By JOE PALLADINO
WATERBURY — The Holy Cross girls basketball rampage continues.
The Crusaders won for the 13th time in 14 games, and avenged the only loss in that run, with a 44-36 victory over Sacred Heart at Alumni Hall on Thursday night. The victory not only established Cross (13-4, 13-3 NVL) as a legitimate title contender once again, but it prevented the Hearts (16-3, 14-3) from clinching the Brass Division championship on senior night. The4 teams are now tied atop the Brass at 8-1.
This was a ragged game in search of star for a good long stretch, but it found one in Cross’ Cayla Howard. The freshman scored three consecutive baskets to close out the second quarter and break open a two-point game, and she finished with a team high 18, and a not-too-shabby four rebounds and four steals.
“I am just really happy that I can be out on the court playing,” said Howard, who has only been back a few weeks after missing more than a month with a shoulder injury sustained on the season’s opening day. “I needed to help my team out and I needed to do whatever I could do to help.”
Though the freshman was the only double-figure scorer for Cross, there was a lot to like. Hannah Brown scored nine, and Allie Brown chipped in with four boards, five assists, and six steals.
“This past week we have actually been playing Holy Cross basketball,” Allie Brown said. “This year, so far, we’ve struggled, because it has been a lot off young girls, but everyone’s been stepping up. We’ve been emphasizing bonding, and free throws, and rebounding, and it all came out tonight.”
Nadia French-Graham, who scored four and led Cross with eight rebounds, said the turnaround has been “our defense. We’re working as a team more.”
This wasn’t a city classic. It took half of the first quarter before there was a field goal. The team’s took a combined 46 free throws and made only 19. And the Hearts went 7 minutes, 18 seconds, from late in the third quarter to late in the fourth, without a field goal. They lost for a reason.
“We need to get it together,” said the Hearts’ Aamya Rivera, who scored a game-high 22, with four steals. “We played very incompetent. We didn’t play as a team, we had a lot of turnovers, and we weren’t talking on defense.”
Yep, it was a game with more did nots than dids, except for one thing: It did tells us that Holy Cross is back in the championship picture.
HOLY CROSS 44, SACRED HEART 36
Holy Cross (13-4): Jasmine Thorpe 2 1 7, Allie Brown 0 1 1, Alyssa Hebb 1 1 3, Hannah Brown 3 0 9, Jenna Mowad 0 1 1, Maeve Perrone 0 0 0, Nadia French-Graham 2 0 4, Ja’Lin Waters 0 0 0, Ashley Davis 0 1 1, Cayla Howard 6 5 18. Totals: 14 10 44.
Sacred Heart (16-3):
Adalena Francis 0 0 0, Emily Ronalter 0 0 0, Hayley Tucker 2 1 5, Aamya Rivera 7 5 22, Paige Carroll 1 2 4, Navaeh Jones 0 0 0, Mikayla Mobley 2 1 5, Brooke Ferrare 0 0 0, Stephanie Van Duzer 0 0 0. Totals: 12 9 36.
Holy Cross 8 15 10 11 — 44
Sacred Heart 8 7 15 6 — 36
3-point field goals: HC — Thorpe 2, H. Brown 3, Howard 1. SH — Rivera 3.