By STEVE BRADLEY
HOPEWELL, N.Y. – Aquinas and Lewiston-Porter traded baskets for the first four minutes and 25 seconds of Saturday afternoon’s Class A girls basketball Far West Regional game at Finger Lakes Community College.
Then Loren Green started doing Loren Green things.
Green, a freshman guard, scored 11 straight points over a 1:26 span in the first quarter to give Aquinas a lead it wouldn’t relinquish and carry the Li’l Irish to a 64-53 victory over Lewiston-Porter of Section VI.
Green banked home a shot in the lane to give AQ an 11-10 advantage with 3:35 remaining in the first quarter. She made a three-pointer from the top of the key 22 seconds later, Molly O’Toole set Green up for another three with 2:37 left and then Green struck from the right wing with 2:09 to play and the Little Irish (20-5) were up 20-10 and on their way to their 10th straight win.
“I was feeling it,” said Green, who sank five threes on the afternoon and led all scorers with 24 points. “I felt like I was hot at the start of the game and it kept going.”
It sure did.
Lew-Port (21-4) showed resilience on several occasions, but Aquinas – which does not have a senior on its roster – had every answer in securing its first trip to the state semifinals since 2012.
VIEW MORE PHOTOS FROM LAURA ACCIAIO.
O’Toole and freshman guard Jade Harvey each scored 13 points and versatile sophomore AJ Orr added 12 as Aquinas placed four players in double figures.
“When they get going like that, we are tough to stop,” Aquinas coach Mark Loria said.
Harvey and junior center Samiyah Wright controlled the boards, Orr caused all kinds of disruptions on defense and AQ got the best of the turnover game in a matchup of teams that thrive on pressure defense.
“I told my team that we needed to keep our energy up,” Harvey said. “If we really wanted this one, we needed to keep going and that’s what we did. We got all of the rebounds, we made our layups and we found open shooters.”
“We’re really competitive, we don’t give up,” Orr added. “A lot of girls out here do a lot of outside basketball and put in the work and then bring it to the table.”
Orr clogged passing lanes, deflected passes and delivered a highlight reel block while Lew-Port was trying to close the gap late in the third quarter.
AQ led 44-31 when Orr turned the ball over at mid-court. Lew-Port appeared to have an easy layup, but Orr recovered to emphatically swat the shot off the backcourt with 11 seconds on the clock to re-energize her team.
“It was natural, I just had to go up there and get it,” Orr said. “If you turn the ball over, you need to get back on defense.”
The Li’l Irish opened the fourth quarter with a 7-2 run to go up 53-35 on a transition layup by Orr. Lew-Port continued to battle down the stretch and pulled within nine with 1:08 remaining before O’Toole scored four points in the final 45 seconds to thwart the Lancers final comeback attempt.
Senior Aliza Whitehead led Lew-Port with 19 points while classmate Emily Mountain added 15. Junior Alyssa Auer finished with 10 for the Lancers.
Aquinas will play Catholic Central of Section II at 12:30 p.m. on Friday at Hudson Valley Community College, which means the upstart Li’l Irish, who entered the Section V Class A Tournament as the No. 6 seed, have another week of practice together.
“I just let them be them,” Loria said. “I love this team and I love coaching these kids.”
AQUINAS 64, LEWISTON-PORTER 53
LEW-PORT (53): Emily Mountain 6-2-15, Aliza Whitehead 7-2-19, Emma Steimer 2-0-4, Casey Fetzner 2-0-5, Alyssa Auer 5-0-10. TOTALS: 22-4-53.
AQUINAS (64): Loren Green 9-1-24, AJ Orr 4-4-12, Jade Harvey 5-2-13, Samiyah Wright 1-0-2, Molly O’Toole 3-6-13. TOTALS: 22-13-64.
Three-point goals: Mountain, Whitehead 3, Fetzner, Green 5, Harvey, O’Toole. Fouled out: Mountain.
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