For the second time this season, members of the Upper Dublin girls basketball team can call themselves champions, after defeating Villa Joseph Marie 44-33 in the final game of the 2nd Annual Cardinal Classic on Thursday night.
The Lady Cardinals controlled most of the game, led by guard Cutrena Goff's game-high 16 points, although the visiting Jems threatened several times in the second half. The Cardinals are at a height disadvantage in nearly every game they play, and have come to rely on good ball movement and a stingy defense to win games. Thursday night's contest was no different.
"We don't have the extraordinary height that everybody else has," said head coach Vincent Catanzaro. "So we do a decent job of rotating and helping, and if we don't rotate then they get an easy 3-pointer or an easy backdoor layup every once in a while."
That wasn't the story early for the Cardinals, who started the game on a 7-0 run, capped by a Jen Myers 3-pointer. Myers, a forward-center who also took home the tournament's most outstanding player award, would finish second on the team with 10 points and also drew the unenviable task of occupying the paint with Marie standout center Mary Newell.
Catanzaro said that guarding Newell was a key to the game.
"We were rebounding well because we know to box her out, and she'll go over your back once in a while," said Catanzaro. "On offense, we kept trying to draw [Newell] out and get one of guards to post up where we can either make the layup or pass to the next player."
After heading into the second quarter with a 14-4 lead, the Cardinal and Gray built on the margin as guard Taylor Bryant began to heat up. The standout guard, and last year's tournament MVP, drove the lane on three consecutive possessions, making the first two and hitting a pair of free throws after being fouled on the third. The run helped Upper Dublin to a 26-11 lead at the half.
At the start of the third, Villa Joseph Marie hit back-to-back threes to cut the lead to single digits at 26-17. After an Upper Dublin basket gave the Cardinals some breathing room, the Jems would hit another 3. Catanzaro called a timeout to reorganize.
"We changed up to man-to-man, which helped a little bit, because you start to control the game a little bit better," said Catanzaro. "But still, we weren't getting back and we were making bad passes a little bit."
Goff seemed to take the game into her own hands, stopping the bleeding with impressive slashes to the hoop on consecutive possessions to push the lead to 32-20. When asked about the importance of Goff's ability to penetrate, Catanzaro said that it opens many options for the team.
"It's really important because [Goff] can make the kickouts… They know they have to pass as soon as they draw cover," said Catanzaro.
Goff would add a 3-pointer at the buzzer, giving Upper Dublin a 37-22 lead heading into the final frame.
Still, the Jems would not give up, hitting a 3-point shot on their first possession to spark a 9-1 run that pulled them within 7 at 38-31 with 3:47 to play. A lid appeared to be on the rim for the Lady Cards, who would miss four shots from point-blank range on a single possession. However, in a role reversal, Myers found Goff with a pretty pass from the top of the key for an easy bucket to halt the run.
Upper Dublin would play smart basketball the rest of the way, allowing only one more Jem basket and running time off the clock. After Marie began to intentionally foul with under a minute to play, Myers would make four consecutive free throws to seal the victory, 44-33.
"They did a good job and they stayed within themselves, we didn't go out there and just jack it up," said Catanzaro. "We got more patient and made them foul us and did what we needed to do to win the game."
The victory pushes the team's record to 7-1 ahead of a Tuesday match-up at Plymouth-Whitemarsh (4-2).
Scoring:
#3 Cutrena Goff: 16
#24 Jen Myers: 10
#5 Taylor Bryant: 8
#12 Brianna Spector: 5
#23 Kayla Mcaneney: 3
#22 Lauren Rothfield: 2
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