JEFFREY REINHART jreinhart@LNPnews.com

MOUNT SAINT JOSEPH KNOCKS LANCASTER MENNONITE OUT OF THE STATE PLAYOFFS

COATESVILLE – Lancaster Mennonite’s girls’ basketball team ran into a buzz saw Wednesday night.

District 1 runner-up Mount Saint Joseph Academy, a state semifinalist a year ago, was the real deal. And the Magic were simply magical against Mennonite, which saw its magical season – poof! – go up in smoke.

“Best team we’ve faced all season,” Blazers’ junior guard Katelyn Vanderhoff said of MSJ. “They played at a level we haven’t seen this season.”

Using a full-court pressing scheme, the Magic jumped out to a 10-0 lead before everyone got settled in their seats, and led 29-6 at the half on the way to a convincing 54-32 win over Mennonite in a PIAA Triple-A Eastern quarterfinal game at Coatesville High School.

“Phenomenal team,” Mennonite coach Sherri Gorman said of MSJ, which improved to 26-3 after holding the Blazers to just two first-half buckets and forcing Mennonite to turn the ball over 20 times – 15 in the first half alone.

“That’s the best team we’ve seen all season,” Gorman said. “We got beat by a team that was definitely better than us.”

But what a season for Mennonite, which put together the best season in the history of the girls’ program.

There was a school-record 28 victories. And the Section 4 championship, won in thrilling fashion in a one-game playoff victory over Lancaster Catholic. There was a trip to the L-L League finals for the first time in the history of the program. And, of course, there was the first District 3 Triple-A championship in the history of the program.

“Who would have thought about all of that coming into this season,” said Mennonite junior guard Katelyn Vanderhoff, who scored 11 points on Wednesday. She will start her senior season next winter with 896 career points.

“We knew coming into the season that we might be pretty good, but we never knew we’d get this far,” Vanderhoff said. “To win Districts was huge. And to get to the second round of States … it means a lot. We’ll never forget this.”

Unfortunately for the Blazers, they’ll have a tough time forgetting Wednesday’s game, which got away early.

Mennonite turned the ball over nine times in the first quarter, when MSJ raced out to a 10-0 lead and led 14-3 heading into the second quarter. The Blazers didn’t score until Vanderhoff coaxed in a jumper in the key with 3:16 to go in the first quarter.

“They came out to play right away,” Vanderhoff said. “They were in our face from the start, and we weren’t ready for it. They put a ton of pressure right in our face from the start.”

MSJ, the two-time reigning Athletic Association of Catholic Academies champ, outscored Mennonite 15-3 in the second quarter and led 29-6 at the break. Senior point guard Laura Johnson, a Princeton recruit, scored 13 of her 15 points in the first half for the Magic.

Mennonite (28-5) finally showed some signs of life in the third, closing the quarter on a 12-1 tear to slice MSJ’s lead to 39-18.

But the Magic opened the fourth quarter with a 6-0 spurt and seized control for good.

Senior center Sarah McGorry, a Lafayette recruit, pumped in 19 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for MSJ, which was outrebounded by Mennonite 34-29.

“The first couple minutes of the game we didn’t come to play, and they did,” said Mennonite senior guard Kelsey Gorman, who scored five points and finished her career with 906 points.

“We got an early wakeup call,” she said. “But we talked about playing our game and not worrying about the score and fighting back and finishing the game out. I thought we did that.

“But that was definitely the best team we’ve played all year – by far.”

And this season – by far – was the best in the history of Mennonite’s girls’ program.

“I have no regrets at all,” Sherri Gorman said. “I’m so proud of what our team accomplished. This is the least sad I’ve ever been at the end of a season. I’m not upset at all. What we did with our program and where we came from and how hard our kids played … I only have smiles because they did everything we asked them to do.

“A season is about what you did the whole way through, and I’m very proud of what we accomplished.”