A Valentine’s Day win was not in the cards for Christ the King (CTK), as the Lady Royals fell, 52-49, to St. John Vianney in Middle Village on Saturday, February 13.
CTK failed to execute in the non-league girls basketball game, turning the ball over four straight times late in the fourth. But it was not for lack of effort, as the girls made a last gasp attempt at tying the score in the closing seconds.
Senior forward Ariel Edwards sunk a three-pointer with 6.2 seconds remaining to pull her team within three, but after the Royals regained possession on a scramble for the ball, their inbounds passed was tipped as time expired.
Lancers coach Dawn Karpell said that she did not think Edwards would pull the trigger on a three-pointer in that spot, but was not surprised that she sunk it.
“She killed us with that three at the end,” said Carpel. “I was not expecting her to take that shot. She has shown great improvement in the years we have played against her.”
CTK (17-5) outscored their opponents 15-6 in the second quarter, but St. John Vianney answered with a 7-0 run to start the third. This fast-paced start to the quarter gave the Lancers the lead heading into the fourth.
Junior guard Missy Repoli scored a game-high 20 points for Lancers (19-2), while junior point guard Jackie Kates chipped in 10 points, six assists and four steals.
Edwards, recently selected as a Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) All-American, scored 12 points as junior forward Nia Oden led CTK with 15 points in defeat.
Royals’ coach Bob Mackey had many contentious exchanges with the referees throughout the game, but none more glaring than in the final seconds. Mackey wanted a dead-ball foul called against the Lancers as the Royals tried for a last second inbounds pass. When the call did not come, Mackey exclaimed to the ref, “That’s a tape you are going to see!” before he slammed a basketball into its bin and took his team off the court.
St. John Vianney coach Karpell had a much more subdued view of the officiating; calling it questionable on both ends, while crediting both teams for their hard-nosed style.
“There were a lot of calls that could have gone either way,” said Karpell. “These are two tough teams that got after each other pretty hard. It was a see-saw, back and forth affair.”
