Villa Joseph Marie’s balanced attack overwhelms PJP II for first district title in 22 years

BRYN MAWR — When Rylee Derecola’s three-pointer splashed through the net to open the scoring in the District 1-4A championship game, it felt like Pope John Paul II was off to the races.

In actuality, the third-seeded Golden Panthers soon discovered they were up against a bigger, faster, and more experienced and fundamentally-sound Villa Joseph Marie team. The top-seeded Jems, who returned all five starters from last year’s team that failed to qualify for the postseason, shook off a slightly sluggish first quarter and dominated thereafter en route to a 47-23 victory for the program’s first district title in 22 years on Saturday at Harriton High School.

Ten of the 11 players who saw the floor for Villa Joe scored, and they utilized a steady barrage of crisp ball movement, relentless defensive pressure and textbook rebounding that often led to second and third-chance opportunities. Add it all up, and PJP simply got overtaken by a perfect storm of great basketball.

“Early on, we were in the mindset of attacking and getting after them,” PJP head coach Jack Flanagan said. “Rylee hit that first shot and it got us going. We were only down 10-7 after one, and I felt like we were good there. How they played with their intensity and speed, that’s how we need to play the next time we find ourselves back in this situation. Villa Joe is a heck of a team.”

The 10-7 deficit quickly swelled to 10 points as soon as the second quarter started, as Villa Joe’s Ava Gumienny buried a 3, followed by four straight points from Riley Deal. Sophie Vigliotta connected on a triple to pull PJP back within seven, and a 22-12 halftime deficit still seemed somewhat manageable.

Then, the Jems erupted out of the halftime break. Deal scored the opening basket, followed by a Grace Pizzica triple and four straight points from Julia Mack. By the time Deal went 1-for-2 at the line, the score was 32-12 and the game was effectively over.

Deal was the most impactful player on the court, scoring a game-high 12 points to go with five rebounds and seven steals. Pizzica (eight rebounds), Gumienny (five rebounds, three assists) and Mack (six rebounds, two steals) all mixed in eight points amongst well-rounded performances. The Jems had 11 steals to PJP’s three and outrebounded the Golden Panthers 33-21. All told, it was simply too much to overcome, with the one silver lining being PJP still qualified for next month’s PIAA Tournament.

“I wish we were leaving with that trophy,” Flanagan said. “But to me, the state tournament is like the NCAA Tournament and March Madness. It’s what every team wants to play in at the end of their season, and I’m so happy for our players that they’re going to get to experience what a state playoff game is like. I’ve been there before, and there’s nothing like it.”

Most of this Villa Joe (15-10) team has been playing together for three years, so going from missing the playoffs to district champions was especially vindicating.

“It feels awesome,” said Jems head coach Caroline Gray, a 2014 graduate of Villa Joe. “We’re very fortunate to have the same group back from last year, and the work they’ve put in was very obvious today. We knew from the jump this season that we had a group that had a better chance of getting here. This has been the goal all season, so it’s cool. They really deserve it.”

Perhaps the only blemish for Villa Joe was its shooting from beyond the arc. The Jems attempted 22 3’s, making only four, but what they lacked in outside touch they made up for with defense and rebounding. PJP shot just 9-for-42 from the field, and hardly any of those shots were uncontested. Once Deal started coming up with steal after steal, the rest of the team matched her energy.

“When she gets going, it’s contagious,” Gray said of her starting point guard. “As soon as Riley starts playing the level of defense that she’s capable of, it’s so easy to influence the rest of the kids on the court.”

For her part, Deal just credited her teammates and all of the work they’ve put in together behind the scenes. Chemistry that is built through multi-year repetition is not an aberration.

“Our chemistry off the court is awesome,” Deal said. “Last year, we didn’t make the playoffs, but we stuck together even through the toughest points. We worked all offseason to get to where we are today. Once we got into the third quarter, we started playing more team basketball instead of being selfish.”

The Jems won every single quarter, but their 12-5 and 16-4 advantages in the second and third quarters, respectively, are what blew the game open. PJP managed just two field goals in both the second and third periods, and Deal scored nine of her 12 points in the second frame.

“We started noticing we weren’t making many shots early in the first half, so we focused more on making the extra pass,” Deal said. “It helped a lot getting us wide open looks, and we also did a really good job getting rebounds and putting defensive pressure on them.”

“We weren’t playing our best, just a little sloppy in the beginning,” added Gumienny, one of Villa Joe’s four senior starters. “We were prepared but not playing confidently. We talked at halftime, and in the second half we came more together as a team and pulled through by doing what we do.”

Nilles led the Golden Panthers (14-11) with eight points, while Vigliotta and Brook Albeck scored five each. Grace Fitzgerald and Elena Collilouri each grabbed six rebounds in the losing effort.

After the game, Flanagan said he was especially thrilled for Nilles and Collilouri, the team’s lone seniors, that this 24-point loss would not be the last game they played in a PJP uniform. The team has a lot to clean up before states, but with a two-week layoff between now and the next game, the third-year head coach expressed optimism that his team would get back to where it needs to be.

“We have two weeks, and I think it’ll be a really good time for us,” he said. “It’s extra time we’ll have to strengthen the relationships we have on this team. We have that time now that you don’t get during the regular season. I think an exciting thing for the girls is they got a firsthand look today at what taking that next step really looks like.”

Villa Joseph Marie 47, Pope John Paul II 23

Pope John Paul II – 7 5 4 7 – 23

Villa Joseph Marie – 10 12 16 9 – 47

Pope John Paul II: Derecola 0 1 0-0 3, Fitzgerald 0 0 2-2 2, Nilles 4 0 0-4 8, So. Vigliotta 1 1 0-2 5, Collilouri 0 0 0-0 0, Albeck 2 0 1-2 5, Todd 0 0 0-0 0, Sa. Vigliotta 0 0 0-0 0. Totals 7 2 3-10 23

Villa Joseph Marie: Grunwell 1 0 0-0 2, Deal 4 1 1-3 12, Pizzica 2 1 1-2 8, Mack 4 0 0-0 8, Gumienny 0 2 2-2 8, Akright 1 0 0-0 2, Gayton 1 0 0-0 2, Jasionis 1 0 0-0 2, Dickson 1 0 0-0 2, Hadgimallis 0 0 1-2 1, Gillespie 0 0 0-0 0. Totals 15 4 5-9