Mount Mercy makes late run to get past Iroquois in semifinal game of Colpoys tournament

KENMORE - Sometimes the best decisions are the ones that aren’t made.

Mount Mercy Academy coach John Glose had his team play man-to-man the entire game, and the girls rewarded their coach, and his confidences, by erasing an eight-point fourth quarter en route to a 43-39 win over Iroquois in the semifinals of the annual Colpoys tournament.

The Magic will play the winner of the Kenmore West/Sweet Home in the finals at 6:30 p.m. Saturday night at Kenmore West High School.

“There is no quit in this team,” stated Glose right after the game. “The girls played extremely hard for the entire 32 minutes.”

Despite an 18-day layoff, the Magic didn’t come out rusty as they matched bucket for bucket with the bigger, more athletic, Chiefs.

In the second quarter, Mount Mercy used an 11-4 run to take a 22-20 lead at the break. The run was spearheaded for three-pointers from Maddie Parisi, Marissa Stack and Emily Sheehan.

“I was a little nervous, we haven’t played in 18 days,” said Glose. “We really came out hot.”

The second half didn’t start as well for the Magic, however, as the Chiefs turned up the pressure by going to a full-court press. The press rattled the Magic as they turned the ball over and the Chiefs took advantage by limiting Mount Mercy to just four points as they jumped to an eight-point lead heading into the final quarter.

“We knew they were going to press, but we didn’t know when,” stated Glose. “It was effective the first couple of times. But, we made some adjustments. The girls really stepped up and were patient and broke the press.”

Heading into the fourth, the Magic had one more run in them and Parisi, bloodied and all, is the one that got them started.

Parisi hit a key three-pointer and Stack added two more from beyond the arc as the Magic turned up the defensive pressure to outscore the Chiefs 17-7.

With the score tied at 39-39 with just over a minute left in the contest, the Magic pounded the ball inside to Allison Balys – who was able to draw the foul.

Balys hit the first one – but missed the second. The Chiefs had numerous chances to tie or take the lead, but couldn’t hit the shot.

From there the Magic iced the game from the line as Sheehan hits her foul shots to give the Magic a four-point lead with just three-seconds left.

The Magic now improve to 4-0 on the year. This is also their first win over a top 10 team in some years.

“It’s huge (the win over Iroquois,” Glose said. “We haven’t beaten a top 10 teams in a few years and it’s nice. And, I am trying to make a culture of winning. And, this should be just like any other game. We should be used to beating teams like this.”

News and notes:

The Magic are no strangers to the Colpoys tournament. They were tournament champs from 2001-2004, when Heather Turner (University at Buffalo) was at the school. They also took part in the tournament in 2010 and 2011.

The Magic broke out their new jerseys for the game. The school has gone back to their original colors, which is dark navy blue and dark gold (think Canisius High School). Their white jerseys have Mt. Mercy across the top in blue with gold trim.

Wounded Warrior:

Mount Mercy will take on Buffalo Seminary at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 23 at Mount Mercy Academy. All proceeds for the game with go to the Wounded Warrior Project. Tickets for the event are $5 and will include the program. There also will be WWP bracelets being sold. As well as an autograph puck from the Buffalo Sabres and autograph photos from the Buffalo Bills.

Get there early as seats will be going fast at the academy.