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Poor shooting costs Sharks MMA lead
Sacred Heart made seven field goals in the first three quarters, missed at least a dozen inside shots and failed to sink a three-pointer in a 44-38 loss last Wednesday at Canisius High School. Before the game, Sacred Heart was ranked No. 2 in Western New York large schools. Nardin was ranked third. The teams switched rankings this week. "We had a million inside shots that we didn't make," said Sacred Heart coach Sister Maria Pares. "And we missed nine free throws (10-of-19). They made them, we missed them." Coming into the game, Sacred Heart hadn't lost a Monsignor Martin Association game since losing, 56-37, to Nardin in the 2005 MMA finals. Sacred Heart had won its last five meetings over Nardin, including a win in the 2006 MMA finals and this past December in the Al & Rose Pastor Tournament finals. "People forget we had won the championship two years ago," said Nardin coach Jake Herlihy. "In the Monsignor Martin, there are a lot of swings. Holy Angels had their time. Mt. Mercy beat us I think 11 in a row. We've had our time and Sacred Heart has had their time with us. The one constant you can count on are good hard games between both (Sacred Heart and Nardin) teams." That was certainly the case this time around. Neither team scored until the Sharks' Krystal Watson laid in an offensive rebound about 2½ minutes in. Nardin played tough and led by Kendra Brimm's 10 points, took a 27-21 lead through three quarters. The Sharks' offense finally came to life in the fourth. Watson scored the first five points of the quarter to cut the deficit to 27-26. Later, Gina Ricotta (eight points) hit a layup and Devon Hornung (five points) stole the inbounds pass and laid in another two to tie it at 32-32. Nardin answered Sacred Heart every time in the fourth. A Ricotta free throw pushed the Sharks ahead, 33-32, with 3:26 remaining but Nardin's Claire Hourihan knocked down a three. After the Sharks' Katie Keller stole the ball and laid in two, Nardin Leila Gentile hit a trey and her teammates hit 7-of-8 free throws to seal the win. "I think we played with a little more poise," said Herlihy. "There were certain periods in the third and fourth that we lost our poise but calmed down." Brim finished with 13 points and 14 rebounds. Hourihan had 11 points and six assists. Watson finished with 15 points and eight rebounds for the Sharks. Keller has four points and five steals. Liz Tramposch scored four points and grabbed five rebounds. Sacred Heart opened and closed the week with home wins at Villa Maria College. The Sharks outscored Holy Angels, 20-5, in the fourth quarter to defeat Holy Angels, 41-22, on Jan. 29 and used a matchup zone defense to hold Nichols scoreless in the first quarter en route to a 44-19 victory on Friday. "We decided we were going to play in your face defense and that's what we did (against Nichols)," said Pares. "Everybody off the bench was committed to playing terrific defense and once we got that back, we were the Sacred Heart team I know we're capable of." Keller led all scorers against Nichols with 13 points. Watson had seven points and seven rebounds. Ricotta added five points and six of her team's 17 steals. Ricotta scored eight of her ten points in the second half and grabbed nine rebounds against Holy Angels. Sacred Heart (15-1) hosts O'Hara and Holy Angels at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday and Friday, respectively. On Sunday, the Sharks travel to Timon to face Mt. Mercy at 2:30 p.m. then play at St. Mary's of Lancaster at 7:30 p.m. on Monday. The Nardin rematch will be on Feb. 23. Liz Subjeck, who was out since spraining her ankle in gym class on Dec. 15, practiced on Saturday and will be in the lineup this week. e-mail: pnagy@beenews.com |
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