Bishop Loughlin’s girls’ basketball team suffered a stunning, season-ending loss last Wednesday night.
The Lions fell 67–48 to Long Island champions St. Mary’s in the Catholic Class AA girls’ basketball quarterfinals at St. Anthony’s (LI) on March 5.
Loughlin hung right in with the Gaels early on, before a 20–0 second-quarter run put it in a hole too big to overcome. The Lions trailed 45–23 at that half.
Junior guard Kiana Clark felt her team got too caught up in what St. Mary’s was doing, and didn’t stick to its game plan to stabilize things.
“When that happens we rush,” Clark said of St. Mary’s run. “We have to have more patience. We have to take our time. We always try to play another team’s pace.”
Senior Kayse Brown led the Lions with 16 points. Clark scored nine, Crystal Morgan had eight and Oshunremi Iwelu added seven. Loughlin coach Chez Williams said his team went cold during the second-quarter run. Shots they hit earlier in the game just weren’t going down.
“We weren’t scoring,” he said. “We stayed on a certain number for a long period of time. If you are not going to put the ball in the basket you are not going to win games.”
Junior forward Jordan Augustus led St. Mary’s with 18 points, and four other Gaels players had 10. Loughlin kept fighting in the second half, but the Lions had no answer for Augustus in the paint once she got rolling.
“She just gave it to us,” Brown said. “She played well.”
Williams has seen inconsistent play from his team throughout the season, but he expected that from a team that has just three seniors and a large number of players getting their first real varsity experience. Loughlin lost Division-I players Jasmine Alston (LaSalle) and Imani Tate (Albany) to graduation after reaching the title game last season. The coach acknowledged his players’ progress during the season.
“They grew a lot,” Williams said. “Everyday is a process.”
The team matured, learned to play at the varsity level, and got better at handling the adversity that came its way. Loughlin finished fourth in Brooklyn-Queens, reached the diocesan semifinals, and qualified for the AA state tournament. The coach feels a lot of other teams would have like to be in their position.
“You have to be proud of yourself and build off what you did and get better,” Williams said. “We’ll be ok. Mark my words. We’ll be ok.”
