It’s tough to win a basketball game scoring just two points in a quarter. It’s even tougher when you do it against one of the best teams in the state.
Ansonia could not survive the assault unleashed Tuesday by the St. Paul Catholic Falcons, suffering a 67 – 36 defeat at home.
Ansonia hung tight with St. Paul early on, trailing 12 – 9 after the first period. All of Ansonia’s first quarter scoring came from sophomore center Rebecca Behrendt.
But the Falcons soon imposed their will, dominating like a team that had only lost one game coming into Tuesday’s contest.
The Falcons took off thanks to the efforts of Amber Litwinko and Chelsea Mone, who combined to score 15 of St. Paul’s 25 points in the decisive second stanza.
Litwinko set the pace for St. Paul, racking up 24 points, seven rebounds and four steals. Mone, daughter of St. Paul Head Coach Joseph Mone, finished with 19 points, five rebounds and five assists.
Ansonia Head Coach Patrick Lynch said he knew his team would have a challenge on its hands against a team that had previously beaten Ansonia by 16 points.
“We knew we were going to have to really step our game up and in the first half, we really didn’t,” Lynch said. “We came out all right. It was 9 – 9 and the next thing you knew, it was 27 – 11. That’s really a credit to them attacking us. That’s a good team and we just didn’t answer back.”
Ansonia was also hampered by the loss of starting freshman forward Tierney Lawlor, who left the game after landing hard on a shot attempt in the second quarter.
A major part of St. Paul’s runaway success was locking down Ansonia senior forward Kristin Mooney, who was limited to just seven points.
Lynch said that was probably the best any team has defended against the Chargers’ primary scoring threat. They also limited Behrendt to just four points for the final three quarters.
“I thought we played well defensively,” Coach Mone said. “We want to play very well defensively, we like to be aggressive and we like to keep our opponents under 40 points a game. That’s kind of our team goal. So far this year, we’ve been able to accomplish that.”
Ansonia (9 – 7) will host Kennedy at 7 p.m. Friday.
