By PAUL GOTHAM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — By the time Loren Green connected for her 1,000th career point, the outcome of Tuesday’s non-league matchup at Wegman-Napier Gymnasium had already been decided.
This after Green and the Aquinas girls’ basketball faced a five-point deficit midway through the third quarter.
The sophomore guard accounted for 11 of her 15 points in the second half. None more important than the two baskets she scored during a 12-2 run to close the third quarter as Aquinas defeated Pittsford Sutherland, 64-51.
“We came out and we just played full-court man-to-man,” Aquinas head coach Mark Loria said of the key to the turnaround. “The girls played it really well.”
Trailing 28-23, Molly O’Toole started the run when she finished a drive along the baseline. Carlé Thomas hit a 3-pointer to tie the game at 28.
Sutherland’s Mackenzie Dermody scored in the lane and then converted a free throw.
O’Toole responded with a triple then set up Green for a bucket and a 33-31 lead.
Molly O’Toole, with the steal, leads Loren Green into the open court and an @AQ__Athletics 33-31 lead late in the third. pic.twitter.com/G27zsfx3l4
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) January 8, 2025
The Li’l Irish had a lead they did not surrender.
The win was the fourth straight for Aquinas (7-1/No. 8 NYSSWA Class AA) which has scored 60 or more points in each of its eight outings this season.
“I told our kids before the game, ‘no pressure, no diamonds,'” Loria said referring to the deficit faced early in the second half. “We have to be challenged. You want to see how we’re going to respond to the pressure.”
Sutherland (5-3) had won three of four entering play. The Knights came into the night holding opponents under 42 points per game and had not allowed 50 points in a contest yet this season.
“I thought we did a pretty good job tonight defensively and gave up 62 points,” said Sutherland head coach Dan Judd. “They’re really good. They challenge you defensively. They have so many weapons and are so hard to guard.”
Lucy Bush scored the first five and then set up Payton Hamilton for a layup in the open floor as the Knights started the third quarter on an 8-0 run.
Lucy Bush, steal, ahead to Payton Hamilton. pic.twitter.com/CNTKYTLDRL
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) January 8, 2025
“We did a really good job of not turning the ball over and being strong with each possession,” Judd said of the run. “We took care of the ball and manufactured enough decent shots to stay in it. But as we faded a bit then the turnovers started to come. When they’re in transition, they’re so hard to guard.”
Dermody converted a rebound and putback. Petra Hunt finished in the lane with two of her team-high 22 points, and Bush added a pair of free throws to pull Sutherland within three at 42-39 with seven minutes remaining in the game.
Aquinas responded with an 11-4 run. Green scored four, and AJ Orr’s traditional 3-point play made it a 53-43 game with three minutes left in the contest.
Again, Aquinas created offense out of its defense – taking steals at one of the floor and turning those into points.
“We weren’t trapping out of it,” Loria said. “We just wanted to make them work, tried to speed them up to where they had to make quick decisions off the pass.”
O’Toole led three in double figures and matched Hunt with a game-high 22 points.
Green hit her milestone with 1:01 left in the game. Thomas found her alone on the left wing in transition. Nothing but net from behind the 3-point arc.
Loren Green’s 1,000th career point gives @AQ__Athletics a 62-48 lead with 1:01 remaining. pic.twitter.com/7RBQpzlCHN
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) January 8, 2025
“It’s special to me,” Loria of the accomplishment. “She came here as a seventh-grader. I immediately brought her up to varsity and told her ‘you’re going to be our point guard.’
“It’s not by accident that she can hit 25 footers. Those are shots that we encourage. Those are shots that we practice. All the drives and the finishes, those are the things we do. It’s her being comfortable doing that, and I let her go. I let all our girls go. Let’s play basketball.”
Green became the sixth player in program history to score 1,000 points or more joining O’Toole, Chanel Alexander, Kayla Jackson, Nicole Bini and Amy Reynders.
PITTSFORD SUTHERLAND
Payton Hamilton 1 0-0 2, Lucy Bush 4 2-2 12, Gabrielle Lyons 0 1-2 1, Sydney Bryant 0 0-0 0, Madison Littlefield 2 1-2 5, Petra Hunt 7 5-8 22, Mackenzie Dermody 2 3-4 7 TOTALS 16 12-18 — 51
AQUINAS
Carlé Thomas 4 0-0 10, Julionna Nkugwa 0 0-0 0, Loren Green 4 5-6 15, AJ Orr 4 1-3 9, Bles’ng Muhammad 1 0-2 2, Jade Harvey 1 0-0 2, Samiyah Wright 2 0-0 4, Molly O’Toole 10 0-1 22 TOTALS 26 6-12 — 64
PITTSFORD SUTHERLAND 10 10 13 18 — 51
AQUINAS 13 8 19 24 — 64
3-point goals: PITTSFORD SUTHERLAND 5 (Bush 2, Hunt 3); AQUINAS 6 (Thomas 2, Green 2, O’Toole 2).
Leave a Reply