7th Grade Bulldogs Pounce on LCA

The Bulldogs got off to a fast start in the first quarter and refused to relent as they ended the quarter with a 14-0 lead over the Lakewood Catholic Academy Saints. Leading the way for the Bulldogs in the quarter was #13 Billy Beck, who scored the first six points in the GESU run.

In the second quarter, both teams were playing strong defense as the only point mustered in the first five minutes was a free throw from Gesu. The Bulldogs finally broke through as #20 Matthew Lambert made a layup to put Gesu up 17-0 and forcing a Saints timeout. Out of the timeout, Lakewood Catholic was finally able to make their first bucket off a jumper from #0 Declan Loftus. The Bulldogs responded with a layup from #42 Charlie Young but #13 Greg Friel scored once again for the Saints which sent both teams into the half with the score at 19-4.

The leading scorer at the half for the Bulldogs was Billy Beck with 6 points who also grabbed a rebound. Declan Loftus and Greg Friel each had two points for the Saints at halftime.

Coming out of the half, both teams once again held firm on the defensive end as the only point allowed was a Gesu free throw. But a putback layup from Charlie Young put the Bulldogs up 22-4 halfway through the third. #32 James Fraser equaled the Bulldogs quarter output with a 3 pointer to bring the margin back down to 15. A Bulldogs free throw was the final point from the third quarter as Gesu leads 23-7.

The Bulldogs came out of the fourth quarter with a strong push and closed the game with a 10-2 run for a final score of 33-9.

Leading the way for Gesu was Billy Beck with 6 points while the leading scorer for Lakewood Catholic was James Fraser with 3 points.

Sts. Robert & William (7th Grade) Win a Tight One

The Ss. Robert and William Warriors came out to play against St. Albert the Great as they had a 4-point advantage during the first half. St. Albert the Great contributed points with the help of Ryan Kilbane, Logan Schnell, Jonah Campagna, Kyle Dodig, Anthony Fittro, and Gavin Crane. Kilbane of St. Albert lead the team with six points with Schnell following behind with five points. Brian Cureton of Ss. Robert and William lead the team with 13 points with Joseph Pomnean following behind with seven points and three rebounds. The halftime score of St. Albert the Great vs. the Warriors was 15-11.

The Warriors remained strong as Pomnean accumulated three rebounds with James Gibbons and Jermaine Jones, Jr. gathering one each. While the Warrior’s offense remained strong throughout the game, St. Albert the Great’s defense had some defining moments with Ben Irwin, Brandon Homordy, and Fittro having one rebound each. The final score of St. Albert the Great vs. Ss. Robert and William is 24-28, respectively.

Holy Trinity Wallops St. Gabriel (7th Grade)

The shooting of Holy Trinity was too much to handle for St. Gabriel as Holy Trinity won  46-29.  The breakaway came in the second quarter as Trinity scored 6 straight points off of a Full court press.  After this breakaway, St. Gabriel was unable to mount a comeback despite a last ditch effort in the fourth quarter.  

Holy trinity had 3 players with 10+ points in #0 Quinn Woidke (11), #5 Grant Washington (12), and #13 Jimmy Thomas (10).  #5 James Kroenig lead St. Gabriel in scoring with 9. Holy Trinity was able to maintain their lead due to their second chance points registering 9 offensive rebounds throughout the game. 

Emmanuel Christian’s Strong 4th Quarter Helps Finish Off Gilmour

A nine point run to close out the fourth quarter powered Emmanuel Christian to a 44-34 win over Gilmour Academy in the eighth grade boys late tournament game.

A spin move to the rim by Emmanuel Christian’s Darius W. late in the game added a two point score to cap off a game-high 12 points in the win. Aaron F. and Zayon K. played a key role on the defensive end with 14 and 10 rebounds respectively. 

The game was tied 17-17 at halftime but a team total of 14% shooting from three eliminated Gilmour’s ability to score. David P. and Troy D. led the lancers with 21 combined points. 

Miles C. of Emmanuel Christian hit a three pointer in the fourth quarter that excited the crowd and kept the foot on the gas. Emmanuel Christian outscored Gilmour 16-9 in the final quarter.

Lady Knights Keep Pace; Beat Metro Catholic in Nail Biter.

Nora Carlton came out with hustle, as she scored first for St. Paschal Baylon. Mykalah Melton answered back by scoring one basket, putting Metro Catholic on the board.  Georgie Forte missed her initial shot, but then grabbed the rebound and was able to score again for St. Paschal Baylon. Both teams were back an forth, capturing every rebound after each missed shot. Aaliyah Rhodes led her team in rebounds with three, in the first two quarters. Kiernan Bickar made the last basket in the first half, putting St. Paschal Baylon at only a two point deficit against Metro Catholic at half. 

St. Paschal Baylon came out with intensity in the second half, wanting to take away the lead from Metro Catholic. Fahness Freeman scored early in the second half for Metro Catholic. Georgie Forte used that as fuel, and scored a basket for St. Paschal shortly after, closing the deficit at just one basket. Mykalah Melton added to that deficit, putting up another basket for Metro Catholic, making the score 18-14. With continued hustle, both teams kept up their energy from the first half, not giving up. After a nail biter of a fourth quarter, St. Paschal Baylon took the lead and ran with it, winning over Metro Catholic, 29-25. 

St. Raphael Trounces St. Paschal (7th Grade)

Written by Amy Morris.

St. Raphael was too much for St. Paschal in the final day of the Morrissey Classic. The first quarter concluded with a tied score of 8-8. That was as close as it got. Player Zac Titas was the leading scorer for the Knights with 5 points scored and player Cody Haddad was the leading scorer for St. Raphael with 4 points scored. The game was an equal match up with both teams putting loads of effort in running back and forth across the court. 

Coming into the second half, both teams tried their best to out score the other and break away from the tie put in place from the first half. There was a power play towards crunch time of back to back 3’s, first by St. Raphael’s #3, followed directly after by St. Paschal’s #34. Ultimately, St. Raphael was able to answer that call and finish off the game with a grand total of 29 points. St. Paschal, although not coming home with a win from this game, put their heart and soul out on the court. They scored a respectful 12 points. Despite the score, it was a great match up and a great game to watch.

Our Lady Saints Well-Rounded Performance Proves too Much for Holy Trinity

- Justin Renner

Holy Trinity jumped out to an early lead of 4-0, both buckets were scored by #15 Sarah Karabatsos. Throughout the rest of the 1st quarter the Holy Trinity offense had stalled, being outscored 8-2 by Our Lady Saints. Ending the 1st quarter with a score 6-8, Our Lady Saints. Half way through the second quarter, Our Lady Saints was leading 16-9. 12 of these 16 points were scored by Our Lady forward, Amor Maker who also racked up 5 rebounds. At the end of the 1st half, Our Lady Saints was leading Holy Trinity 20-9. And even when down 11 points, smiles still blessed the faces of the Holy Trinity girls.

Our Lady Saints really came out hot in the 3rd quarter, scoring 7 unanswered points to increase their lead over Holy Trinity 27-9. Our Lady Saints also continued to play their rock solid defense, by not allowing a single point against them in the 3rd quarter. With 2:34 left to play, Kelsey O’Toole nailed her 2nd three point shot of the game, giving her team the confidence boost they needed to finish out the game. As the final buzzer rang Our Lady Saints ruled victorious over Holy Trinity by a final score of 34-12. Our Lady Saints victory was led by #13 Amor Maker who scored 19 points and racked up 10 boards. 

St. Jude Fights Off Metro Catholic

Game story by Kayla Sokolowski

In warm ups, both teams were going hard to get game ready, but the game is off to a slow start. With five minutes left in the first quarter, the game is tied 1-1. Both teams are starting to pick up the pace and are becoming more aggressive. The score at the end of the first quarter is Metro Catholic, 7 and St. Jude, 5.

A foul by Metro Catholic started the second quarter off. St. Jude is 4/4 on free throws. Making the score Metro Catholic, 9 and St. Jude 7. St. Jude's #9 Audrey Zimmerman ties the game with a lay up. The score at the end of the third quarter is St. Jude, 11 and Metro Catholic, 10. This is the first time St. Jude is leading the game. A great way for them to go into halftime.

The third quarter has also started slow. St. Jude's #30 Sam Clement hit a 3, and Metro Cathollic's #25 Jaylyn Rodriguez answered right back with a 3 of her own. St. Jude's #25 Ally Mcadams scored a lay up to tie her team back up to Metro Catholic. The score to end the game is Metro Catholic, 20 and St. Jude, 19.

Since, the second quarter the game has been continuing the same pattern of scoring a basket, then tieing the game back up. With one minute remaining, Metro Catholic's #21 Melton scored a huge 3 pointer to tie her team back up with St. Jude's. The game is tied with 13 seconds left in the game, Metro Catholic's ball. They were not able to get a shot. Game is in overtime. Neither team could secure the win yet, they are in their second overtime. St. Jude secured the win. St. Jude's #5 Audrey Zimmerman scored 4 huge points to help her team to victory.

St. Raphael Sneaks By Holy Trinity

In a back and growth battle the game was knotted at 16 as the first half came to a close. As the seconds tick away, Anthony Hutter drove down the left side and put up a floater that tapped the glass and spun in. Giving the Eagles a 18-16 edge coming out of the half. 

Both teams came out playing very aggressive defensive in the third quarter leading to a 24 to 24 tie entering the fourth. Trinity jumped out to a 30-24, but Raiders came all the way back and a #51 three gave them the lead. The raider never looked back winning 37-34.

St. Francis of Assisi Eases Past ECA

The St. Francis of Assisi start off the game strong with an imposing full court press lead by the Kavcic twins. Leading the game game 15-1 after the first quarter. It was more of the same in the second quarter the Cougars picked attacked Emmanuel Christian’s two-three zone to get a convincing 29-1 lead going into the second half.

Second half action started off well for the Emmanuel Christian, with Zayon Keen scoring their first basket of the game. But St. Francis of Assisi’s team work, and ball movement had the day. Jake Kavcic lead them both teams with 13 points and his Andy added another 12 with an additional 5 assists. Darius Wright lead Emmanuel Christian with 6 including two going two for two from behind the arch.

-- Anna Meyer

Our Lady of Perpetual Hope Eeks Out a W

The face off between Our Lady of Perpetual Hope and Gilmour brought a steady first quarter, with many skill moves from players on both teams. Eurosteps, fade-aways and threes from FAR out resulted in a halftime score of 22-15 with Our Lady of Perpetual Hope ahead. 

Back and forth and up and down the court, these teams battled for the lead. Our Lady of Perpetual Hope attempted to stop the drive by going into a 3-2 zone, while Gilmour opted to stay in man. Both teams capitalized on fast break layups in transition right before halftime. 

Starting the third quarter, you could see the desire in both teams to take the lead. Our Lady of Perpetual Hope pulled away in the third quarter with 33 points at the end compared to Gilmour’s 25 points. 

The fourth quarter brought more three point makes creating an even closer game. With only 38 seconds left in the game, Our Lady of Perpetual Hope led by 4 points. Big foul shots by Dalton Miller added points followed by a three point answer from Gilmour at the very end. 

At the end of the game Gilmour made 8 threes while Our Lady of Perpetual Hope made 3 threes. 

Troy Domen lead not only Gilmour but all players with 21 points followed by David Pfunsten with 9 points. Dalton Miller had 16 points to lead Our Lady of Perpetual Hope to victory. The final score 45-41. 

Author: Ashley McCall

The Knights tame the Bulldogs

By Drezdan Dale

Gesu opened the game with a 7-0 run, lead by Sean Martin's 6 points. Jimmy Lawless got St. Paschal on the board with a fast break layup, but Martin responded with his own to make things 9-2 in favor of Gesu. St. Paschal's Delond Moss made it 9 to 4 with a jump shot, and that ended the scoring for the first quarter. To begin the second quarter, St. Paschal's George Minello grabbed an offensive rebound and made the put back layup. Shortly thereafter, St. Paschal's Nicky Speyer recorded a steal and made a layup, closing the Gesu lead to 9 to 8. A few minutes later, Speyer recorded another steal and made a layup, giving St. Paschal their first lead of the game at 10-9. St. Paschal's Jimmy Lawless finished on an and-one opportunity, and then with the clock winding down, Lawless sunk a last second jump shot to end the half with St. Paschal winning 15 to 9.

Early on in the third quarter, St. Paschal jumped out to a 17-9 advantage before Sean Martin and GESU 25 made two fast break layups. Delond Moss sunk a three to get things going again for St. Paschal. After Gesu made 3 of four free throws, Lawless made another basket, stretching the St. Paschal lead back up to 6 points. #33 St. Paschal made a jump shot at the buzzer to end the third quarter, giving St. Paschal a 24 to 16 advantage. In the fourth quarter, St. Paschal's George Minello made a nice hook shot. After some free throws and a few turnovers for both teams, St. Paschal's Delond Moss made a layup, giving St. Paschal a 36 to 24 advantage. A few minutes later, Gesu's Makell Byrd made a three, right in the face of the defender, making things 38 to 31. That was as close as Gesu would get as St. Paschal pulled away at the end for a 44 to 31 victory.

St. Paschal fends off St. Albert the Great

On this sunny day at Gilmore Academy for the Gesu Morrissey Classic St. Albert the Great took on the Knights of St. Paschal Baylon. In the first half, It was constantly back and forth with each team exchanging scoring possessions. The difference was never larger than 5 points at a time. At the end of the first half, the score only held to be 18 to 14 with St. Paschal Baylon hanging onto the lead by a thread. David Pfundstein #24 for the Knights lead the charge with 8 points and 2 rebounds. Supporting St. Albert the Great, Ryan Kilbane #20 added in 3 points and 2 rebounds for his squad.

In the second half, the battle for the lead continued with each team taking a good amount of trips to the foul line trying to convert the free throws to give their team an edge in the match. St. Paschal ended up winning the free throw competition which played a huge part in their offensive success. In the middle of the 4th quarter #20 Ryan Kilbane for St. Albert the Great hit a huge three to keep them in the game as St. Paschal started to pull away making it 28-22. In the end, St. Paschal Baylon's consistent layup success prevailed to be too much and guided them to victory 39 to 36. The win was guided by #24 David Pfundstein with an overall point total of 18 and also grabbing 5 rebounds while #33 Zach Swiderski helped with 9 points and 6 rebounds. The late efforts of #1 Jonah Campagna for St. Albert the Great can't go unrecognized as he had 6 points late in the game.

By: Andrew McNutt

St. Raphael Bests St. Robert-William (7th Grade)

Game Story by Kayla Sokolowski

At the end of the first quarter, the score is St. Raphael, 10 and St. Robert-William, 3. Cody Haddad and Craig Carneval both lead St. Raphael in points with 3 each. Joseph Pomnean is leading St. Robert-William with 2 points. St. Raphael is doing a very good job at defensive rebounding.

In the second quarter, #33 Craig Carneval has hit two 3 pointers, increasing his team's lead. St. Raphael is leading the game 19-3.

In the third quarter, the team of St. Robert-William is starting to aggressively attack their basket. They have increased their score by 8 points. Ending the third half St. Rapheal, 26 and St. Robert-William, 11. Leading St. Robert-William with points is #21 Brian Cureton. He has 5 as of now.

The end of the game score was St. Raphael, 32 and St. Robert-William, 21. Leading scorers for St. Raphael were Craig Carneval with 8 and Joey Karroum with 7.

St. Gabriel Rides early lead to Victory

St. Gabriel took an early 10-4 lead in the first quarter, lead by Bryson Monreal’s 6 points. (#23) Anthony Reali (#2) lead LCA’s offensive efforts, scoring all 4 of their points. LCA decreased their deficit to 4 throughout the second quarter, resulting in a score of 20-16 at halftime. Monreal and Reali continued to lead their teams offensive efforts. On defense, Nick Sorenson (#42)lead St. Gabriel with 3 rebounds and Adam Starck (#23) lead LCA with 2 throughout the first half.

St. Gabriel maintained their lead, putting up 16 points throughout the second half, resulting in a 36-24 victory over LCA to advance in the tournament. The St. Gabriel victory was lead by Conner Hernan (#15) with 13 points and 5 rebounds, and Bryson Monreal (#23) with 7 points and 4 rebounds. Anthony Reali lead LCA’s efforts throughout the game with 14 points and 2 rebounds, followed by Adam Starck with 3 pints and 3 rebounds.

Bulldogs Bite Hard

By: Anna Meyer  

Both teams came out with strong defense in the first quarter of the game in eight grade girls matchup in the Morrissey Classic. Gesu struck first on the board when Mary Klug made a layup and took the 2-0 advantage over the Knights. Each team continued to pressure and finished tied 6-6 after 1 quarter. 

The back and forth play continued into the beginning moments of the second quarter of the game. Gesu was able to gradually pull away by going into halftime with a 24-9 advantage over the Knights. A majority of the points for the Bulldogs came from the duo of the Castellano sisters. Margaret Castellano scored 10 points, including two three point shots as well as three rebounds. Molly Casteallano contributed as well with six points and two rebounds for the Bulldogs. 

After halftime the Knights responded to the Bulldogs lead by striking first with a three pointer by Mia Vicchiarelli. The Bulldogs answered right after hitting a three pointer shot from Margaret Castellano, tallying her third three pointer of the afternoon. Gesu continued to pull away and lead 38-14 going into the fourth quarter, 

In the final quarter, the Knights were unable to recover from the Bulldogs advantage. The game ended with the Bulldogs defeating the Knights 45-20. 

Holy Trinity Controls Gesu in 7th Grade Action

In a seventh grade boys matchup at the Gesu Morrissey Classic, Gesu faced off against Holy Trinity at Gilmour Academy on Saturday afternoon. Early on, it looked like a back-and-forth game, with each team trading 5-0 scoring runs in the first quarter. But it was Holy Trinity who then responded with a 10-0 run and didn't look back for the remainder of the first half, jumping out to a 26-11 halftime lead. Leading the way for Holy Trinity in the first half were #0 Quinn Woidke (11 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists) and #5 Grant Washington (4 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists). Woidke had 8 points in the second quarter, including two deep three-pointers. Leading the way for Gesu were #24 Kysiah Jackson (2 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists) and #13 Billy Beck (3 points, 1 assist).

Gesu made a bit of a comeback in the second half, getting to within 8 points of Holy Trinity at one point, but it wasn't enough. Holy Trinity defeated Gesu 40-30. Leading the way once again for Holy Trinity were Quinn Woldke (15 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists) and #5 Grant Washington (6 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists) and #5 Grant Washington (6 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists). Gesu was led by #13 Billy Beck (7 points, 1 assist) and #42 Charlie Young (9 points, 4 rebounds).
--
Logan Potosky

Class of 2023; JCU Sports Information Staff

St. Raphael Stifles St. Francis

By: Luke Potosky

St. Raphael came out on fire by shooting the ball well and forcing some St. Francis turnovers. #32 Brynn Roggenburk and #23 Kayleigh McMahon led the way offensively in the first half. McMahon hit a DEEP three pointer on the right side for one of the notable buckets of the half. However, it was St. Raphael’s stifling defense that stood out. St. Francis of Assisi got on the scoreboard thanks to two Gabbie Moore (#4) free throws. #52 Sophie Georgiadis of St. Raphael hit a deep three thanks to a picket fence inbound play that was assisted by #34 Cara Heisterkamp. Roggenburk also hit a couple of shots near the end of the half to put St. Raphael up 17-2 at halftime.

In the second half, St. Raphael kept pace and shot the ball well from the perimeter and inside the free throw line. Some notable shots included Georgiadis hitting a deep three from the right side to open the half and a Heisterkamp bank shot to end the third quarter. For St. Francis, they got more players to score as Katie Puletti (#5) scored three points in less than a minute, and Lily Toth (#10) scored a fastbreak bucket and assisted to her teammate Mya Jones (#43) for another layup. Toth went on to say postgame that, “…it was a great play and she just found her.” St. Raphael kept up their stifling defense into the fourth quarter and ran all the way to victory 33-12. However, after the game, Heisterkamp said that St. Raphael wanted to, “…improve their defensive play for later in the season.”

St. Francis of Assisi team leaders included Katie Puletti (five points), Megan Palinski (six rebounds), and Lily Toth (one assist). St. Raphael team leaders included Brynn Roggenburk (11 points & three assists), Sophie Georgiadis (10 points & six rebounds), and Cara Heisterkamp (seven points & two rebounds).

Holy Trinity Wins OT Thriller

A very competitive first half ended with St. Jude holding on to a 14-13 lead over Holy Trinity. St. Jude came out of the gates firing to jump out to an early 10-4 lead. Ava Lucarotti was able to lead the early run with a pair of early baskets as well as setting her teammates up. Holy Trinity would ultimately work their way back all the way to take a 13-12 lead. This run was lead by Sarah Karabastos and Emily Stepan who combined for 11 of Holy Trinity’s first half points. However, Sam Clement would get the jumper to fall to put St. Jude ahead by one at the half. She finished the half with 8 total points.

The second half featured much of the same tough back and forth play, resulting in a 20-20 tie heading into the fourth quarter. In the fourth quarter, defense intensified as both teams held each other to just 2 points each until the 3:08 mark when Tessah Richmond was able to make a pair of free throws to put St. Jude up by 2. This would lead to more tight play down the stretch with both teams trading baskets and defensive stops. This trend would carry out to the end of the game, as this one required overtime; both teams were even at 26 to end regulation. 

 Holy Trinity was able to get some early offense and jump out to a four point lead in overtime. However, solid free throw shooting allowed St. Jude to tie the game at 33 with 10 seconds to go. The game finished in exciting fashion as Holy Trinity was able to get a Fastbreak opportunity with the clock winding down, and Sarah Karabastos was able to make the game winning layup to give Holy Trinity a 35-33 win.She would finish as the game’s leading scorer with 20 points; Sam Clement of St. Jude finished with a team high 14 points.

Holy Trinity Rolls

Right from the tip off it was a battle between Our Lady of Perpetual Help (blue) and Holy Trinity (red). Shots were not falling for either team early in the game, but aggression was seen in every corner of the court. Anthony Huttler made the first jump shot of the game, which built momentum for Holy Trinity. OLPH countered back, going into 3-2 defense. These teams went up and down the court, resulting in 18-9 as the halftime score with Holy Trinity taking the lead.

Starting the second half, Max Woidke from Holy Trinity came out on fire. He ended the game with a team high of 14 points. Josh Paul lead Our Lady of Perpetual Help in scoring with 10 points, while John Richter slammed the boards with 10 rebounds. Both teams played with passion and heart as seen by all the fans. The final score of the game was 39-24 with Holy Trinity as the victors of a hard fought battle.

Author: Ashley McCall