See this story at BrooklynDaily.com.
By Frank Stampfl
Brooklyn Daily
The Bishop Ford girl’s basketball team narrowly missed their chance to make school history and clinch its first-ever Brooklyn-Queens Division I regular season title.
The Falcons’ late rally fell short and they dropped a tough 45–44 decision to host Christ the King Sunday night. Instead of being alone at the top, the loss pushed Ford into a three-way tie for first place in the league with Christ the King and Archbishop Molloy.
Bishop Ford head coach Mike Toro remains winless on the road against Christ the King over his four-year career, including last season’s diocesan title game. The Falcons beat the Royals at home in Park Slope in November, but Toro said this time around his team didn’t play with that “sense of urgency” to realize its championship dream.
Ford (17–6, 10–2) still had a chance to win in the closing seconds. St. John’s-bound guard Aaliyah Lewis scored five of her 10 points in the last three minutes to pull her team within 44–42 with 40.9 seconds left.
An Aaliyah Jones layup cut the Christ the King (14–7, 7–2) lead to one point with 18 seconds remaining. Following an immediate steal by Tanasia “Sweets” Blake at midcourt, Ford had two great chances to score, but Jones missed a 3-pointer from the left court and Blake couldn’t convert a put back.
“When I drove down, I saw Aaliyah Jones and I knew she could shoot the ball but it came off short,” Lewis said. “Tanasia Blake got the rebound, went up, missed and that was the end of it.”
Ford lost to Christ the King even with Royals star guard Sierra Calhoun out with patella tendonitis. Toro credited Calhoun’s teammates for stepping up against his team. Kollyns Scarbrough scored 15 points and grabbed 14 rebounds and Taylor Butigian had 13 points, 10 rebounds and seven blocks.
“Sierra is a great player but you can’t count those other kids out,” Toro said.
In the first half Christ the King forced Bishop Ford to settle for long jump shots and kept them from slashing to the basket. As a result, Bishop Ford endured multiple scoring droughts.
The longest lasted nearly eight and a half minutes over the first and second quarters, while Christ the King went on 12–1 run to grab a 14–6 lead. Ford senior Jill Conroy, who scored 12 points, ended it with a free throw. Bishop Ford would also open the fourth quarter without a field goal for the first five minutes. This allowed Christ the King to grab a nine-point advantage. Toro felt his team went away from its strength.
“I think we shy away from things that work,” Toro. “We’re a great shooting team but that only opens up once we attack the basket.”