I took in the first three quarters of Saturday’s girls basketball city jamboree at Crosby High School, and I was pretty impressed by the level of play I saw.
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| Idalis Miranda (front) and company showed the man-to-man pressure that has been the trademark of Holy Cross defenses under Frank Lombardo. |
If you are a Naugatuck Valley League team outside of the city, bring your A+ effort every time you play Holy Cross, Kennedy, Sacred Heart, Crosby and even Waterbury Career Academy. Those teams all have something to offer.
Wilby beat WCA in the semifinals (the Wildcats had a bye because there were seven teams — no Chase Collegiate) before getting thumped by Holy Cross in the final. It has been a rough go of it for the Wildcats, but they were able to get past the Spartans on Saturday.
Kaynor Tech has some talent and could be a tough matchup for opponents in the Constitution State Conference.
Some observations:
- Holy Cross will again defend from the second an opponent steps on the floor. That much is known. What’s unknown is if/when junior Century McCartney will return from knee surgery (She was in street clothes Saturday). Juniors Aiyana Ward and Meah Austin stepped up inside, and senior Idalis Miranda knocked down some shots from the outside.
- Sacred Heart was down 13-5 at one point to Holy Cross in the first quarter, yet pulled to within 13-10. The Hearts were also within 17-13 before falling 20-13. Aamya Rivera, a diminutive yet feisty freshman, will be a handful this season. Rivera has no fear, whether it’s breaking pressure or going to the basket, and she’s quick.
- Kennedy has some solid players again this year, led by senior captain Raegon Shirling-Davis. She seemed to be all over the floor against Kaynor Tech. Joyce Benton is another senior captain, and there’s sophomore Shyan Perez to keep an eye on from three. As usual, the Eagles play solid defense.
- Kaynor Tech played hard against Kennedy and lost 12-9. The Panthers have seniors like Egypt Santos and Cassie Couture, but they also got contributions from sophomore Sarah Wisniewski on Saturday.
- Don’t leave Waterbury Career’s Armani Weaver open. She hit two threes early in the quarter against Crosby, then made the game-winning trey in the final seconds for a 19-17 victory. The Spartans also got good minutes from junior Alyssah Chouinard and sophomore Dianne Samaroo.
- Crosby, a young team with one senior on its jamboree roster, showed some serious guts in its matchup with WCA. The Bulldogs were down eight points, but rallied to take a 17-16 lead on Leyda Colon’s foul shot. Joe Palladino reported that Crosby lost its potential top scorer to a knee injury, but the Bulldogs showed grit on Saturday.
The boys jamboree is next weekend, also at Crosby. Looking forward to seeing some of that action. Should be fun.
