Pickin' Splinters

Rochester's Independent Sports Source

Aquinas uses long-distance attack to beat Hornell

by Leave a Comment

By PAUL GOTHAM

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Loren Green and Molly O’Toole paced an Aquinas offense that connected on 14 3-pointers as the Li’l Irish won their fourth straight game with a 90-60 victory over Hornell in non-league action, Saturday.

The duo combined for 16 points in the third quarter when Aquinas pulled away from a single-digit game.

“As the game wore on, we started doing a better job of getting shots and making shots,” said Aquinas head coach Mark Loria. “That allowed us to get back and play defense.”

Leading by nine at halftime, O’Toole started the third-quarter offense with a triple from the top of the key. Two possessions later, Green hit her first of back-to-back long-range shots. The Li’l Irish led 51-38 and did not allow Hornell within single digits for the remainder of the contest.

Green finished with six 3-pointers while O’Toole had five from distance in the win.

“That’s not by accident,” Loria said. “We shoot a hundred to hundred-and-fifty of those in practice every day.”

Teammate AJ Orr took advantage of space on the floor created by her teammates and scored 19 points – the bulk of which came off drives to the basket.

“We know when teams come out and try to take the 3-point shot, we’re going to go right by you,” Loria said. “It’s decision-making. Help comes, you pass it. If not, then we’re going to finish at the rim.”

Orr did just that when the sophomore guard slashed through the lane for a layup and a 53-38 AQ lead with 5:20 to go in the third quarter.

“When she plays with confidence and understands her role, she can do a great job,” Loria said. “She’s a pretty dynamic player when she gets the right headspace.”

The loss was the second of the year for Hornell (16-2) which came into the game as the top-ranked team in the NYSSWA Class B poll. The Red Raiders had won 12 straight with their only other previous loss this season coming to the same Aquinas squad on December 30th (80-61).

“They forced us into turnovers at key points, and they made big buckets,” said Hornell head coach Jim Dagon. “You put those two things together, and it’s tough to keep hanging with a team that is that talented.”

Hornell’s Lillian Hoyt hit three of her six 3-pointers in the first quarter when the Red Raiders and Li’l Irish exchanged leads 10 times. Jordan Dyring gave Hornell its largest advantage of the game at 19-14 with just under three minutes to go in the opening frame.

“We knew they were going to come out, and they were going to give us a great first quarter,” Loria said. “They wanted redemption. They wanted to beat us.”

Green’s corner three to beat the first-quarter horn gave Aquinas (14-5/No. 10 NYSSWA Class A) a 21-19 edge.

Orr’s bucket early in the second gave AQ a lead it did not surrender at 25-24.

“They made the adjustments,” Loria said of his team. “They decided the outcome. They made the choice that we were going to come out and not let Hornell come back. That’s what happened. When they step up, and they start being vocal and they make that decision, we’re tough to beat.”

O’Toole, a junior, finished with a game-high 26 points. Green, a ninth-grader, had 22. Julionna Nkugwa, a sophomore, hit three treys and added 11 points. Jade Harvey (8) and Samiyah Wright (4) rounded out the scoring for Aquinas.

Hornell came into Saturday’s action limiting opponents to 44.8 points per game and had held all but one opposing offense under 50 points in its recent 12-game winning streak.

“They’re one of the best teams around,” Dagon said of Aquinas. “They played great today. We struggled a little bit today, but they had a lot to do with us struggling. They made us work really, really hard.”

Dyring led Hornell with 19 points. Hoyt had 18. Payton Bentley (8) and Raegan Evingham (7) also scored for the Red Raiders.

Hornell connected for nine 3-pointers.

Hornell travels to play at Pal-Mac (No. 4 NYSSWA Class A) on Monday and host Bishop Kearney (No. 4 NYSSWA Class AA) next Wednesday to close out the regular season.

Aquinas hosts Young Women’s College Prep on Wednesday for its final tune-up before the postseason.

HORNELL
Mia Nasca 0 0-0 0, Jordan Dyring 6 5-6 19, Lillian Hoyt 6 0-0 18, Payton Bentley 3 2-2 8, Selena Maldonado 2 2-2 6, Raegan Evingham 3 0-0 7, Kadience Gollnitz 1 0-0 2 TOTALS 21 9-10 — 60

AQUINAS
Julionna Nkugwa 4 0-0 11, Loren Green 8 0-0 22, AJ Orr 9 1-5 19, Jade Harvey 4 0-0 8, Samiyah Wright 1 2-6 4, Molly O’Toole 10 1-2 26 TOTALS 36 4-13 — 90

HORNELL 19 14 15 12 — 60
AQUINAS 21 21 23 26 — 90

3-point goals: HORNELL 9 (Dyring 2, Hoyt 6, Evingham 1); AQUINAS 14 (Nkugwa 3, Green 6, O’Toole 5).

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *