Local teams make up three-quarters of the NVL girls basketball tournament semifinal pairings tonight at Kennedy High School.
Holy Cross, Sacred Heart and St. Paul will all play for a spot in the NVL finals on Wednesday back at Kennedy, but only two of the three local teams will make it.
In the first semifinal at 5 p.m., the second-seeded Crusaders and third-seeded Hearts meet for the third time this season. After a lopsided Holy Cross win at Tim McDonald Gymnasium in the first meeting, Sacred Heart pushed its rival to overtime at Alumni Hall before falling, 65-58. The Hearts were battling injuries going into the first meeting, and senior captain Paige Carroll missed the second clash, one of nine games she didn’t play in due to injury.
It will be interesting to see how much Carroll’s return plays a role in the third meeting between the city Catholic school rivals.
In the 7 p.m. game, the top-seeded Falcons face the fifth-seeded Ansonia Chargers. The teams met just once in the regular season, a game St. Paul won by a single point, 43-42, in Bristol. It the smallest margin of victory for the Falcons during an 18-0 run through the NVL.
St. Paul looked sluggish in its 57-38 quarterfinal win over eighth-seeded Wolcott on Saturday. You can bet the Falcons will be ready to go against Ansonia, but the Chargers will be ready as well.
If Holy Cross and St. Paul win, it would mark the third time in four years that the two teams have played for the NVL title. In the one year where the Crusaders and Falcons didn’t meet, 2018, Sacred Heart took the title with a victory over Naugatuck.
Caption: Mikayla Mobley and Sacred Heart have their eyes on a second NVL final in three years, but they will have to get past Holy Cross today to reach that game. (Copyright, Sports on CT-69, file)
Saturday’s top area performers
St. Paul: Janessa Gonzalez 25 points, Jade Udoh 12 points
Holy Cross: Mya Zaccagnini 19 points, Cayla Howard 11 points
Sacred Heart: Aamya Rivera 20 points
Wolcott: Emiah Soto 11 points, Allie LeClerc 10 points
Gallery
Here are my photos from Saturday’s quarterfinals.
