Game 19: Mount Vernon tops WP for first time since ‘04
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- January
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I just returned from Mount Vernon, where the Knights remained unbeaten with a 58-42 victory over White Plains. It was the first time MV beat White Plains since Dec. 30, 2004  the championship game of the Slam Dunk. Obviously, the Tigers went on to win the next three Class AA championships, including the ‘07 title over Mount Vernon.
With that said, I don’t think anyone expected anything but a victory for the Knights, but this one wasn’t easy. The game was back and forth the entire first half until the final 3:37 of the second quarter. White Plains, which had played just five players to that point, started to tire and Mount Vernon took advantage, reeling off an 18-4 run before the half.
Kwinnyata Mercer, who had struggled early, keyed the run. She scored seven during that stretch, including an in-your-face 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer that gave the Knights a 34-18 lead going into the locker room.
Despite the score, the game was just as intense in the second half and a rested White Plains team definitely played well. Angelei Aguirre faced another 32 minutes of intense pressure. Shanyce Stewart guarded her in the first half and Nadia Duncan checked her in the second half. Both did a solid job with lots of help, and the Knights held Aguirre to 14 points on 7 of 20 FGs. Still, she made her impact, adding six rebounds, five steals and three assists.
I don’t know if I watched this game more intently or what, but I noticed a lot of role players performing well tonight. I already mentioned Stewart, who had 11 boards in addition to the tough D on Aguirre. Mount Vernon also received great rebounding efforts from Romona Miles (five boards) and Monday’s hero Charlene Cummings (seven boards), who both have come along as complementary players in the post.
White Plains has progressed since the last time I saw them as well. Donika Rexhepi had 11 points and six rebounds and looked like a capable second option. Shelby Fields and Bree Bradley both started today in place of suspended and/or dismissed starters and they played as well as they have all season. Fields had 10 rebounds and Bradley, a sophomore, scored seven points. Both of them will need more of that if White Plains wants to finish near the top of League I-A, but this was a good, solid start.
Tonight was also an important game for Duncan, who had 15 points, nine rebounds and four assists after she struggled on Monday night against Maria Regina. Her all-around effort was important…there was a LaSalle scout in the crowd to watch her play.
Clearly, Mount Vernon remains the class of Section 1, but the Knights still have a little more schoolwork ahead of them before we go and hand them the gold ball. Next up is New Rochelle on Friday and Ursuline next Tuesday. … And if you don’t think much of the Huguenots  I wasn’t too sure either  then tonight should’ve changed your opinion. Ursuline had to rally late to beat New Ro 45-42, needing a tying and game-winning 3-pointer from senior Rosie Crean.
To tell the truth, I was surprised about the score, but it just goes to show how tough League I-A is. Every night is brutal.
Here’s my video blog of the game, which also has a few thoughts on what’s ahead now that the league season has started:
This entry was posted
on Wednesday, January 9th, 2008 at 7:57 pm by Josh Thomson. 
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Josh Thomson has done some of everything since joining The Journal News in March 2003. He began working for the Gannett weeklies during the winter of 2002 as a freelance writer. He joined the daily staff soon after and has since covered various high school and pro sports. Away from sportswriting, Josh lives in Westchester and spends his free time either with his fiancee, Sarah, or expertly managing his various championship-winning fantasy sports teams. He's visited 21 major-league baseball stadiums and insists that Fenway Park and Wrigley Field are the best by far. Josh graduated from Carmel High School in 1998, then went to Boston University, where, in 2002, he received a degree in communications with a minor in history.
Beacon beat Poughkeepsie 70-35 last night. Sophmore Ally Rola contributed a career high 23 points and Kara Tancredi just missed a triple double with 19 points 12 rebounds, and 8 steals. Other interesting scores from up here in Dutchess County John Jay beat Carmel behind 20 points from Mcintyre and 16 from Moran. The suprise of the night was the 46-44 OLL win over Ketcham. IT took a buzzer beater from Teneka Whitaker for the warriors to beat Ketcham. Whitaker finished with 18 fir Lourdes and Brianna Jones had 22 for Ketcham.
Also, this is Sec. nine info., but it should make A. Magnus look even better. Burke Catholic beat Cornwall by 14. Cornwall was 8-0, and #2 ranked in State Class A.
Thanks for the info. Burke is tough 4 good senior starters and one junior. AM is basically 2 seniors, 1 Junior and 2 freshmen. Although thats not how the game starts when its crunch time thats who in the game. AM played a bad 1st game I would like to see them meet up again
Magnus has three senior starters and at times four, Burke can play thats for sure, but the competition in section 1 is much better than it is in section 9
Travler,
Its not who starts the game that’s important. But when its a tight match up in the 4th quarter you will see 2 seniors, 1 junior, and 2 frosh. Those are your real starters. The rest is just noise, and out of respect to some of the older kids. AM bball is coming along nicely coaches, and players all doing a great job.
I 100% agree with you that Sect. 1 is better than 9. The MHAL leg. which is upper hudson sect. 9 is so bad, with the exception of Kingston and Highland. The Sect. 9 teams that want to get good comp. must leave and travel to Sect. 1, the city or upstate. It is always sad when the Sect. 9 winner gets killed in the first round of state games, when they have come in to it with a perfect record, having only played within the section. Thanks for letting us intrude sometimes, and I think a rematch of last years Burke, AM would be great. But, I am sure that a lot do not like seeing the Catholics win in the public school leg.
Once again PC has taken over AM. Parent interference gets
playing time for their daughters. It is what got Bill Deiner fired 2yrs. ago. Soon as a whistle blow subs come and go. Team has a hard time getting going and when they do
a sub comes in. It cost them the Burke game. Maybe they have learned their lesson.
Doesn’t anyone want to comment on the New Ro game or White Plains game. Enough with all the Rockland BS!
Ken,
I could have not said it better. JM is a great coach, but losing Deiner was a travesty. AM plays plenty of games to give everyone a chance and contribute. I think they learned a lesson.
Get on with it – its a blog talk what you want to talk about. I’m sure the lohud servers can handle it.
Any of you that where not in the New Rochelle gym yesterday missed some game. The Huguenots are beginning to make noise, and should not automatically be dismissed.
OK so I’ll comment on the WP-MV game, though from Josh’s article and blog entry you can get a pretty good idea of what happened in the game.
It was nice for Josh to comment on some of the role players for each team and what contributions they made—usually there is only enough interest (and perhaps column space) to talk about the high scorers.
I did notice that although MV’s late second quarter run made it difficult for WP to come back, I did not sense that either team was willing to let up at all. WP kept trying to come back but MV would quickly answer and keep the double digit lead intact. This didn’t stop players from both sides from hustling at both ends, diving for loose balls and running out of bounds to save errant passes. That is but one sign which tells you that both teams are well coached.
The refs called the game rather loosely (something you don’t often see in the girls’ game) which evenly affected both sides. It hampered some of WP’s Aguirre’s drives to the hoop (she usually got no call) but at the other end, MV’s offensive rebounds and putback attempts were sometimes stopped by a WP foul that wasn’t called either.
MV simply has too many weapons for most teams in Sec 1 to handle; they are smart and patient against the zone and I suspect that they have the individual talent and bench to wear down a man to man defense, assuming that their opponent has the horses to try that. They have two very good 3 point shooters in Palmer and Mercer (who is a double threat down low as well) and both Duncan and Mercer have a very quick move to the hoop along the baseline. Plus, both stars and role players seemed to have progressed both as individual and team players since the two times that I saw them last year.
Ultimately, MV is a very good team and teams like WP have to play near perfect and hope that MV stumbles to have a chance. After MV’s Maria Regina scare, that was not likely to happen last night and it sure didn’t.
That account of the game hits the nail on the head Timster. The addition of Palmer gives them a legitimate 3rd offensive threat, but the veteran leadership Mercer and Duncan provide in my opinion is their best asset.