Mercy claims The Classic, topping Maryvale in the third annual basketball showdown

By Nelson Coffin
nelson@iaamsports.com

The only realistic chance that Maryvale had to prevent Mercy from winning its third consecutive edition of The Classic on Saturday was to hold Magic star guard Milan Brown relatively in check.

Given the talented junior’s recent exploits on the hardwood, that was going to be something easier said than done.

Considering that Brown’s previous outing was a 52-point, 12-rebound explosion in a 72-62 triumph over Our Lady of Mount Carmel after pumping in 33 points in a 90-52 loss to St. Frances Academy, the Lions knew that keeping Brown under wraps was of paramount importance.

Unfortunately for Maryvale, Brown was up to her usual tricks — 20 points, 15 rebounds while surpassing 1,000 career points — in the 48-27 non-conference Magic victory in front of a large and loud crowd at Towson University’s SECU Arena.

Maryvale coach Alex Miller, whose team was coming off one of its best performances of the season in a 47-36 victory over B Conference rival St. John’s Catholic Prep, said that he prepared his players to make it as difficult as possible to rein in Brown.

“We have five players who played in The Classic last year (a 77-40 Mercy win), so we had to rely on them to help our players who never played in a game like that,” said Miller, whose Lions fell to 5-7 overall. “And we wanted to make it a memorable experience for them.”

Miller added that he didn’t begin to get his team to focus on Mercy until Thursday, saying that the Magic “have a great team with a great coach and a great player. But mid-January is when we usually hit our stride.”

Part of his strategy was to see if 5-foot-9 sophomore point guard Cayden Reese, among other defenders, could slow Brown down while senior shooting guard Sophie Kelly would provide some scoring punch from the perimeter. Last January, Kelly garnered Maryvale MVP honors in The Classic for draining four three-pointers.

Trying to keep up with the Magic on Saturday, though, was a tall order.

Mercy coach George Panageotou said his 10-8 team relishes the fact that Brown is such a prolific scorer.

“With this squad, they don’t care one bit (that Brown takes most of the shots),” he said. “That’s how the kids are on this team. Sometimes they even defer too much, but they just want to win.”

And to be sure, the Magic do rely on other stalwarts, such as senior Lulu Paye, junior Naima Wanjihia and sophomores Kate Hax, Emma Panageotou and Grace Mooney, to hold their own in the A Conference this winter with a potential postseason berth in the making.

“We have exceeded expectations with four wins in the A Conference,” he said. “Our goal from the beginning is to make the playoffs.”

Still, George Panageotou said that the Magic didn’t look at the non-conference meeting with Maryvale as a trifle.

“We wanted to embrace the atmosphere of playing in front of such a big crowd,” he said. “We wanted to get them the feel of what it’s like to play in a major college arena. We wanted them to play with confidence, and if they made a mistake, to go on to the next play and not worry about it. We wanted to win for the school, the alumnae, faculty and students. We won the first two (of the Classic) and we wanted to win again.”

Miller said that the Lions and team MVP, junior Avery Weetenkamp, were up for the fight.

"I'm really proud of how our team started the game playing great defense and knocking shots down," he said. "We knew playing Mercy as an A Conference team was going to be a challenge — and our team didn't shy away from the opportunity."

Miller added that the Magic "did a good job of executing off the plays Milan was creating."