Meghan Glynn’s unmasking was nearly enough to deliver Fontbonne Hall its biggest win of the season.
The usually reliable junior wing’s performance dropped for the first half of the season while wearing a protective mask for a broken nose. Glynn wasn’t getting a clean look at the hoop — now she has gone from hardly scoring to averaging 13.5 points per game since removing the mask.
“It’s just hard to see,” Glynn said. “It affects you visually.”
Minus the mask, she made her best showing of the year in a 50–48 road loss to Brooklyn-Queens Division II leader Monsignor McClancy on Feb. 1. Glynn scored 16 points — including a trio of three-pointers — and grabbed seven rebounds to give the Crusaders squad a run for its money.
“It felt good to shoot like that,” Glynn said. “Long overdue.”
The wing had one of the final two chances to tie the score in the game’s closing seconds — her contested layup in the lane bounced out, and a long jumper from Emily Lind didn’t go down.
“We had two or three really good looks to tie the game — one of them could have been an ‘and 1,’ ” Fontbonne coach Steve Oliver said. “She makes that shot going to the rim, and there is a good chance she is getting fouled.”
Fontbonne, which controlled the game’s pace for most of the night, forced McClancy coach Dewey Hopkins to use starting forward Kenia Gracia early in the fourth quarter after trying to keep her out with a sprained ankle.
The Bonnies (10–7, 5–3) went up three early in the final frame on a trey from Katie Marquardt (11 points), and the team pushed the lead to 48–45 on a Breanne McDonnell three with 3:28 to play.
McClancy (18–2, 9–0) scored the game’s final five points, including a trey from sophomore Kristina Krslovic, who led her team with 14 points. Two free throws from Kaitlyn Stenz put the Crusaders up for good at 50–49 with 1:03 remaining.
The Crusaders won the battle in the paint, as well. Keeping the lane locked down garnered them second-chance points and helped reserve Grace Broderson nail a key fourth-quarter bucket on an inbound play with the shot clock winding down.
“They had second and third rebounds,” Oliver said. “We just have to take that away.”
Still, Fontbonne extracted confidence from the defeat — it was McClancy’s closest league contest of the year. The Bonnies own a win over rival Bishop Kearney and will get a chance to avenge a loss to St. Edmund.
“Now we know we can make a run at this,” Glynn said. “They are the first-place team.”
