Greencastle-Antrim girls basketball has to learn, grow after loss to York Catholic

By Shelly Stallsmith on 12/6/24

First-year Greencastle-Antrim girls basketball coach Bill Monn knew there would be games like this.

Losses like the Blue Devils suffered Friday night at the hands of York Catholic are just what they need to grow and improve, he said. The Irish defeated Greencastle 52-32 in the first semifinal of the South Western Tip-off Tournament.

"I told them you learn more through adversity than you do in big wins," Monn said. "So they learned a little bit about themselves tonight and hopefully we'll just grow."

Monn was missing a starter and top reserve and started three sophomores and two seniors. Without those extra bodies, the Blue Devils weren't able to substitute as freely as they want, and that kept them from playing the fast-paced game they want to run.

But the biggest lesson Monn hopes his young team learns is how to deal with the physicality of the varsity game. He spent the last decade as an assistant coach in the program and worked with this year's crop of sophomores on the junior varsity team a season ago.

"You have to play through contact," he said. "At the varsity level in the Mid-Penn, York County or wherever it's going to be, there's going to be contact. If you want to make the jump to the next level, you have to be able to play through that. I think tonight was the first night we really had a lot of contact."

York Catholic moved the ball around quickly, setting up sharpshooters Maria Shue and Bethany Lawlor, who combined for 31 points. Lawlor did all of her damage beyond the arc with four 3-pointers, and Shue mixed it up with a 3-pointer, mid-range jumpers and drives through the paint.

Irish center Jaydyn Brown worked down low and created a barrier when Greencastle went for rebounds.

York Catholic doubled up the Blue Devils in the first quarter, and nearly did it again in the second to lead 25-13 at the half. Greencastle played even with the Irish in the third quarter behind four points by senior Meadow Gambacurta and 3-pointers from senior Lexi Nelson and sophomore Kiersten Swain, but they couldn't find a way to cut into the Irish lead.

Shue led all scorers with 19 points and Lawlor added 12. Gambacurta led Greencastle with 11 points.

Greencastle will return to South Western on Saturday to play Carlisle at 2:30 p.m.

"The first game we played really well," Monn said. "This game, we did not do as well as what we wanted to. We kind of got pushed around a little bit and we didn't push back. We'll work on our strength and get better as the season goes."