It happened in 2014, 2017 and 2019. And it will happen again on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Kennedy High School.
Top-seeded St. Paul and second-seeded Holy Cross will play for the NVL girls basketball tournament championship after posting wins in Monday’s semifinals, also held at Kennedy. It’s the third meeting in four years between the Falcons and Crusaders. St. Paul owns wins in the two most recent meetings, and Holy Cross won in 2014.
The Falcons rallied to beat fifth-seeded Ansonia, 58-47, in the second of Monday’s semifinal games. The Crusaders held off third-seeded Sacred Heart, 60-52, in the first semifinal.
Janessa Gonzalez poured in a semifinal-best 27 points to lead St. Paul in the win over Ansonia. Jade Udoh tallied 17 points and 11 rebounds. Olivia Stump had five points, including a big basket in the lane in the second quarter that helped the Falcons pull within a point. St. Paul had been down as much as eight points in the first quarter.
Kailyn Bielecki also had five points, including a 3-pointer that extended her team’s lead to 27-21 late in the second quarter. Olivia Heslin, Sophia Gerst and Zoey Rubins all played strong defense for the Falcons. When St. Paul needed points in the fourth quarter, though, it was Udoh and Gonzalez who scored them.
Cayla Howard had a team-high 16 points in the Holy Cross win over Sacred Heart. Alyssa Hebb put in 13 points while Maeve Perrone added 10, including a pair of 3-pointers. The Crusaders ran out to a 27-9 lead in the second quarter and led 29-13 at halftime.
The third quarter of the Holy Cross-Sacred Heart game could be split into a pair of three-minute segments. In the first three minutes, the outside shooting of Mikayla Mobley and Aamya Rivera helped the Hearts cut a 16-point halftime deficit to nine, 33-24, with 5:04 left in the quarter. The second three-minute segment saw the Crusaders get out and run behind Perrone and Mya Zaccagnini. By the time the 13-2 run ended, Holy Cross led, 44-26, at the 2:04 mark of the third quarter.
Sacred Heart got to within 58-52 as time ticked away in the fourth quarter, but it was too late for the Hearts to get any closer. Rivera had a game-high 20 points and Mobley added 12 points, including three 3-pointers.
Captions
First photo: St. Paul’s Janessa Gonzalez, left, and Jade Udoh, right, listen to instructions from head coach Joe Mone on Monday. (Copyright, Sports on CT-69)
Second photo: Holy Cross’ Cayla Howard challenges the outside shot of Sacred Heart’s Aamya Rivera on Monday. (Copyright, Sports on CT-69)
Gallery
Here are my photos from the St. Paul-Ansonia game.
Here are my photos from the Holy Cross-Sacred Heart game.
