{"id":76484,"date":"2025-12-20T14:21:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-20T14:21:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/76484\/"},"modified":"2025-12-20T14:21:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-20T14:21:09","slug":"staten-island-hs-girls-basketball-lindsay-mcallister-scores-career-high-16-points-to-carry-nda-to-silent-night-ot-victory-over-hill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/76484\/","title":{"rendered":"Staten Island HS girls\u2019 basketball: Lindsay McAllister scores career-high 16 points to carry NDA to Silent Night OT victory over Hill"},"content":{"rendered":"

With Notre Dame Academy and St. Joseph Hill having similar rosters this year, particularly in graduating its top scorers and bringing up a number of underclassmen, it raised an interesting question when it came to Silent Night.<\/p>\n

Who, if anyone, would show out and help lead its team to victory?<\/p>\n

Enter Lindsay McAllister.<\/p>\n

The sophomore survived a \u201cbaptism by fire\u201d en route to scoring a career-high 16 points and grabbed eight rebounds (all in the fourth quarter and OT), leading NDA to a 68-62 Silent Night overtime victory against Hill at the College of Staten Island\u2019s Sports and Recreation Center.<\/p>\n

Most importantly, however, McAllister scored a team-high five points in overtime to surpass the Hilltoppers for good, with the home team outscoring them 10-4 in the extra period.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

1\/60<\/p>\n

NDA outlasts Hill in Silent Night OT victory, 68-62<\/p>\n

Caroline Kasegrande scored 15 points on the strength of five treys for the Gators, while Aliya Monroe contributed a double-double (10 points, 10 caroms) and Gianna Montagna added 11 points. <\/p>\n

NDA remains undefeated at 4-0 (2-0 league play) while Hill drops to 2-1.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Hill] really made us work for this win, and it was nice for both our JV and Varsity to get back-to-back wins on Silent Night,\u201d said head coach Bobby DellaValle. \u201cIt\u2019s a phenomenal night for women\u2019s sports across the tri-state area, and the exposure and school spirit it brings out of both schools is unmatched.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut, game-wise, this is just another step in our journey to win a championship.\u201d<\/p>\n

Notre Dame\u2019s win overshadowed a monster performance from Hill junior Lauren Rodriguez, who poured in a career-high 33 points and seven rebounds. Ella Onesto, the only other Hilltopper to reach double-digits, scored 19 markers.<\/p>\n

\"NDAThe Gators earned the victory after outscoring the Hilltoppers 10-4 in the extra period. (Annie DeBiase for the Advance\/SILive.com)(Annie DeBiase for the Advance\/SILive.com)<\/p>\n

In a game of runs, NDA started out hot with a 7-0 stint, earning the coveted \u201csilent night\u201d point on a three from Kasegrande (who, interestingly enough, also scored it last year.)<\/p>\n

But, after calling for time, Hill pieced together a 13-4 run over the last 4:21 of the quarter, thanks to two three-point plays from Rodriguez. Onesto also sandwiched a layup with four made free throws.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to try to stop them, and I always thought that if we could keep Ella between 15-20 points that [we would have a chance],\u201d added DellaValle. \u201cShe\u2019s a great player who made some real smart moves today, and Lauren just had a day. We got to work on that for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

With Monroe picking up her second foul, McAllister first entered the game midway through the second quarter. While Hill eventually went into halftime up 32-28, the soph kept the Gators in the game thanks to both a trey and three-point play. She scored a team-high nine points in the stanza.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Driving to the basket], I\u2019m thinking to just go into the defender, make contact and finish the shot,\u201d said McAllister, who went 4 for 5 from the free-throw line in the quarter. \u201cIt was exciting to score, but I\u2019m also trying to keep my composure and keep my momentum up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then, after the break, the tides started to turn in NDA\u2019s favor.<\/p>\n

\"NDAThe Gators earned the victory after outscoring the Hilltoppers 10-4 in the extra period. (Annie DeBiase for the Advance\/SILive.com)(Annie DeBiase for the Advance\/SILive.com)<\/p>\n

In back-to-back possessions, Kasegrande sandwiched a Rodriguez trey with two of her own to narrow Hill\u2019s lead to two points. From there, Gianna Lorenzo forced the first tie since the opening quarter with a layup while Montagna scored on a conventional three-point play to give the Grymes Hill school its first lead since its initial 7-0 run<\/p>\n

Sandwiching her last trey between another Montagna layup, Kasegrande\u2019s efforts ultimately sparked a 13-0 run through the third stanza.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was exciting to make those shots [to help give us a lead], but I always try to tell myself to think about the next play because that\u2019s what matters,\u201d said the three-year varsity player. \u201cWe just came together and told ourselves we could do it and to not give up when we were fighting the whole game.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCaroline needed her breakout game this year, and we\u2019ve been telling her to shoot the ball a little more,\u201d said DellaValle. ” She wanted to stay after practice yesterday and get more shots up, so [JV head coach] Kevin Swanberg and I worked with her and it definitely paid off.”<\/p>\n

But, after Monroe picked up her fourth foul, Hill again made a run thanks to Rodriguez. After finishing NDA\u2019s run with her own trey, Rodriguez made four freebies to make the score 50-45 going into the final quarter.<\/p>\n

At the start of the fourth, Hill switched from a man to man defense to a 1-2-2, noticeably putting center Kourtney Nugent at the helm. This move paid dividends for the Hilltoppers, stopping NDA\u2019s momentum and giving the visitors some hope.<\/p>\n

After Onesto scored on a layup, Rodriguez hit both a trey and layup to regain the lead for the Hilltoppers. From there, it remained a one-possession game for the remainder of regulation, with Hill owning the advantage for the majority of it. However, with 31.9 seconds to go, Montagna hit a baseline drive to tie it at 58-58.<\/p>\n

\"NDAThe Gators earned the victory after outscoring the Hilltoppers 10-4 in the extra period. (Annie DeBiase for the Advance\/SILive.com)(Annie DeBiase for the Advance\/SILive.com)<\/p>\n

Montagna, along with reserve center Ava Manzella, also got praised for their contributions in crunch time.<\/p>\n

\u201cMontagna\u2019s one of our other go-to seniors, and we needed a breakout game from her too,\u201d noted DellaValle. \u201cShe made huge shots in the fourth quarter for us, and Ava gave us great defense and rebounding when we needed it.\u201d <\/p>\n

While Hill had multiple opportunities to score the go-ahead shot, regulation ended with the ball being tied up.<\/p>\n

With Monroe opening regulation with a made freebie, Christie Nehr scored her only points of the game via free throws to give Hill its final lead, 60-59. From there, however, it was all McAllister as she scored five consecutive points for NDA. <\/p>\n

While Rodriguez gave one last push for Hill, making it 65-62 with 25.2 to go and the ball following a missed NDA shot, McAllister tipped the ball from behind to force a turnover. Savannah Breslin then iced the game with two free throws before McAllister added one final tally as NDA\u2019s faithful went into a frenzy.<\/p>\n

\"NDAThe Gators earned the victory after outscoring the Hilltoppers 10-4 in the extra period. (Annie DeBiase for the Advance\/SILive.com)(Annie DeBiase for the Advance\/SILive.com)<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether it was scoring or cheering my teammates on, I knew I was going to play a big part today. So, when I made that tip, I just knew we were going to win,\u201d added McAllister. \u201cI feel like I did what I needed to do and made a good impact.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe always goes all out for us, and plays very smart and mature,\u201d lauded DellaValle of the first-year varsity player. \u201cAll of the rebounds and steals she forced were effort stats, and that\u2019s what we\u2019ve been emphasizing all week so I\u2019m glad she pulled it through there.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not shocking that she forced that final turnover, as she was just in the right place at the right time a lot today. She just kept getting in there and hustling.\u201d<\/p>\n

NOTES: Hill\u2019s Onesto and NDA\u2019s Lorenzo, alongside Hill starters Brielle Longo and Mackenzie Schaming, fouled out of the game in the fourth quarter\/overtime … NDA won the battle of the boards, 59-43, with Breslin (7), Samantha Foder (8) and Manzella (7) also contributing … Nugent had a team-high eight caroms for the Hilltoppers … Hill went 25 for 37 (68%) from the free throw line, with Onesto going 8 for 9, while NDA went 18 for 38 (47%) … McAllister went 7 for 11 from the line.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With Notre Dame Academy and St. Joseph Hill having similar rosters this year, particularly in graduating its top…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":76485,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":{"0":"post-76484","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-staten-island","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-city","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-staten-island","12":"tag-staten-island-headlines","13":"tag-staten-island-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76484"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76484\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}