St. Margaret's Hoops Splits Week's Games

After falling to St. Mary Gate of Heaven on Dec. 7 by a final score of 19-9, the Dragons rebounded to defeat St. Pancras 41-18.

The game at Gate of Heaven saw St. Margaret start out by playing tenacious defense, holding the powerful St. Mary's team to four first quarter points. But the only basket St. Margaret's could make was waved off because of a traveling violation. On offense the Dragons could not make their shots and had to fight hard to score. St. Mary's scored two baskets in the final minute of the half to take a commanding 10-2 lead. The Dragons suffered a blow when forward Jessica Menna sprained an ankle early in the fourth quarter.

But St. Margaret's kept working on the defensive end and pulled down critical rebounds to climb within five points with less than a minute remaining in the third quarter.

Trailing 12-7, two errant passes by the Dragons were turned into last minute points again and the third quarter ended 17-7 in favor of St. Mary's. Throughout the game the Dragons did not quit and played hard until the final buzzer.

That kind of heart was not wasted as it carried over to the following Saturday, Dec 13 at St. Pancras. From the start the Dragons were in command with good ball movement and good shooting. The defense again was tight, but it was accurate foul shooting that made the difference in the first half. St. Margaret maintained a five-point lead throughout the first quarter and most of the second, when St. Pancras scored two three point baskets to go on top 13-11. But St. Margaret's responded with two free throws and a basket to go into halftime leading 15-13.

Jubilee Aguilar, Shannon Barrett, Gabriella Gangone and Kristen Maurer recorded first half points; Gangone leading the way with seven (3-4 from the charity stripe) and Maurer 2-2 on free throws.

But it was both defensively and offensively in the third quarter that St. Margaret roared ahead outscor- ing the opponent 18-3. Nicole Hubert and Miranda Lang did an outstanding job rebounding as they also entered the scoring column. Theresa Armano made life difficult for the opposing guards on defense and chipped in with a fourth quarter score. Only Jessica Menna, not able to play because of an ankle injury, did not score for the Dragons on this day.

St. Margaret will next play Jan. 11, 2009 against Our Lady of Hope.