M.V. Hoopsters Win In Dramatic Fashion

Resurrection is new to CYO this season and has been playing in the Brooklyn youth league.

St. Margaret’s scored early on a Kristen Maurer lay in, but Resurrection took control of the quarter by stealing passes, out-hustling the Dragons to the ball and getting to the foul line where they hit on four out of seven free throws.

St. Margaret’s hung tough to end the first quarter down 8-6 after two free throws by Gabriella Gangone and a neat lay in by Victoria Cirone.

The second quarter saw Resurrection again sprint out to a sixpoint lead as St. Margaret’s continued to be plagued by foul trouble. Then strong defensive contributions from Miranda Lang, Jessica Menna and Theresa Armano helped keep the deficit to a manageable margin while Jubilee Aguilar hit from the inside to get the Dragons onto the scoreboard. Gangone then hit for three baskets and Maurer made one of two free throws to cut the half time deficit to two, a 17-15 Resurrection lead.

St. Margaret’s had many first half opportunities, but failed to convert while Resurrection made some outside shots and took advantage of the Dragons’ foul trouble. In the third quarter, Resurrection could not miss from the outside while St. Margaret’s shooting continued to be cold. The only Dragons’ points came on two of two free throws from Aguilar, however, St. Margaret’s did a better job of handling the ball, reducing its fouling and even putting Resurrection into foul trouble.

Down 25-17 to start the final quarter, the Dragons’ offense started to gel. Nicole Kopczynski came off the bench to grab some key defensive rebounds and turn the flow of the game in the Dragons direction.

Shannon Barrett twice went end to end to jump start St. Margaret’s comeback scoring. Gangone consistently drove the lane drawing fouls on the Resurrection team, putting them into the penalty situation.

With about three minutes left in the game the Resurrection lead had been cut to two. At this point, an inadvertent elbow to the mouth knocked Lang out of the game.

A half minute later, Jubilee fouled out. With both Nicole Hubert and Elizabeth Lynch missing the game, the Dragons bench was thin.

But contributions by Victoria Cirone, Theresa Armano, Kopczynski and Menna, who played some overwhelming defense, kept the Dragons from falling further behind.

With less than two minutes left, St. Margaret’s tried several times to go inside for a basket that would tie the score but to no avail. Then Kristen Maurer hit a shot from the top of the key to knot the game at 28.

That shot seemed to breathe new life into the Dragons, and they took advantage by outscoring Resurrection 8-4 over the final minute and a half.

The final result was a very hard fought 36-32 win over a tough opponent.