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WEB EXCLUSIVE: Cool customers: Lady Cards weather Prestonwood rally, return to state finals
BY Matt Welch, mwelch@starlocalnews.com
MANSFIELD -- The John Paul II girls basketball team has danced this dance before.
Back in the TAPPS State Tournament for the third consecutive year, the Lady Cardinals are accustomed to the grinder of crunch-time postseason basketball not just from lessons learned earlier in the season, but from years' past.
It paid off Friday as John Paul held off a rally by Prestonwood Christian Academy to take a 42-35 victory in the TAPPS State Semifinals from Mansfield Timberview.
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The Lady Cardinals return to the state finals for the second time in three years and did so despite holding a one-possession lead inside the final minute of Friday's contest.
Prestonwood found itself in such a position after trimming John Paul's largest lead of the game -- 35-25 with 3:43 left in the fourth -- to 36-33 with 2:30 left after sophomore Brooke Alexander buried a 3-pointer.
The Lady Lions wouldn't creep any closer though, with John Paul forcing a turnover to curtail Prestonwood's chance to tie the game and doing the remainder of its damage from the free throw line.
Junior Keaton Nelligan and senior Kindell Texada combined for six free throws to close out the game and fend off any hope of a Lady Lions' comeback.
"A lot of that is our non-district schedule," Martin said. "Handling close situations like this over and over against some of the top (Class) 5A and 4A teams is something you hope pays off later in the season."
It paid off in spades after Prestonwood came closer than ever to claiming its first win over John Paul.
"This team, one through 12, is probably the closest team we've ever had," said Steve Murray, Prestonwood head coach. "With a week to go in the regular season, we lost our leading scorer and rebounder (senior Marina Muenster) ... and afterwards, everyone stepped up.
"It was an extra bucket, rebound or pass here, and I couldn't be prouder of them."
Senior Mackenzie McNamara led the Lady Lions with 13 points, six boards and three blocks and converted on an and-1 to spark Prestonwood's comeback trail. She had her hands full with John Paul junior Claire Ricketts all evening, a luxury the Lady Cardinals enjoyed after a combination of foul trouble and a neck injury kept Ricketts off the floor at times during the first two meetings between the teams.
Ricketts played the full 32 minutes Friday and, as a result, finished with 17 points, nine rebounds and three blocks in the win.
"I felt like if we could keep [Ricketts] and Texada out of foul trouble, we'd have a good chance to win," Martin said. "I knew it would be close all the way, but our girls did a good job of staying out of foul trouble."
Ricketts scored 10 of her points in the first half, including a buzzer-beater from midrange that gave John Paul a 10-7 lead after one quarter following a late Prestonwood turnover.
A similar fate befell the Lady Lions near the end of the second after senior Ashley Brown, who scored seven, connected on a 3-pointer to trim John Paul's lead to 21-19. Prestonwood retained possession after a foul by John Paul occurred during the make, but Texada assured no further damage was done by stealing the inbound pass and scoring shortly afterwards to give the Lady Cardinals a 23-19 lead at halftime.
Texada contributed 14 points, six assists and three steals to the win although scoring came trickier in the second half as Prestonwood limited John Paul to just one field goal in the third and three total in the second half.
"These girls don't quit," Murray said. "A couple more shots fall or not having those turnovers and we might be celebrating right now.
"But John Paul made plays down the stretch."
The Lady Cardinals managed to retain control by forcing six Prestonwood turnovers in the third quarter to take a 28-23 lead into the final frame. Four points from Ricketts and a trey from junior Arabella DeAngelis gave John Paul a 35-25 edge midway through the fourth that would ultimately not be surrendered in the 42-35 triumph.
Seeking the school's first-ever TAPPS State Championship, John Paul will face Argyle Liberty Christian at 4 p.m. Saturday from Mansfield Legacy High School.
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