By Marc Raimondi
Bob Mackey knew there would be two ways the rest of the season could have gone after his Christ the King girls' basketball team lost its first CHSAA Brooklyn/Queens Diocesan championship in 23 years Sunday against Archbishop Molloy.
The Royals would head to the CHSAA Class A state semifinals, instead of the Catholic 'AA' state tournament they made 17 seasons in a row before last year. With a state title left to play for, albeit in a lower classification, Mackey feared the worst.
“They're kids, they're teenagers,” the coach said. “They've probably just been handed one of the worst losses in 24 years – older than every single one of them, thank goodness. They can't fathom it. It's a big thing to them.”
So before practice Tuesday, Mackey gathered the team together and handed all his players sheets of paper. On them they were supposed to write the five most regrettable things about this season. When they were done, Mackey tucked all the lists into a box and taped it up, so the regrets could be forgotten.
Christ the King seemingly left all those misgivings behind in a 70-56 win against St. John Villa on Wednesday night in the CHSAA Class A state semifinals at the College of Staten Island. CK will play Long Island 'A' champion Holy Trinity in the finals Saturday at Hofstra University at 3 p.m. for the right to go to the state Federation tournament in Glens Falls.
“It was hard to want to play some of the time,” junior Geleisa George said. “But when you know you can go for a championship – no matter what it is – you still go hard for it.”
The Royals had perhaps their most balanced attack of the season. Freshman Bria Smith, the team's usual leading scorer, had only the third-best point total against the Bears. George had 20 points and junior Tahira Johnson had 17. Smith had 16 points and senior point guard Jael Pena had 12.
“That was a nice change,” Mackey said.
Christ the King came back from a 14-9 first-quarter deficit to lead, 27-20, at halftime and took control of the game in the third quarter with a 9-0 run. St. John Villa cut the lead to 58-49 in the fourth quarter led by Hofstra-bound senior Nicole Capurso, who had 20 of her 24 points in the second half. But the Royals kept the intensity, going on a 5-0 run after the Bears cut their deficit to nine points.
“That was a gut check to see if the girls were ready to step up,” Mackey said. “They could have easily folded and said, 'Listen, I'm not going to do it. We're tired, we don't wanna do it.' They stepped up. They didn't quit. I'm very proud of them.”
Johnson put the Molloy loss at the top of her list of regrets, above being tentative in recovering from her knee injury, the Royals' disappointing performance at the Tournament of Champions in December, internal team issues and every other loss CK attained this tumultuous season.
Although Johnson said her team is focused on winning the 'A' state Federation title, the Royals won't be able to forget they were the team that allowed the long division winning streak to end.
“We would have rather beaten Molloy and lost in the 'AA' championship game,” Johnson said.
But no more regrets. George and Johnson both said they wanted to burn the regrets box and its contents right there on the floor of their Middle Village gymnasium. But Mackey wouldn't let them. It's currently sitting in a closet in the coach's office.
“He said we'll keep it,” George said, “just in case we need a reminder.”
Reach Associate Sports Editor Marc Raimondi by e-mail at mraimondi@timesledger.com or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 130.
