Girls: Second-half rally puts Villa Maria over Radnor in 5A title game

Villa Maria’s leading scorer, Elaina Guerzon, talks about their win last night over Radnor. Photo by Delcohoops.com

By Bryan Davis

The boisterous and celebratory chant emanating for the visitor’s locker room at Radnor High School captured the mood quite succinctly.

“Villa to the Ship! Villa to the Ship!”

Villa Maria Academy earned that celebration after rallying in the second half to knock off Radnor, 47-40, in the semifinals of the District 1 Class 5A Girls Basketball Tournament on Friday. Maura McHugh keyed the comeback by notchinbg 12 of her game-high 14 points in the second half.

The seventh-seeded Hurricanes (13-11) will face Bishop Shanahan in the championship at Temple University on March 5. It will be the Hurricanes’ first appearance in the final since winning it all in 2019.
“That was a really gutsy win by our team,” said Villa Maria coach Kathy McCartney said. “We dug in on defense, turned them over a lot, converted some stuff in the second half that we didn’t in the first half. A gutsy win.”

Dave DePasqua interviewing Villa Maria’s Elaina Guerzon after the game. Listen to the interview at the 1:38:20 mark. Photo by Delcohoops.com

Villa outscored the sixth-seeded Raptors (15-8) 21-11 in the final quarter, holding them to 4-of-12 shooting and four turnovers — 17 for the game.

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