Schools
Ridge Falls Hard to Gill St. Bernards, 91 – 51
A physical match tested the will of both teams, but the hot shooting and full court press of Gill St. Bernards proved to be the difference.
Gill St. Bernards had four players in double figures in a dominating performance over the Ridge girl's team on Wednesday night.
Daisha Simmons controlled the offense, scoring 19. Two other players, Niiya Ruth and Dominique Vitalis also had 19, while sharp-shooter Linnett Graber could not be stopped from beyond the arc as she dropped 26 points on the Ridge defense including an outstanding six three-pointers.
Misaki Ishii led her team with 19 points but could not lead her team to victory as they fell short by 40. Other top scorers for Ridge were Sam Fama with seven, Victoria Beneventine with six and Gabi DeMarco with five.
Using a full court press from the start, St. Bernards pressured the Lady Devils into countless turnovers and many shooting mistakes, giving the Knights a 23 – 9 lead in the first quarter.
Dropping the full court press in the second, and instead concentrating on defense, Gill scored a devastating 30 points in the second quarter, as Simmons hounded the Ridge defense collecting foul shot after foul shot.
The game was intense from the start as both teams fought for every ball, capped by a short tussle on the floor for a loose ball that ended with a foul on St. Bernards, which upset the home crowd.
"The game got a little aggressive early, it turned out to be a pretty physical first half" said Gill St. Bernards head coach Mergin Sina. The intensity cooled off a little in the second half, but nothing could cool off Linnett Graber's hot hand as Simmons constantly fed her the ball in the corner as she went six from eight from the beyond the arc.
Susan Galgano fought with the Knights' Dominique Vitalis on the boards, but was not enough of a match as the much taller Vitalis eventually out-rebounded her 14 to seven.
With a 75 – 32 lead going into the fourth, Gill could relax a little in the fourth and substitute some of their starters. Gabi DeMarco proved to be a spark for the Lady Devils, coming into the game in the third and scoring all five points in the second half.
Ridge did manage to outscore St. Bernards in the fourth 19 –16 but it was too little, too late as they lost 91 – 51 to fall to 1-2 on the season. "We played very hard and I'm extremely proud of how well they played," said Ridge head coach Cheryl Stappenbeck.
