By Joseph Staszewski
Immaculate Conception guard Kelcey Castro dribbled up the floor and shook Amani Tatum with a quick crossover, leaving the Molloy guard fallen on the hardwood floor. The mostly pro-New Jersey crowd let out oohs and ahhs and Castro buried a three-pointer from the top of the key.
But it was Tatum who made the noise after that.
“It was like a wake-up, like let’s go, the game has started,” she said. “Let’s get it together.”
Tatum scored 11 of Molloy’s next 17 points, including two three-point plays and a conventional trey to give her team a lead it would not relinquish early in the second quarter. She put all of her offensive game on display during a 27-point performance to help lead the Stanners to an impressive 67-56 basketball win over Immaculate Conception (Lodi, N.J.) at a New Year’s Resolution at John F. Kennedy HS in Paterson N.J., Sunday.
It was the second straight stellar performance for her after scoring 17 against Mary Louis Jan. 4.
“I was more impressed that she didn’t go down the floor and try to do the same thing,” Molloy Coach Scott Lagas said. “She was able to turn it up a notch without just going back and playing that show-up kind of game.”
The Stanners put on quote a performance as a team in the third quarter, this time with Tatum as a distributor, during a game-changing 11-0 run. She fed Kamille Ejerta (seven points) for a basket and the foul in transition, and found Nyasha Irizarry, who had 18 points, for an easy two on the block. Tatum has had to take over more point guard duties after Alexa “Weazel” Dietrich missed the first two months of the season due to injury.
“She runs the team now,” Lagas said. “She is more than just a quick girl who can drive to the basket.”
Tatum then converted a three-point play of her own and Irizarry finished the spurt with a long jumper from the right side to make it 42-26 with 5:34 left in the third quarter. Carolyn Gallagher added seven points as Molloy (8-2) outscored Immaculate Conception (2-4) 21-9 in the frame.
“I guess this game I got to show everything,” Tatum said. “It just happened. I didn’t think to much. I let the game come to me.”
Samantha Fuehring, a 6-foot-1 freshman post led Immaculate Conception with 19 points and Castro had 16, but just two over the second and third quarters. Utshana Durham and Jessie Jamin gave the Stanners a lift defensively off the bench. Immaculate Conception got as close as 60-54 with 1:45 left in the game, but Molloy was able to make enough free throws down the stretch to seal the win, easier than it did against Mary Louis.
“We are playing like we should be playing,” Tatum said. “We are definitely not looking back from here.”
