The St. Francis Catholic Academy girls basketball team entered Tuesday night’s Class 2A-District 4 game at rival Oak Hall School with a lot of momentum, riding a seven-game winning streak.
However, it was the host Eagles who were the aggressor early.
Oak Hall used a 9-0 run to start the game and a 10-0 run in the third quarter to pull away from the Wolves in a 41-20 win.
“We came out laser focused and it allowed us to flow freely into the offense and the defensive sets that we wanted to do and also put pressure on the ball,” said Oak Hall first-year coach Barry Hutchinson.
Senior Mary Pizzurro hit a right baseline 3-pointer one minute into the game, followed by a layup by Leila Sims and consecutive baskets by senior Bella Dyrkolbotn, as St. Francis called timeout down nine with 4:36 to play in the opening quarter.
The Wolves’ first points didn’t come until Allie Dey (team-high 13 points) scored on a layup with 3:59 to play in the first.
Despite Oak Hall’s fast start, and St. Francis Catholic’s scoring deficiencies, which included a 5:51 scoring drought to start the second quarter, the Wolves (10-2) only trailed by seven, 20-13, at the half.
“I really give our girls a lot of credit,” said assistant coach Michael Deady, who was filling in for head coach Josh Kerkau who had a family emergency prior to the game. “This is a very fine team that we were playing tonight. I want to credit them, they are very well-coached and they handled situations well, but I was very pleased with the way the girls played tonight. I thought our girls matched them for much of the game with the kind of intensity and desire that we needed.”
The third quarter proved to be the difference in the game as the Eagles (8-1) outscored the Wolves, 16-2.
Hutchinson told his team at the half that they weren’t playing with the energy that he expected them to play with, and they responded.
“Sometimes you have to make yourself go out, will yourself out, and play to the capabilities that you can play to,” he said. “We weren’t doing that as much in the first half as we did in the second half.”
The Eagles scored the first 10 points of the third quarter to build a 30-13 lead with 3:07 remaining in the period.
Once again the Wolves were held without a point until Dey made a shot to end the slump with 2:22 to play in the third.
Senior Sri Lanka Richardson gave OHS a big lift off the bench, scoring six of her eight points in the third quarter.
“She came in and was really aggressive on defense, like I was asking,” Hutchinson said. “She used her quickness to deflect and steal and get a couple of easy baskets. She was a big lift to us.”
Oak Hall’s bench outscored St. Francis, 14-2, as Harper Wooley (four points) and Josie Pickens (two points) combined for six of the Eagles’ seven second-quarter points.
“We don’t have as much depth,” Deady said. “We played about seven or eight girls tonight. That’s about as deep as we go…we needed a little humility, I think, because we’ve pretty much run roughshod over everybody we’ve played this year, but we played a superior team. I was pleased with our effort. We just ran into a buzz saw, a good team tonight, give them credit. They deserve it. I think we will benefit from this game because we haven’t seen talent and ability like this for much of the season.”
Bella Dyrkolbotn had a team-high 13 points for the Lady Eagles.
“She didn’t play her best game,” Hutchinson said. “She missed some looks that she usually hits, but you have nights like that. But she still did a lot of good things for us…she’s really gotten good at blocking shots and she’s been really good on defense.”
St. Francis senior Lexy Bhatia, who was averaging 18.7 points per game, was held to just five points.
She didn’t make her first field goal until she drained a right corner 3-ball early in the fourth quarter.
Bhatia is now 39 points away from 1,000 in her career.
St. Francis Catholic will host St. John Lutheran (Ocala) on Thursday, while Oak Hall, which suffered its first loss of the season at home to Newberry, 41-35, last Friday, will travel to Union County (Lake Butler).
The tip for both games on Thursday is at 6 p.m.
BOYS
Oak Hall 51, St. Francis Catholic Academy 37 – Senior Andrew Powell led the Eagles with 20 points as Oak Hall (10-4) swept the two-game series.
Powell hit 5-of-9 3-pointers for Oak Hall, which will travel to Bishop Snyder (Jacksonville) at 6 p.m. on Friday.
St. Francis Catholic (11-4) will play at Meadowbrook Academy (Ocala) at 7 p.m. on Thursday.
Hawthorne 63, North Marion (Citra) 51 – Junior C.J. Ingram scored the 1000th point of his career as the Hornets (9-4) won their fifth straight game.
Hawthorne will host Buchholz at 7:30 p.m. next Tuesday night.
Trenton 74, Chiefland 43 – The host Tigers got revenge at home with a dominating win against the Indians in a Class 1A-District 7 game.
Trenton junior Clark Hausner scored 19 points with three 3-pointers, junior Kendal Henry added 11 points and five rebounds, freshman Mason VunCannon had 11 points and 12 rebounds and junior Zander Grant scored 10 points and with four assists.
Trenton (7-6), which had lost at Chiefland, 42-30, on Dec. 15, will travel to Branford on Thursday, while Chiefland (6-7) will host Newberry. The tip for both games is at 7:30 p.m.
Columbia (Lake City) 73, Buchholz 68 – The Tigers (10-7) split the two-game series with a win at home against the Bobcats (10-7).
