Pickin' Splinters

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Aquinas starts fast, avenges earlier loss to Bishop Kearney

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By PAUL GOTHAM

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Three scored in double figures, and Aquinas girls’ basketball (18-1) avenged its only loss of the season with a wire-to-wire 82-67 victory over Bishop Kearney (15-5) in Private-Parochial League action on Wednesday.

Loren Green, AJ Orr and Molly O’Toole combined for 16 first-quarter points as the Li’l Irish jumped out to a 19-10 lead after eight minutes of play.

“I’ve seen this all year,” said Aquinas head coach Mark Loria. “When my girls dig in and they’re focused and hitting shots, we’re hard to guard.”

An O’Toole putback sparked a 9-2 run. The senior guard followed with one of her four first-half 3-pointers. Green added a pair of free throws. Orr converted 1-of-2 from the line, and AQ led 12-3.

For Loria, it was more about how his team scored those points.

“I thought tonight, first half especially, we did a really good job in the half court. We really want to get after you in the full court, turn you over and get easy buckets that way. That didn’t happen. To see the growth was good.”

Green hit three 3-pointers in the second quarter including a pair of deep balls from the ‘Leprechaun Logo” 25 feet from the basket, and Orr added eight points as AQ extended its advantage to 24 at 46-22 heading into the locker room.

“Today, they were the better team,” said Bishop Kearney head coach Kevan Sheppard. “We gave up too much in the first half.

“We had to play defense. First half defensively, it just wasn’t happening. He (Loria) did a good job of putting them in space where they can advantage of what they do best.)

A year ago, Aquinas finished 20-6 and advanced to the NYS Class A semifinals. Two of those losses came to Kearney, both by double digits. A five-point loss to BK earlier this season left the Li’l Irish snake-bitten this after taking a 51-42 advantage into the fourth quarter.

“I’m very happy that we got the monkey off our back,” Loria said. “I’m proud of the girls and how they fought. There are still some things we got to clean up, but we’ll get there. We’ll figure it out. I’m really, really pleased with the growth of these girls.”

Aquinas hit nine 3-pointers in Wednesday’s win. The Li’l managed just two shots from distance when the teams met earlier in the season.

Green paced the offense with 25 points. O’Toole finished with 19 points and 13 rebounds. Orr had 17 points and eight rebounds. Samiyah Wright added six points and 18 rebounds. Jade Harvey had five points and nine rebounds.

Asia Wilson scored 21 of her game-high 26 points in the second half when Kearney cut the deficit to nine at 64-55 with less than five minutes remaining.

“At half actually, I was okay,” Sheppard said of the deficit his squad faced. “I knew if we could get it under 10 with three minutes left, we would be okay. We did, but they have grown since the first time we played. They took advantage of that situation.”

The win was the 15th straight for Aquinas – with six of the past seven coming by double digits.

Aquinas and Kearney are part of Class AA bracket that includes reigning NYS finalist Hilton, Webster Schroeder (2023 NYS Class AA champion) and Pittsford Mendon (2019 NYS and Federation Class A champion). Kearney won the the 2022 NYS Class AA championship. Penfield was the 2021 Section V Class AA champion when there was not a state tournament due to Covid-19. Sectionals open next week.

BISHOP KEARNEY (15-5)
Asia Wilson 11 2-3 26, Klarissa Goode 3 6-8 12, Leah Dukes 6 4-5 18, Adrianna Kennedy 0 1-3 1, Claire Spears 3 0-0 6, Tamia McCadney 0 0-0 0, Madison Simmons 1 0-2 2 Isabella Brookins 1 0-0 2 TOTALS 25 13-21 — 67

AQUINAS (18-1)
Carlé Thomas 3 1-4 8, Julionna Nkugwa 0 0-0 0, Loren Green 6 10-11 25, AJ Orr 5 6-10 17, Blesn’g Muhammad 1 0-0 2, Jade Harvey 2 1-2 5, Samiyah Wright 2 2-6 6, Molly O’Toole 8 3-4 19 TOTALS 27 23-37 — 82

BISHOP KEARNEY 10 12 22 23 — 67
AQUINAS 19 27 14 22 — 82

3-point goals: BISHOP KEARNEY 4 (Wilson 2, Dukes 2); AQUINAS 9 (Thomas 1, Green 3, Orr 1, O’Toole 4).

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