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| Holy Cross senior Idalis Miranda goes in for a basket off of the opening tip. |
When you see the final score of Monday night’s NVL Tournament semifinal, 59-48, you would think top-seeded Holy Cross won going away against No. 4 Torrington.
Absolutely not.
The Lady Raiders rallied not once but twice and made the Crusaders work for the win.
The way the game started, it seemed Holy Cross had won by knockout. Senior Idalis Miranda scored off the opening tip, and the Crusaders never stopped running on their way to an 18-2 lead after one quarter. Holy Cross’ defensive pressure bothered Torrington, and the Lady Raiders were hurt by the foul trouble of senior star Brie Pergola.
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| Holy Cross senior Izzy Plant’s main job was to shadow Torrington senior star Brie Pergola, but she ended up leading the Crusaders with 14 points. |
The Crusaders also got an emotional lift when junior Century McCartney saw her first playing time of the season. McCartney missed the entire regular season and the first NVL game while coming back from knee surgery.
Holy Cross seemed well on its way to the final, then Torrington went off and cut the deficit to one point before trailing 29-26 at halftime. Again the Crusaders built a lead in the second half, and again the Lady Raiders rallied, closing within four points. Holy Cross was able to hold off Torrington and secure a date in the final with No. 2 St. Paul, a 44-38 winner over No. 6 Kennedy. Senior Izzy Plant served as leading scorer (14 points) and Pergola’s shadow on defense. Pergola, a tremendous All-NVL player, still ended up with a game-high 18 points. Torrington senior Alexis Tyrrell added 12 points.
For Holy Cross, Miranda scored 13 points and junior Aiyana Ward tallied eight points. Junior Meah Austin and sophomore Hannah Brown had seven points each.
Statistics reported on The Zone website.
