By Joseph Staszewski
Christ the King lauded its depth in the preseason and put it on display in its opener.
The Royals girls’ basketball team had eight of the 11 players who saw the court score in a 60-44 win over visiting Moore Catholic in a CHSAA crossover game Sunday night. The Mavericks, which have just nine players on its roster, ended CK’s season last year in the Catholic state quarterfinals. This time Christ the King was able to grind out a win.
“They didn’t have a lot of bodies,” Royals forward Kollyns Scarbrough said. “We took that to our advantage. Our game plan was to run, run and run and make sure everybody is tired.”
Her team trailed Moore 26-22 at the half with Duke-bound star Sierra Calhoun in foul trouble. The senior wing and her team came alive after the break. They ripped off a 13-3 run over the third and fourth quarters to take a 46-34 lead with 6:15 left in the game.
“When the ball moves, that’s how people get open shots and we don’t have to force anything,” Caldwell-bound guard Kristen Drogsler said.
Calhoun scored 10 of her 12 points in the second half, to go along with seven rebounds, seven assists and five steals. Scarbrough, headed to Siena, scored 12 points and Dominique Toussaint added 11. Shannon Barrett and Sydney Zambrotta also scored during the game-changing spurt. Gabriella Rubin paced Moore with 18 points.
“We always knew that we were really deep, but we wanted to see how we played in a game,” Scarbrough said.
The second half was a refreshing sight for Royals Coach Bob Mackey. He saw his bench propel his team to victory after shaking off a slow start.
“We got after it,” Mackey said. “We just weren’t going to setting for just coming down and looking at open threes.”
St. Francis Prep 37, St. John Villa 34: Sofia Recupero scored nine of her game-high 13 points in the fourth quarter and grabbed 15 rebounds for St. Francis Prep (1-0). She got off to slow start, but a three-point play to open the final frame gave her the confidence she needed. Recupero handed the Terriers (1-0) their first lead with a steal and a layup to make it 29-28 with 3:11 left to play.
“I just fed off of that,” Recupero said.
Villa got within 33-30 late, but a Recupero layup and two right corner jumpers from Monica Zhivanaj put the game away. Kayla Hourany, who fouled out, scored 11 points for the Terriers and Dorothy O’Neill led Villa with nine.
“I wish we would have won by a lot more and I really think we could have, but it’s still a win and it’s going to feed onto more,” Recupero said.
