Going into the NVL quarterfinals, everyone expected second-seeded Holy Cross would blow out the seventh-seeded Derby girls basketball team. Derby had other ideas on Saturday. managing to lead throughout the first half and staying within striking distance for 30 minutes before succumbing to host Holy Cross, 62 – 50.
The Crusaders raised their record to 18 – 3 and will play third-seeded St. Paul on Monday at Kennedy High School. The Red Raiders dropped to 10 – 11 and await their seeding in the Class S tournament (go to casciac.org on Friday), which starts on March 1.
“We played hard and it’s our best effort all year,” Derby Coach Dave Chevarella said.
Red Raider senior co-captain Mary Hyde carried the team on her 5‑foot‑4 shoulders. Despite being smaller than almost everyone on the court, Hyde was able to haul down 18 rebounds, 11 in the first half.
“I was able to do it by boxing out and I wanted to win,” Hyde said.
After grabbing the rebound on the defensive end, Hyde (16 points) frequently went coast-to-coast for layup attempts and drew contact. The only part of her game that wasn’t stellar was her free throw shooting, as she was 10 – 19 from the charity stripe in the first, 5 – 9 in the first quarter and 12 – 21 overall from the foul line.
“I just rushed the ball up the court and I wanted to score,” Hyde said. “I knew it would be a dog fight and I knew I had to do something.”
Hyde (seven assists, three steals, one tieup, one forced turnover) also deftly set up her teammates, especially in the first half where she garnered six assists. She was also a force on defense.
“We pulled together as a team and I quickly pushed the ball up to the open girl,” Hyde said. “I knew we couldn’t hesitate because if we did, they’d get in our faces.”
Junior Marissa Conte (two points, seven rebounds, three tieups) and senior Heather Smith (three points, five rebounds, one assist, one steal, one tieup, one forced turnover) benefitted from Hyde’s passes and hit layups off of them to give Derby a 6 – 0 lead.
Holy Cross got its first points with 4:34 remaining in the first quarter on junior Melissa DiNino’s 3‑point play. The Red Raiders led 16 – 13 after one quarter.
Derby controlled the second quarter courtesy of Hyde, junior Jenna Cripps and senior Tilia Gjata. Cripps (10 points, two rebounds, one assist, one tieup, one forced turnover) swished two 3‑pointers from Hyde in the first half and her second trey extended the lead to six, 21 – 15 with 5:50 left.
“We worked hard and wanted to come out with a bang,” Cripps said. “Everyone tried their best and I kind of shoot from everywhere.”
The 5 – 11 Gjata (12 points, 10 rebounds, one blocked shot) had eight points, four rebounds and a blocked shot in the first half. Gjata hit two straight layups, one from Hyde and the other from Cripps to give the Lady Red Raiders a 28 – 20 lead with 3:35 to go. Derby led 32 – 26 at the break.
“I’ve been working on my shooting in practice and it helped today,” Gjata said.
Derby was solid on defense in the first half and forced eight turnovers, 12 overall, while surviving 13 turnovers.
It was a different second half for the Red Raiders. The Crusaders picked up their press and opened the third quarter with a 9 – 0 run to take a 35 – 32 lead with 6:13 left in the third quarter. Sophomore Angelica Ariola (14 points, seven assists, seven steals) gave Holy Cross its first lead, 34 – 32 with 6:25 remaining on a coast-to-coast layup off a steal.
Cheverella then reinserted Cripps and Gjata and Derby reclaimed the lead, 36 – 35, on a Cripps jumper and two Hyde free throws. The captain drew the foul on a coast-to-coast layup attempt off a steal.
Gjata made her presence felt on defense in forcing the Lady Crusaders to miss shots and she was a force on the glass, scoring after grabbing an offensive rebound to give the Lady Red Raiders a 40 – 38 lead with 3:13 to go.
“We put our hands up and played disciplined defense,” Gjata said. “My coach told me to box out and I did.”
Hyde’s coast-to-coast layup off a defensive rebound gave Derby its last lead, 42 – 41 with 1:42 left. After Holy Cross tied it, it took the lead for good 33 seconds later on Ariola’s 3‑point play off a steal, 45 – 42 and led 47 – 44 after three quarters.
The referees had quick whistles and called 33 fouls on the Red Raiders and 21 on the Crusaders. Hyde, senior co-captain Taylor McMahon (three rebounds, one assist, one forced turnover), junior Jordyn DiMartino (five points, four rebounds, two assists, one steal, one tieup, one forced turnover), Conte and Gjata all fouled out for Derby and Cripps and Smith ended the game with four fouls each.
In fact, Hyde was whistled for two offensive fouls to send her to the bench for the duration, both in which defensive fouls should have been called, and Gjata was whistled for her fifth when Holy Cross sophomore Briana Bradford (six points) fell on a play where there was no contact.
Despite committing 23 second half turnovers, 36 overall, and Hyde being disqualified with 5:38 left in the game, the Lady Red Raiders still had a pulse with 1:59 to go and trailed, 55 – 50. That’s when Lady Crusader senior Devon Diliberto traveled and a foul was called on Derby. Chevarella protested and was whistled for a technical foul. Diliberto (18 points) was 2 – 4 from the line and then added two more free throws after Holy Cross was awarded the ball because of the technical.
Overall, Derby was 16 – 48 from the field, 2 – 3 from 3‑point land and 16 – 29 from the foul line. Holy Cross was 16 – 79 from the field, 2 – 23 from 3‑point land and 28 – 50 from the free throw line.
Junior Sabrina Lappost (two points, seven rebounds, one assist, one forced turnover) also contributed for the Red Raiders, who are looking forward to the Class S tournament. When the two teams met Dec. 15 at Holy Cross, the Crusaders won, 70 – 27.
“We lost our composure in the second half and we can’t let it happen,” Chevarella said. “If we can play with this effort in States, we’ll be OK.”
