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By Matt Michelone
For the Mirror
WINGATE -- The first quarter of Bishop Carroll Catholic and Saint Joseph's Catholic Academy's District 6 Class 1A girls basketball consolation started off as a game of trading buckets and keeping runs short.
But in the end, the Lady Husky offense went cold once the second quarter started as the Wolfpack offense exploded -- outscoring Carroll 22-7 -- on their way to capturing the 65-42 triumph at Bald Eagle Area High School Thursday night.
"I think the game was won and lost on the boards tonight," Bishop Carroll coach Erika Strittmatter said. "Rebounding was the tale of the game."
That loss brings the Lady Husky season to a close with an 11-13 record.
Late in the first quarter, St. Joe's (25-2) looked like it was going to start taking control on the offensive end as Naomi Crispin went coast to coast for a layup for two of her 14 points to give the Wolfpack a 14-9 advantage.
Bishop Carroll, however, finished the first quarter strong as Ava Pablic added a jumper on a 3-pointer to give the Lady Huskies a 15-14 lead after the opening stanza. Pablic led her team with 11 points.
The Wolfpack took over from there and it was in large part due to their inside game. Aubrey Yartz put away a turnaround jumper which gave St. Joe's a 32-20 lead. She led all scorers with 24 points.
Jacee Cunningham ending up adding eight of her 14 points in the second quarter to give the Wolfpack a 36-22 cushion at the half.
"They're big and they're athletic, and I think that we were a little outmatched on our size," Strittmatter said.
"We settled down a little bit," St. Joe's coach Bethany Irwin said of her team's second-quarter changes. "For everybody, this is a new experience. We wound up changing a lot of defenses, seeing what was going to work for us, and we finally started catching the ball."
Crispin kept adding on in the second half as she put away an NBA-range 3-pointer with just over three minutes to play in the third to help stretch the lead to 49-32 after three.
"Naomi is an unbelievably great kid," Irwin said. "She's just fit right into this system, and she trusts everybody, and she wants everybody to succeed."
Thursday night's defeat was the final game for three Lady Husky seniors -- two from the starting lineup. They ended the season having won nine out of their last 14 games following a challenging 2-8 start to the season.
Strittmatter was appreciative of her senior class' contributions as they helped her establish the standard she expects of the program going forward.
"Tatum (Laughard), Ali (Heinrich), Lydia (Myers) have really laid the foundation for this team going forward," she said. "They have won more games this year than they have in years past, and I'm so blessed and so thankful for them, and I'm really excited to see what the future holds.
"If you would've told me in December we'd be standing here, I wouldn't have believed you. These kids are resilient, they fight, and I'm so blessed to have them."
BISHOP CARROLL (42): Heinrich 0 4-4 4, Laughard 2 0-0 5, Ad. Myers 2 0-0 5, Golden 3 0-0 6, Pablic 4 0-0 11, Lieb 1 0-0 2, L. Myers 1 0-0 2, Av. Myers 3 0-0 6. Totals--16 6-6 42.
ST. JOSEPH'S (65): Crispin 4 3-4 14, Cunningham 5 4-4 14, Yartz 11 2-3 24, Prospero 0 0-0 0, Himes 4 0-0 11, Peters 1 0-0 2, Luckovich 0 0-0 0. Totals-- 25 9-11 65.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Bishop Carroll 15 7 10 10 — 42
St. Joseph's 14 22 13 16 — 65
3-point field goals: Bishop Carroll 6 (Laughard 2, Ad. Myers, Pablic 3), St. Joseph's 6 (Crispin 3, Himes 3)
Records: Bishop Carroll (11-13), St. Joseph's (25-2).
Officials: Bill Musser, Emma Musser, Brad Martz