Bishop Loughlin’s inexperience under pressure showed against league power Christ the King last week with first place on the line.
The Lions girls’ basketball team spent three quarters letting the Royals be the aggressors before mustering a rally that ultimately fell short in the fourth. Loughlin fell 69–56 to Christ the King on Feb. 18 in Middle Village, handing the Royals the Catholic High School Athletic Association Brooklyn-Queens Division I crown.
The team’s only senior seeing court time said she was stunned by the performance of her team in the vital game, but chalked it up to experience — or lack thereof.
“I was kind of shocked we didn’t come out the way we were supposed to,” said senior guard Kiana Clark. “It’s a learning experience. It happens”
Loughlin (19–5) wasn’t patient enough on offense. It didn’t move the ball well enough to find the openings and its shooters against the Royals’ aggressive two-three zone. Christ the King was then able to smother freshman post Zaria Dorsey in the paint and collapse around any drivers.
The Lions scored just six points in the first quarter and trailed 24–15 at the half. Christ the King extended its lead to 40–26 heading into the fourth on a three-point play by forward Kaela Kinder.
“All we have to do is penetrate the middle and we have shooters on the wings,” Clark said. “That is all we had to do and the game would have been simple.”
The Lions had no answer for Kinder. The athletic junior scored a game-high 25 points and grabbed 14 rebounds. Kinder led the Royals’ dominance of the boards and scored inside and out. Sydney Zambrotta tallied 19 points and Dominique Toussaint had nine for Christ the King (14–7).
Milicia Reid scored 16 of her 19 points in the fourth quarter for Loughlin and Lynette Taite added 11. Clark chipped in nine. The Lions railed in the final frame. It used a 6–0 run, capped by a Reid layup, to pull within 52–44 with 3:53 remaining in the game. A bucket by Taite made it 58–50 with 2:48 to go, but the Lions couldn’t get closer.
“I don’t feel like I got the effort from my team the whole game,” Lions coach Chez Williams said.
He wished his team could have played with that final-frame energy and urgency in the first three quarters. Williams wasn’t surprised by it, because his team’s energy has been up and down at times this season. The Lions just allowed Christ the King to execute its game plan and did not do the same with its own.
“We just didn’t play good basketball,” Williams said. “We just didn’t play smart basketball. You can’t not play smart against a team like CK and expect to win.”
