Lady Leopards Fall to Mentor in District Semifinal 49-44, Finish 16-9 – Girls Basketball
#18 Mentor 49, #16 Louisville 44
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The #16 seed Louisville Leopards Girls Varsity Basketball Team fell to the #18 seed Mentor Cardinals 49-44 in the DI Northeast 4 District Semifinals Tuesday at Valley Forge High School. With the loss, Louisville finishes the 2023-24 season with a final record of 16-9.
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Haren Leads Louisville with 15
Senior Brooke Haren scored 11 of her team high 15 points in the first half to lead the Lady Leopards. Junior Courtney Barwick scored in every quarter and reached double figures with 11. Senior Lexi Wasara also hit a pair of three-pointers and rounded out Louisville’s top scorers with 8.
The Lady Leopards starting five made up their entire point total. Junior Chay Cline also scored 6 and sophomore Taylor McCully added all 4 of her points in the fourth quarter.
Leopards Use 16-0 Run to Take Double Digit Lead
Three different Mentor players made three-pointers in the opening quarter as the Cardinals jumped in front 13-6 with 2:06 remaining in the first quarter.
Haren responded with a basket on the next possession and that jumpstarted a 16-0 Louisville scoring run that lasted deep into the second quarter. McCully saved a ball heading out of bounds and the ball found the hands of Barwick cutting into the lane to cut the deficit to 13-12 before the first quarter ended.
The second quarter started with Wasara lacing home a three from the top of the key to give the Leopards their first lead of the game at 15-13. Haren also scored 7 and Cline added 4 points throughout the run.
The Louisville defense held Mentor scoreless from the field for over a quarter. The Cardinals broke a 7:39 scoring drought when junior shooting guard Hailey Watson split a pair of free throws with 2:27 left before halftime. Mentor’s only other points in the quarter came via a sophomore point guard Nina Rodriguez three-pointer with 1:47 to play before the break. That triple was the Cardinals first field goal in a span of 8:19.
The Leopards would score the final five points of the first half to take a double digit 27-17 lead into the locker room. Haren scored in the lane off a Barwick assist. Then Cline passed out to Barwick up top who canned a three-pointer with just over 10 seconds to go in the first half.
Haren Breaks 1200-Point Milestone
The teeter-totter ride continued in the second half as Mentor stormed back into the contest. Senior point guard Maggie Hawley hit a three-pointer from the right wing for the first points of the second half. After Barwick connected on a deep two on the other end, Hawley answered with her third trey of the game from the left corner to get the Lady Cardinals to within 29-23. Hawley would finish with 11 points on the evening.
Haren popped a jumper from the foul line on the other end to re-extend the Louisville lead to eight. She also became the first Lady Leopard to ever surpass the 1,200 career point mark for her career.
Rodriguez answered with three straight jumpers to get Mentor within 31-29 with 3:16 remaining in the third quarter. Rodriguez would go on to score a game high 17 for the Lady Cardinals.
Haren responded once more with a deep two from the left corner with a little under three minutes left in the third quarter. The field goal would prove to be the final points of her unprecedented and historic career. Haren goes into the record books as Louisville’s all-time leading scorer with 1,203 total points scored throughout her four seasons as a Lady Leopard.
Cardinals Complete Rally in 4th Quarter
The Cardinals got to within a single point at 33-32 when the third quarter buzzer sounded. Then Mentor took its first lead since early in the second quarter when Sophia Stouffer made a three-pointer from the left wing a few possessions into the final stanza.
On the other end, Wasara banked home a three-pointer on the right wing to put Louisville back in front 36-35.
It turn out to be the Lady Leopards final lead of the season as the Lady Cardinals would score the next seven points to take their largest lead since the opening quarter. Stouffer buried her second three-pointer of the quarter from the left wing to put Mentor back in front. Rodriguez then blocked a shot and broke loose for a fastbreak layup. A few possessions later, Stouffer drove to the basket to put her in double figures with 10 and put MHS in front 42-36 midway through the fourth quarter.
Mentor Advances to District Final Vs. Magnificat
The Leopards scratched in clawed the rest of the way, but were unable to catch the Cardinals. McCully’s three-pointer from the left wing trimmed the deficit to 44-42 with 2:28 remaining.
Mentor answered right back on the other end when senior Mallary Chicone scored in the lane. Barwick cut into the lane and scored off a feed from Cline to get Louisville back to within 46-44 with 1:40 left.
The Leopards were unable to connect on 6 shot attempts over the final 45 seconds of the game. The Cardinals would convert just 3-of-8 free throws in the fourth quarter, but it would be enough to ice the game for Mentor.
The Cardinals (17-7) have now won 6 of their last 7 and advance to the DI Northeast 4 District Championship game on Friday at 7:00 PM. They will take on the #7 seed Magnificat Blue Streaks who defeated the #36 seed Westlake Demons 58-27 in the first district semifinal game Tuesday evening.
This was the first ever meeting between Louisville and Mentor in girls basketball. The Cardinals are the 81st different opponent the Lady Leopards basketball program has faced all-time and 42nd unique opponent faced in the postseason.
District Final Still Elusive for Lady Leopards
The Lady Leopards have now lost their last eight tournament games at the district level. Louisville’s last district tournament victory was 49-46 win over the Coventry Comets on February 29, 1996.
Louisville is now 48-48 all-time in the postseason. This includes a 9-17 record since entering Division I in 2008 and a 38-35 record all-time in tournament games played on a neutral court.
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Mentor 49, Louisville 44
CARDINALS 49, LEOPARDS 44
Team 1-2-3-4–TOTAL
Mentor 13-4-15-17–49
Louisville 12-15-6-12–44
Mentor Cardinals Girls Varsity Basketball Stats
| Player | 2PT | 3PT | FG | FTM | FTA | Points |
| Nina Rodriguez | 4 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 6 | 17 |
| Maggie Hawley | 1 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 11 |
| Sophia Stouffer | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 10 |
| Mallory Chicone | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 5 |
| Izzy Coode | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 5 |
| Hailey Watson | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| TOTAL | 10 | 8 | 18 | 5 | 16 | 49 |
Louisville Leopards Girls Varsity Basketball Stats
| Player | 2PT | 3PT | FG | FTM | FTA | Points |
| Brooke Haren | 6 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 15 |
| Courtney Barwick | 4 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 11 |
| Lexi Wasara | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| Chay Cline | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 |
| Taylor McCully | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| TOTAL | 13 | 4 | 17 | 6 | 9 | 44 |
Fouls: 14-14
Records: Mentor 17-7, Louisville 16-9
