Holy Cross’ Aiyana Ward (32) hits the floor as she battles for a loose ball with Sheehan’s Carolyn Biel (33) and Sydney Hunt (44) during their second round Class L tournament game Thursday at Holy Cross High School in Waterbury.
Jim Shannon Republican-American
By RICK WILSON
Republican-American
WATERBURY — It was kind of like getting smacked head-on by a truck. One of those big 16-wheelers. And All No. 16 Sheehan High could do was absorb the demolition.
No. 1 Holy Cross looked every inch like a No. 1 seed Thursday night, harassing the Titans right into the spring sports season with an easy 59-34 Class L second-round win. Next up is No. 8 Guilford, a 60-46 winner over Farmington, on Tuesday night at home again.
“We can’t get comfortable. We have work to do,” said the Crusaders’ Idalis Miranda after the Crusaders’ second straight rout in the tournament.
Miranda was a big part of the game with a 20-point effort on a night when the Crusaders did little to make Sheehan’s visit a comfortable one. The Titans couldn’t handle the Crusaders’ feisty and ferocious defensive effort, committing 25 turnovers. And on the boards they got outrebounded, 44-13.
“It felt like us struggling like we do against Mercy, like we were physically overwhelmed,” said Sheehan coach Mike Busillo. “They play really hard, and it felt like their want-to was better than our want-to. If you want to compete against the Catholic schools, you have to take their edge away, which is their physical play. They play with an edge, and we didn’t match it.”
It was all evident early as the Crusaders put the first nine points on the board, with three baskets coming off turnovers. Holy Cross ripped away nine offensive rebounds in the opening period, opening up a 16-6 lead.
You figure Sheehan hoped it would get better. Nope. The Titans were limited to one basket and seven points in the second quarter as the Crusaders blew the game open.
Century McCartney (eight points, eight rebounds), continuing her comeback after missing much of last season and this season with a torn ACL, put together a five-point mini-spurt as the lead ballooned to 23-8 at one point and a comfortable 29-13 edge by the half.
“Our game plan was to create up-tempo,” said Holy Cross coach Frank Lombardo. “Sheehan is a good standstill-shooting team. With our pressure, we wanted to make them dribble as much as possible and put them in situations they are not used to.”
Pace, pace and more pace.
“Coach said they were bigger, but slower, and we needed to work on defense and push the fast pace,” said Miranda. “We needed to get them out of their comfort zone. We knew right from the beginning we had to keep up the intensity.”
It was more of the same in the second half. A 7-1 run upped the lead to 36-18. Eleven Sheehan turnovers later, the lead was 49-23 by the end of the quarter.
The Crusaders continued to hammer the backboards, finishing with 27 offensive rebounds. Aiyana Ward snared 13 balls off the glass, 10 at the offensive end. Meah Austin chipped in with seven rebounds.
“Aiyana and Meah go to the boards strong. They know that’s their role for us to be successful,” added Lombardo.
All in all, Holy Cross is in a good place, especially with a tough Guilford team coming into the Crusaders’ pit.
“We’ve played better at home than on the road this season,” said Lombardo. “Tonight, we did a good job being consistent with our style for 32 minutes playing hard.”