Foul Shots Down The Stretch Send Villa to AACA Final

Villa Maria girls basketball team secured a berth in the Athletic Association of The Catholic Academies championship game with a 44-37 win over Nazareth Academy on Saturday night at Gwynedd Mercy College in Ambler.

The victory pits the Hurricanes against Mount St. Joseph's on Tuesday at the same location at 7:30 p.m. The Mount defeated St. Basil's, 48-24, in the other semi-final game.

The Hurricanes (18-5) bolted from the gates and threw an 11-0 lead on the Pandas at the 4:44 mark of the first quarter. Nazareth tried to climb back into the game with a basket then a three-pointer from Lindsay Fleuhr, but Villa countered with a layup from Maddie McTigue at 2:29 to post a 13-5 lead.

Fleuhr hit another trey at 52.6 while Lisa Mirarchi canned two free throws for Villa and the Hurricanes enjoyed a 15-8 advantage at the end of eight minutes.

But basketball games are four quarters long for a reason. While it began to look as if the Hurricanes might just seal the deal by halftime, their opponent (with whom Villa split the regular season, winning 47-45 and losing 41-38), had other ideas.

Villa built a 21-10 lead at 4:46 of the second period when Kellie O'Rorke hit a three from long range. Little did head coach Kathy McCartney know, but that would be the last time the 'Canes would strike paydirt for almost two minutes.

That allowed the Pandas to collect on a six points from Danielle Gasperi, and six more from Fleuhr while Villa could only counter with a layup from Mirarchi (12 points), and that comfortable lead was down to 23-21 when the first half ended.

Scoring wasn't much of an option in the third quarter as the defenses tightened. The Hurricanes maintained the edge, getting a foul shot from Mirarchi (26-21) and a three from O'Rourke as Nazareth recorded two free throws from Gasperi and at 2:52, it was Villa 29-23.

That's when the Pandas made their move. Nicole Dombrowski scored at 2:35 then Gasperi canned back-to-back twisting layups, and the quarter ended with the two squads tied 29-29.

All this accomplished was setting up a wild final eight minutes. Villa took the lead on a steal at half court from Mirarchi that she turned into a basket (31-29) then Nazareth took its only lead of the encounter at 6:02 when Gasperi bombed a three-pointer that put the Pandas ahead 32-31.

However that enjoyment would be short-lived for Nazareth when, at 5:46, Mirarchi's layup put the Hurricanes back on top, 33-32.

The remainder of the game was basically a march to the foul line for Villa Maria and little offense for Nazareth. The Hurricanes connected on nine of 15 freethrows in the final 3:34 and moved into the AACA finals with the 44-37 win.

Just last week, Villa handed The Mount (20-3) a loss in Malvern in the last regular season game of  the season. The Hurricanes lost to their rival, 43-39, the first time they met this season.

The Mount is expected to be the top seed of the District 1 AAAA playoffs while Villa could take the number one spot in the AAA tournament.

But for now, the focus will be on winning the title game on Tuesday night.