Hurricanes put three players in double figures: Mirarchi with 13, McTigue with 11, and Angelos with 10. Merion's high scorer was Martha Pannepacker with nine.

Villa Maria is now within one win of the District 1 AAA final at Villanova on March 5 and two wins from a berth in the PIAA state playoffs.

Tuesday, they will face St. Basil's, a team they split with during the regular season, winning 45-22 on Jan. 6 but losing 47-41 on Feb. 1.