Monessen Florist casts a ‘Spell’ on Edward Jones

By ASHLEY CHASE

MVI Sports

Call them the comeback kids.

Monessen Florist delivered a resilient effort to come away with a 59-54 victory over Edward Jones on Friday night.

Trailing 33-20 at the half, Monessen Florist outscored Edward Jones by 18 points in the second half to secure a victory and put themselves in position to snag a playoff spot in the final game of the summer league season.

Both teams had just five players available, playing every minute in the complete game effort. Monessen Florist was led in scoring by Maggie Spell with 27 points and seven rebounds. Spell with be an eighth grader in the Thomas Jefferson School District next season. The other four players for Monessen Florist tonight were all rising sophomores.

“I think when we first get into games, there’s a little bit of intimidation factor with how young we are,” said co-head coach Jeremy Sellew. “They started to believe in themselves in the second half and it played out. As tired as we were, I think we wore them down.”

Any intimidation that existed in the first half didn’t show in the second. Spell had 11 of the team’s first-half points and no other teammate had more than four.

On the flip side, Edward Jones was on cruise in the first half as Viva Kreis knocked down 12 points and all five players put points on the board en route to the 33-20 halftime lead.

Spell dialed it up for Monessen Florist in the second half to reach 27 points, including a confident pair of long-range 3-pointers – including one to tie the game 47-47 with five minutes to play – the first moment Monessen Florist didn’t trail during the game.

“We saw Maggie Spell come to the tryout and it was like her highlight film, I don’t think she missed,” said head coach Chad Carotto. “I think I even asked her during the game, ‘How old are you?’ and she said, 13.”

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