Sports

Francomano’s big third quarter lifts Villa over Maria Regina

Nicole Francomano had needed some encouragement in her first season on the varsity. The St. John Villa junior pass-first point guard was the JV’s best player the last two seasons, but has needed to be reminded that it’s alright to look for her own shot instead of always creating others.

“That is one of the things we talked about with her,” Villa coach Liz Blanchard said. “If they are allowing you to shoot, you have to let them know you are a shooter and you are comfortable shooting because some people don’t know her yet.”

They might now.

Francomano heeded her coaches advice after Maria Regina trimmed the Bears lead to two early in the third quarter. She responded by scoring 13 of her career-high 22 points in the third, 18 in all in the half, to lead St. John Villa to a 53-43 win over Maria Regina in a CHSAA Archdiocesan girls basketball crossover at St. John Villa Sunday. Katie Nikosey had 15 points and 10 rebounds and Brittany Sullivan added eight points and eight rebounds.

“We had a good lead and it got a little smaller,” Francomano said. “I figured if I had the shots to take it and they started going in.”

She stared a 9-2 spurt with a driving layup and a steal of an inbounds pass that led to two made free throws. Francomano capped the quarter with a 3-pointer from the top of the key that she took wide open without hesitation. It helped give Villa a 41-30 lead heading into the forth.

“Nicole lit it up,” Nikosey said. “She was on fire. She just kept shooting.”

It was the senior, though, who helped ensure her efforts didn’t go to waste. Maria Regina went on an 8-0 run as Villa (1-2) wasn’t getting out to shooters to cut the lead to 44-42 with 3:38 left in the fourth quarter. Sullivan connected on a jumper and then made one of two free throws. Luckily, Nikosey jumped into the paint, grabbed the rebound and scored on a putback to put Villa up 49-42 with 1:54 left in the game. It was the epitome of how the Bears rebounded all game. Tara McNally scored 12 points for Maria Regina (1-2).

“I was just ready for that rebound” Nikosey said. “I had my feet set. I just said, ‘I am getting this rebound. We are not losing this game.’”

It was the Bears’ first win after lopsided losses to Holy Trinity and Bishop Kearney to open the season.

“Our team needs to stay positive,” Nikosey said. “This was definitely the best team effort we had at the start of the season. Everyone came out strong.”