PHILADELPHIA – Coming into last night’s Philadelphia Catholic League semifinal, “losing” was not an option for Cardinal O’Hara's girls' basketball team.
“Our game plan was ‘refuse to lose.’ We weren’t just here to play, we were here to win. That was our mentality going in and I think we built off of that and worked as a team and never had the thought of losing in our heads,” said junior Kenzie Gardler, who totaled 19 points in Cardinal O’Hara’s 57-42 victory over No. 2 seeded Neumann-Goretti.
O'Hara vs. Neumann-Goretti Highlight Video - Zamani Feelings
The Lady Lions took advantage of the game from the opening tip-off, where Maura Hendrixson started the game sinking a beautiful 3-point basket, which erupted O’Hara’s bench and fans in attendance. Hendrixson’s mojo continued throughout the remainder of the first half, as the junior Drexel recruit totaled 11 points in the first half of play.
Despite a couple set-back 3-pointers from Chyna Nixon, MVP of the Catholic League, O’Hara maintained a hefty 30-18 lead going into the third quarter.
Flashback to their regular season meeting, the Lions had a little trouble controlling the Saints' tempo.
Mary Sheehan talks about O'Hara's regular season meeting with Goretti and how they dissected that game to pull away with the win.
“We came out a little intimidated and we weren’t very aggressive in the first game,” said St. Joseph’s University commit Mary Sheehan.
Lack of aggression could not be seen from O’Hara’s starting five as Hendrixson, Sheehan, Gardler, Hannah Nihill and Molly Paolino fought up and down the court, diving for loose balls and forcing numerous turnovers to make their dream of playing at The Palestra a reality.
“I’m thrilled, I mean The Palestra is one of the most historic gyms in the country. This was my third out of four years playing in the semifinals, and we’ve never been able to get over the hump. But to do it my senior year, I’m ecstatic,” said Sheehan.
“We’re so excited to have finally made it to The Palestra. I’ve been dreaming of this since freshman year. We just wanted redemption since we lost in the semis last year. And we’re super excited to be playing at the Palestra on Monday, and we’re going to win, not just to play,” said Hendrixson.
Maura Hendrixson addresses O’Hara’s game plan vs. NG
Kenzie Gardler talks about what attributed to their success
O’Hara will face No. 1 seeded Archbishop Wood in the PCL finals on Monday. Tip-off is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. followed by the boys final.
As for Neumann-Goretti, although their PCL playoff run was cut short, their battle for the state championship continues.
“It’s not over, we still have a long journey ahead of us. We will compete in the City championship next Saturday and then we will move forward from there,” said Saints head coach Andrea Peterson. “We will have a couple days to regather ourselves and hopefully our boys can get it [the PCL championship] for us.”
O’Hara Stats: 11 19 13 14 - 57
K. Gardler 19, M. Hendrixson 15, M. Sheehan 10, H. Nihill 9 and M. Paolino 4
Neumann-Goretti Stats: 8 10 13 11 - 42
C. Nixon 12, J. Ingram 11, T. Jones 7, A. Jones 6 and M. Glenn 6
