By Dylan Butler
There isn’t anywhere Amanda LoCascio and Candice Lindsay would rather be than on the bench at the end of a Christ the King girls’ basketball game. That’s because the odds are the Royals are wrapping up yet another blowout win.
Such was the case Saturday night at Christ the King when the Royals romped Catherine McAuley, the defending Class A state champion from Maine, 89-42.
“If we’re on the bench at the end of the game, that means we’ve done our job,” said LoCascio, a George Washington-signee who had a game-high nine assists. “We’re the starters and it’s our job to get things going and I know that when we’re on the bench it means we got done what we needed to do.”
Against Catherine McAuley, the latest undefeated team to fall to Christ the King, LoCascio and Co. wasted little time, jumping out to an 18-3 lead on Shay Doron’s fade-away foul line jumper while getting fouled.
Lindsay, in particular, was on fire early on. The Fairfield-bound forward, one of seven Royals’ seniors to commit to a Division I school, scored 11 of her game-high 25 points in the first quarter to help her team get out in front, 24-9 after the opening eight minutes.
“It felt real good,” Lindsay said of the Royals’ explosive start. “We wanted to come out ready and focused.”
In its first game since beating three nationally ranked teams to win the prestigious Nike Tournament of Champions in Arizona, Christ the King was especially dangerous defensively. The team’s active hands led to 12 steals — six by Doron — which usually ended up being uncontested layups on the other end.
On one such steal-layup combination, Nakejia Kelly gave the Royals a 48-20 halftime lead.
“We’ve been working really hard on defense, that’s been the key to the success we’ve had,” said Christ the King coach Bob Mackey. “The interior defense in particular was very good tonight. They did a great job on their post players.”
Boston College-bound Sarah Marshall led McAuley (5-1) with a very quiet 12 points, while Regina Champagne added 10 for the Lions, who defeated The Mary Louis Academy Friday night at Christ the King.
Carrem Gay had 12 points and nine rebounds and George Washington-bound Corrine Turner and James Madison-signee Lesley Dickinson added 10 points apiece for No. 2 Christ the King, which will likely be the top-ranked team in the country when the USAToday Super 25 rankings are released Jan. 8.
“I was surprised. I knew we played well in Arizona but I didn’t think we played that well,” said Mackey, who was able to use all 17 of his players. “We went deep on our bench and we kept coming at them, it was nice to see.”
After hosting the Breck School (Minn.) Friday night at 6 p.m., Christ the King faces another undefeated team in Archbishop Molloy Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
Francis Lewis 58, St. Michael’s 54. Natasha Page had 15 points and nine rebounds, Teresa Rozza scored 13 points and Alana Adams added 11 points and even boards to lead Francis Lewis (12-0) Saturday at St. John’s University. Mia Marcus netted a game-high 23 points to lead St. Michael’s (5-1).
Massapequa 51, St. Francis Prep 48. Susan Divald scored 13 points for St. Francis Prep, which led 38-30 at the end of the third quarter Saturday at St. John’s. Linda Sapanski scored 10 of her 16 points in the fourth quarter for Massapequa, which went on a 20-6 run. Brittney Messina scored a game-high 18 points, including a three-pointer with 50 seconds to put Massapequa up, 49-47.
Molloy 65, Norristown (Pa.) 48. Jessica McEntee scored 23 points and Annamarie Ciorciari added 16 points for Molloy (9-0), which rallied from a 12-2 first quarter deficit in the Future Stars Christmas Tournament in West Chester, Pa. Friday.
Catherine McAuley 74, Mary Louis 54. Liz Strein had 18 points and Erin Breen added 14 for Mary Louis (1-7), which was without its top two post players, Carol-Jean Kavanaugh (injury) and Liz Flynn (personal reasons) Friday at Christ the King. Center Vanessa Lux led McAuley with 20 points from the low post and Marshall added 18 points.
Reach Associate Sports Editor Dylan Butler by email at TimesLedger@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 143.
