Notre Dame Academy entered what coach Tom Cavanagh calls the “No Reversal Zone.” The Gators coach watched his squad’s ball movement go stagnant in the second quarter as they settled for contested jumpers and were losing the battle on the boards to Blessed Sacrament.
“We were dribbling too much,” senior Meghan O’Keefe said. “They were trapping up top. We had to reverse the ball and we weren’t. We couldn’t put it on the floor.”
NDA came out with a renewed focus after halftime and the ball moved from player to player like a pin ball bouncing off bumpers and flippers. No one benefitted more than sophomore Alyssa Carlsen. She scored 10 of her career-high 17 points, including three 3-pointers, in the third quarter to allow Notre Dame to pull away.
“That’s Alyssa,” O’Keefe said. “That is the reason [Cavanagh] took her. She can shoot the lights out and we know it, so we set her up.”
The Gators survived a late Blessed Sacrament run and held on for a 68-58 win in a CHSAA Archdiocesan girls basketball crossover at St. Joseph Hill Sunday afternoon. O’Keefe scored 10 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, Ashley Iannacone dropped in 16 and had 10 boards. Cheryl Lopez added 10 points.
“Once I hit one or two, I just felt the emotion,” Carlsen said.
Added Cavanagh: “She can go on a streak.”
Carlsen hit back-to-back jumpers from the left corner as the ball swung around. She then knocked down two 3-pointers, including one to beat the buzzer from the right side to end the third quarter. Notre Dame (2-1) outscored Blessed Sacrament 19-5 in the third to take a 47-30 lead. O’Keefe and Iannacone cleaned up any misses.
“That felt amazing,” Carlsen said of beating the horn.
Blessed Sacrament (5-2) bothered Note Dame Academy with the press in the fourth. Guards Linda Fields (32 points) and Ayanna Benagen, who scored 10 points, started creating turnovers and knocking down shots during a 7-0 run that cut the Gators’ lead to 52-46 with 3:53 left in the game. Cavanagh said he is running a point guard by committee right now, with Amanda Ippolito seeing the majority of time. NDA eventually adjusted to the pressure.
“We try to get our nerves down when they press,” O’Keefe said.
Notre Dame settled down and again move the ball crisply though the press during a 7-1 run capped by a Lopez 3-pointer to put Blessed Sacrament away.
“Our offense has to key on ball movement,” Cavanagh said. “We have to get out of the No Reversal Zone.”