Guilfoyle girls rout Mountain View for title
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By Michael Boytim
mboytim@altoonamirror.com
HERSHEY -- Bishop Guilfoyle Catholic freshman Maurie Querry and her teammates snuck away from their coaches, the media and staff members at the Giant Center with the PIAA Class 1A championship trophy to the second level of the arena to take pictures with their family and friends who weren't allowed on the floor following the Lady Marauders' 35-17 title win over Mountain View on Friday afternoon.
It wasn't until that time, nearly a half hour after Bishop Guilfoyle had put the final touches on its eighth girls basketball state championship in school history, that Querry realized she was still bleeding from a blow she took in the first quarter.
"I got elbowed in my mouth," said Querry, who had blood trickling down her chin. "Since I have braces, my mouth got caught on my braces. But it was 110 percent worth it to get a state championship. The pain went away as soon as we won. I haven't even thought about it."
Querry's experience summed up the Lady Marauders' day and season. Not everything went right for Bishop Guilfoyle, but it stayed tough and came out of the fire a champion.
Riley Turner scored the first basket of the game for Mountain View, but three straight turnovers by the Lady Eagles led to a 9-0 run highlighted by 3-pointers from Querry and Gia Adams.
Morgan Ruggery scored five straight points after Mountain View's Addison Kilmer broke the string with a reverse layup, and Alana Lightner made it 16-4 after one quarter on a putback.
"They just got out on us early," Mountain View coach Bill Simons said. "We made some mistakes early with taking care of the ball, and we let it happen. We let them get out like that early."
Ruggery made her second 3-pointer two minutes into the second quarter, and Hannah Homan made a jump shot that made the score 21-4, and Bishop Guilfoyle basically went into cruise control from there and let its defense preserve the lead.
"We're a very defensive team, so I feel like when we start strong on the defensive end, it brings our offensive end up," Adams said. "Coach (Kristi) Kaack was a defensive player, and she's always on us about our defense."
Adams had four of BG's 13 steals, which helped make up for BG shooting just 30 percent from the field.
"I think our shooting percentage was probably at the lowest tonight. We didn't put the ball in the basket," Kaack said. "We got a lot of quality looks, but we just didn't finish. Plus, they kind of pack it in and play a slower game. I thought we played into that a little bit."
Fortunately for the Lady Marauders' their defense held Mountain View in check. The Lady Eagles only got up 27 shots and made just seven of them (25.9 percent).
Kilmer, who came in averaging 17.2 points per game, finished with just eight. Turner (six points) and senior Lily Sedlak (three points) were the only other Mountain View players to score.
"Coach always says that it starts on the defensive end, and I think that's very important," BG sophomore Stella Yeskey said. "Defense turns into offense."
Ruggery led Bishop Guilfoyle with eight points and added five steals, five rebounds and four assists.
"Not all of our shots were falling," Ruggery said. "They fell a little bit in the beginning, but they kind of stopped, but our defense really helped us."
The win was Bishop Guilfoyle's second PIAA title in two appearances under Kaack, with the first one coming in 2021 when the PIAA tournament was shortened to three rounds due to only district champions qualifying during COVID-19 alterations.
"We had two days of celebrations for this championship, and in 2021, I felt like the girls kind of missed that," Kaack said. "The common goal remained the same that we wanted to come home with the gold medal, but I was excited for the kids that they got to experience everything that came with it."
The Lady Marauders finished 29-3 and were unbeaten against Class 1A opponents. Their only losses were to District 4-6 Class 5A champion Hollidaysburg, District 6 Class 3A champion Forest Hills and Bishop McCort, who entered the District 6 Class 2A playoffs as the top seed.
"This is amazing," Lightner said. "I'm so proud of our girls and all the hard work we put in. We deserve this."
MOUNTAIN VIEW (17): R. Kilmer 0 0-0 0, Turner 3 0-0 6, L. Sedlak 1 1-2 3, Getz 0 0-2 0, A. Kilmer 3 2-2 8, Trichilo 0 0-0 0, Sander 0 0-0 0, Harvey 0 0-0 0, Tompkins 0 0-0 0, Anderson 0 0-0 0. Totals--7 3-6 17.
BISHOP GUILFOYLE (35): Adams 1 0-0 3, Querry 3 0-0 7, Ruggery 3 0-0 8, Yeskey 1 0-0 2, Lightner 2 2-4 6, Petrecca 1 0-1 2, Lechner 1 0-0 2, Gofus 0 0-0 0, Homan 2 0-0 5, Geishauser 0 0-0 0, Ronan 0 0-0 0, Steward 0 0-0 0, Marasco 0 0-0 0, Hite 0 0-0 0. Totals--14 2-5 35.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Mountain View 4 5 4 4 -- 17
Bishop Guilfoyle 16 7 8 4 -- 35
3-point goals: Mountain View: none; Bishop Guilfoyle 5 (Ruggery 2, Homan, Adams, Querry)
Records: Mountain View (24-5); Bishop Guilfoyle (29-3)
Officials: Bobbie Freeman, Robert P. Hanzely, Chris C. Taylor