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By Joseph Staszewski
Brooklyn Daily
The Nazareth girls basketball team began the day by losing star junior guard Bianca Cuevas to a season-long suspension, but ended it with one of its biggest wins of the year.
Yasmine Belk scored 21 points and grabbed 13 rebounds and Shiclasia Brown added 15 points and 10 assists for the Lady Kingsmen in a 60–49 trouncing of Christ the King on Friday night. Niya Johnson added 12 points.
The win spoiled the rival Royals chance at claiming the division title and kept Nazareth’s hopes of reaching the league’s top playoff bracket alive. The players wanted to show they could win without Cuevas, who is considered one of the top juniors in the nation.
“We had to prove to ourselves that we don’t really need Bianca to win.” Brown said.
The league suspended Cuevas because of a fight between her and Bishop Ford guard Aaliyah Jones, after a road game against the Falcons on Feb. 3, according to Nazareth athletic director Anthony’s Barnes. It was Cuevas’ second suspension for fighting this year after missing two games for throwing a punch at Bishop Loughlin’s Imani Tate in late January.
Brown, who has coaches from Long Island University and Wagner College in the stands watching her, more that picked up the slack in Cuevas’ absence. She has her hands all over an 11–2 Nazareth run in the third quarter, including seven straight points, and played suffocating defense.
The spurt put the Lady Kingsmen (13–9, 4–7) up 46–34 with 3:25 left in the frame, and the girls never looked back.
“We have been asking Shiclasia to play like that all season,” Nazareth co-coach Ron Kelley said. “After the game I told her to remember the feeling that she had, and try to make sure that she plays to that level all the time.”
Belk, Jen Fay, and the Nazareth frontcourt took it too another level as well, out-hustling and out-working the Royals (16–8, 9–3) for rebounds and loose balls. Taylor Butigian scored 16 points and Shannon Barrett had 14 for Christ the King, who played without star Sierra Calhoun, who had a knee injury.
Belk called the win a great way to end what had been a rough day. Nazareth proved it can still be a force in the post-season despite its up-and-down campaign so far and the absence of Cuevas.
“We are proving that we are just as good as everybody else,” Belk said. “We can beat everybody else and we don’t need Bianca to prove it.”
Reach reporter Joseph Staszewski at jstaszewski@cnglocal.com. Follow him on twitter @cng_staszewski.