OK, so last night wasn’t a good one for the St. Paul girls basketball team against Holy Cross at The Pit.
The formerly undefeated Falcons turned the ball over too much, shot poorly, and had some defensive lapses in a 67-50 loss to the Crusaders.
Yes, it was a bad night for St. Paul. Yes, the Falcons lost for the first this season, and in rather convincing fashion.
Should St. Paul and its supporters panic? Absolutely not.
The Falcons have skilled players, a good coaching staff, and a will to succeed. They will get better after Monday’s loss.
As head coach Joe Mone put it after the game: “I found out we’re alright, regardless of the score.”
St. Paul won its first 12 games of the season, and two-thirds of those have been without senior Jillian Kilmer, who is out the rest of the season following ACL surgery.
When you turn the ball over and shoot poorly, the game likely won’t go your way. That happens all the time in basketball.
Mone thinks the game could have gone better if the Falcons cut down on their turnovers. That’s not an easy thing to do against Holy Cross’ defensive pressure, but it’s a crucial adjustment for St. Paul if the two teams meet again.
Losing Brigid Johndrow to foul trouble was huge. Without her in the game, Lizzy Cretella had to bring the ball up and be the defensive anchor, while also being counted upon to take on the scoring load. That’s asking a lot of one player, even one like Cretella.
Others needed to step up. Stephanie Speaker provided some good moments, as did Amelia Sanchez, but it wasn’t enough.
Mone noted that Holy Cross can be overaggressive on defense, leaving them vulnerable to cuts.
“We never took advantage of the overaggressiveness,” Mone said.
There were times where Johndrow and Cretella were able to beat their defenders off the dribble, and the Falcons also looked backdoor for cutters, though they didn’t do it anywhere near enough to slow down the pressure of the Crusaders.
St. Paul would love another chance to play Holy Cross. If you want to be the best, you want to play the best and beat the best.
“Hopefully we get another shot at them,” Mone said.
Holy Cross head coach Frank Lombardo echoed Mone’s sentiment.
“I hope so, because they’re a competitive team that is coached well and plays hard,” Lombardo said.
Here’s the bottom line about Monday…it was one game. Yes, if St. Paul wants a NVL title, it will likely have to go through Holy Cross.
There’s too much time left in the regular season and too many other opponents to focus on to worry about that though. This was just one game, and the Falcons will get better because of it. The focus needs to be on the next task at hand, and that’s tomorrow night at Torrington.
