STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – Notre Dame Academy’s JV team, with a strong and balanced effort on both ends of the court, defeated St. Joseph Hill 67-41 to punch its ticket to the CHSAA AA Intersectional finals.
MaryKate Russo (15 points), Brenna Kenworthy (13) and Delaney Jackson (12) led the charge for the No. 3-seeded Gators, with Peyton Chi and Juliana McGlyn splitting 16 markers.
Alyssa Gambino and Jessica Carlucci led the No. 2-seeded Hilltoppers with 13 points apiece.
With the rivals splitting the regular season, including a 46-40 NDA victory on Silent Night and a 56-46 Hill win just two weeks ago, nothing was guaranteed as the squads faced off at St. Peter’s Boys High School.
However, the Grymes Hill school started off hot with an 11-2 run and never looked back as it led the entire contest, forcing multiple steals and turnovers with a disruptive press.
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The Gators had three players in double digits while all nine members of the Grymes Hill squad found their way to the scoring column.
“Our defense and press, the last time we played them, was not very good so [going into the game] we were focused on coming out with intensity and playing hard,” said head coach Kevin Swanberg, in his fourth season at the helm. “Our defense was phenomenal today, one through nine, and [when] all five on the court are playing smart I like my chances.”
While the Hilltoppers hung in for the first stanza, cutting its deficit to four at one point and down by six going into the second quarter, the Arrochar school suffered from cold shooting as it managed just four field goals in the half.
Meanwhile, with NDA mainly relying on the transition and high-low game through the first two quarters, Russo and Kenworthy were the beneficiaries of multiple feeds inside as the forwards combined for 19 points in the half.
“A big asset to our game are our bigs, so Brenna and I have been doing a lot of post moves [in practice] that really carried through to our games today,” said Russo, a sophomore. “We knew how they played and that they were good players, so we just wanted to keep our intensity up and we did that.”
Notre Dame Academy and St. Joseph Hill’s JV basketball teams met on the court Friday night at St. Peter’s Boys High School, with the No. 3-seeded Gators clinching a spot in the Intersectional final with a 67-41 victory over the No. 2-seeded Hilltoppers. Brenna Kenworthy looks to go for a layup against Hill’s Giuliana Pucciarelli. (Annie DeBiase for the Advance/SILive.com)(Annie DeBiase for the Advance/SILive.com)
“We have the size advantage almost every game, and I’ve been preaching to them since September to get the ball inside and then it opens up our threes,” added Swanberg. “Once we started forcing it inside, they collapsed and our three-point shooters got going.”
And, while the Gators went without a three in the first half, McGlyn hit twice from beyond the arc as five different players combined for six treys coming out of the locker room.
Although Hill warmed up in the second half, with Carlucci scoring all of her points (including two treys) in the final 16 minutes, NDA stayed comfortably ahead as it coasted for the remainder of the contest.
Notre Dame Academy and St. Joseph Hill’s JV basketball teams met on the court Friday night at St. Peter’s Boys High School, with the No. 3-seeded Gators clinching a spot in the Intersectional final with a 67-41 victory over the No. 2-seeded Hilltoppers. Delaney Jackson brings up the ball for NDA. (Annie DeBiase for the Advance/SILive.com)(Annie DeBiase for the Advance/SILive.com)
With all of Swanberg’s roster contributing to the final score, the fourth-year coach likes what he sees as the squad heads into a championship matchup on Sunday against No. 1-seeded Archbishop Molloy (who, mind you, handed the Gators their only other loss in the season with a 54-46 decision).
“[Going into Sunday], Molloy likes sitting in a zone so we have to focus on our shooting and playing with our high-low while working our shooters into it,” concluded Swanberg. “We can all shoot, one through nine, and I trust all nine of them to put up good shots and play smart basketball.”
The game, hosted at Cardinal Spellman in the Bronx, is set for a 2 p.m. tipoff.