See this story at BrooklynDaily.com.
By Anthony Parelli
Brooklyn Daily
The Bishop Loughlin girl’s basketball team saw a five-point fourth-quarter lead evaporate and watched Cardinal Spellman’s Teresa Tartarone hit the game-winning three-pointer with 1.4 seconds remaining.
Michigan-bound wing Maria Backman, who was held to just 10 points, stole the ensuing inbounds pass and scored at the buzzer to provide the final margin for Spellman.
Loughlin fell 59–55 to Spellman in both teams’ season opener at Christ the King in a Catholic League crossover game on Sunday. The Lions started the fourth quarter down a point. It then used a 9–2 run to take the game before late turnovers did them in.
“We’ll be okay,” said Loughlin coach Chez Williams. “We made some mistakes that were the types of mistakes that happen in the beginning of a season, but we’ll correct them.”
After going back and forth for the first three quarters, Loughlin found itself behind 40–39 headed into the final frame. Senior guard Kayse Brown led them back. She scored 17 points, dished out assists, and collected five steals. Her three-point play put Loughlin ahead 48–43 with 6:30 remaining in the game.
From then on, the inexperienced team made small mistakes that cost it big offensively. Loughlin was charged with a shot clock violation with 1:30 left and then called for a travel with 11 seconds left in the contest. That gave Spellman the chance it needed to secure a victory.
“We are a young team this year, so we’ll get it together,” said junior point guard Kiana Clark. “I was upset, but it happens. The mistakes are correctable and we’re going to get it together.”
Clark, the lone veteran, was seemingly everywhere for Loughlin as she stuffed the stat sheet with 15 points, nine rebounds, five steals and four assists. Sky Patterson contributed eight points and eight rebounds. Danelle Gibson led Spellman with 15 points, and Tartarone added 14.
“I think she played well,” Williams said of Clarke. “I want her to be more of a floor general, but she played well.”
Clark said she and her teammates need to understand each other better on the court.
“We need to communicate more,” she said. “We need to learn the offense a little bit better, and after that everything should flow perfectly fine.”
Williams already had an idea of where he wanted to improve, but wasn’t upset with his team’s overall performance.
“We’re going to have to learn how to play four full quarters,” Williams said. “We’ll get through it. It’s better early than late.”