Junior Michelle Montgomery was “under the weather” physically for the 4th -seeded Cardinals VISAA quarterfinal matchup with 5th-seeded Liberty Christian Wednesday, but she had enough left in the game’s final minute to drain four straight free throws and stave off the Bulldog rally for a 47-42 win in the final game of the year in Godley Gym.
The Cardinals broke to an early 8-2 lead on the visiting Lynchburg school enroute to a 16-8 first period margin. Alex Stipano paced a balanced scoring effort for Bishop Ireton with 7 at intermission, while senior Tatyana Crowder was a one-man wrecking crew for the Bulldogs with 12 of their 15 points at halftime.
Liberty Christian staged a furious rally coming out of the locker room in the third quarter, led by Crowder’s 9 points, and the Bulldogs narrowed the deficit to seven at the end of three quarters, still trailing 37-29 as Ireton steadied the ship late in the period.
The home team maintained their advantage at 43-35 with 5:22 to play in the contest, only to see the Bulldogs go on a 7-0 run in three and half minutes to close the gap to 43-42 with 1:44 remaining.
With Coach Jason Harris directing a 4-corner delay that must have made the late Tar Heel coach Dean Smith smile, the Cardinals burned important seconds off the clock and forced LCA to foul when Ireton refused to turn the ball over. Enter the Montgomery clutch free throws and the desperate Bulldogs couldn’t answer in game’s final 100 seconds.
LCA’s Crowder had a game high 29 points for the Bulldogs while Cece Leone’s 16 points paced the Cardinals. Montgomery had 12 and Stipano 10 for Bishop Ireton. Notable for the Cardinals was an impressive 12 for 12 from the free throw line, a critical factor considering the home team did not score a basket in the game’s final 5 and a half minutes.
The win improved Bishop Ireton to 15-15 on the season and secured a 4th meeting with top ranked Paul VI Catholic, this time at St Anne, Bellfield in Charlottesville at 3:15pm in the VISAA’s semifinals.