Radnor, PA – Over the weekend, two strong contenders in the Philadelphia basketball scene met up in a battle of Catholic league play. Archbishop Carroll and Neumann-Goretti have both made a name for themselves as strong competitors within the Catholic league since the start of the season.
Coming into this game, Goretti (13-3, 7-0 PCL) was undefeated in PCL play knocking off competitors such as Bishop McDevitt and O’Hara. Carroll (12-5, 6-2 PCL), however, had been undefeated before facing O’Hara the previous week. Determination to come out victorious was at an all-time high, but in the end, the Saints of Neumann-Goretti came out on top defeating the Patriots 62-26.
Both teams came out of the opening tip-off extremely aggressive ready to gain an advantage on their opponents. The first team to answer in this game was Goretti with a strong 3-point field goal by senior, Chyna Nixon.
Strong offensive efforts by Nixon along with fellow senior player, Ashley Jones, helped the Saints stay more than an arm’s reach from Carroll’s scoring efforts. Between Jones and Nixon in the first half, together they scored the majority of N-G's points, having a combined 23 points before the half ended.
Throughout the remaining part of the game the combination of the offense and defense put forward by N-G seemed too much for Carroll to handle leading the Saints to a 36 point victory.
However, the Patriots' determination remained persistent and by the end of the first period and the beginning of the second Carroll realized what needed to be done to help bridge the scoring gap.
Junior Molly Masciantonio and senior Bella Sorrentino proved impressive when it came to finding each other for passes, getting to the basket and grabbing rebounds from attempts on the Neumann-Gorretti side of the court.
Masciantonio was both an offensive and defensive strong-hold for Carroll giving the team most of its points throughout the game. Masciantonio scored both the opening point for the Patriots and then another 6 points for the team before the end of the game, including four consecutive points after a defensive stop and breakaway against a fast Neumann-Goretti team.
Carroll head coach, Renie Shields, realizes what her team needs to focus on going forward.
“Game preparation,” said Shields. "We need to be prepared to win games and right now we’re not there.”
Next up, Neumann-Goretti will travel to Archbishop Ryan in another PCL matchup at 7pm on January Friday, Jan. 27, while Carroll will face Archbishop Wood at 7PM.