RallyNorth.net

Tue, Mar 03, 2015 07:00 PM @ Whittier

Team	1	2	3	4	Final
Pope John XXIII	19	13	22	21	75
Whittier	20	17	21	9	67

After beating Pope John 69-33 in January, Whittier stunned by Tigers in quarters

Thursday, March, 05 By Christopher Smith

LAWRENCE — Pope John XXIII coach Jake Feraco watched Whittier play four times this winter so he had an airtight game plan heading into the Division 4 North semifinals.

“I noticed that with every time in the halfcourt set, they were bothered by man-to-man,” Feraco said. “So we knew we had to guard them halfcourt man-to-man. We knew we needed to keep the ball out of Michaela Martin’s hands because she’s a great playmaker.”

Fifth-seeded Pope John of Everett avenged a humbling 69-33 loss to the top-seeded Wildcats on Jan. 4 with a 75-67 victory over Whittier here at Central Catholic High on Tuesday.

Pope John advanced to Friday’s Division 4 North championship while Whittier’s season ended with a stellar 19-3 record including historic wins over North Andover and Holy Name of Worcester.

Jade Moore poured in 20 of her 27 points in the second half and helped Pope John outscore Whittier 21-9 in the fourth quarter alone. Moore’s dominant second half came after Gianna Hill kept Pope John in the game during the first half with four 3-pointers.

Hill knocked down her first 3-pointer with 16 seconds remaining in the first quarter to cut the Whittier lead to 20-19. She then converted another one 10 seconds into the second quarter to give Pope John a 22-20 advantage.

“We stopped No. 1 (Hill) who we wanted to at halftime, and then (Moore) just took off,” Whittier coach Kevin Bradley said. “Take nothing away from them. It was a great game to watch. It was an exciting game.

“Offensively, we scored tons of points to win,” Bradley added. “That’s the amazing thing. It was a shootout here. And a couple times we just didn’t capitalize on a couple baskets.”

Pope John played without Dana Jackson and Anya Walcott during the first matchup against the Wildcats on Jan. 4. Having those two back proved to be the difference. Jackson netted 16 points and Walcott 14 points.

Andrea Terranova scored a team-high 24 points for Whittier.

“Andrea Terranova is an unbelievable player,” Feraco said. “I think that might have been the best matchup we could have asked for in the state between her and Gianna Hill.”

Whittier led most of the way but Pope John’s hustle kept the score close.

“There were a lot of loose balls that hopefully if we (had) just picked up would have turned into points,” Bradley said. “A couple of rebounds with bounces — just weird. It just bounced right through our hands or underneath our legs and bounced right into them (Pope John).

“The basketball gods got us on those. We tried. Sometimes we looked like Bill Buckner. The ball was going right through. It was just amazing.”

Whittier fell short of its state championship goal with seniors Martin, Vonleh, Terranova, Dominique Ortiz and Kayla Riley all having played major minutes since freshman year.

“There aren’t many teams in the state that can say they’ve done and accomplished what they did,” Bradley said about his seniors. “Not many losses in four years. They were four-year league champs.

Right now it hurts and it should because it shows how hard they compete. ... When that uniform has to come off for the last time it’s almost like going to a funeral. It really hurts because we are such family. These girls will do anything for one another.”

Pope John XXIII 75, Whittier 67

Division 4 North Semifinals

Pope John (75): Gianna Hill 5-2-16, Jessica D’Esposito 1-0-2, Erin Jasper 0-0-0, Anya Walcott 7-0-14, Jade Moore 12-3-27, Dana Jackson 6-4-16. Totals 31-9-75

Whittier (67): Andrea Terranova 10-3-24, Kayla Riley 2-0-5, Xciana Flores 0-0-0, Michaela Martin 4-2-11, Kiana Guadalupe 1-0-2, Samnell Vonleh 6-2-14, Olivia Beauchesne 1-0-2, Dominique Ortiz 3-3-9. Totals 27-10-67

3-pointers: PJ — Hill 4; W — Terranova, Riley, Martin,

Pope John XXIII (16-7): 19 13 22 21 — 75

Whittier (19-3): 20 17 21  9 — 67