Katie Pulido scored seven points as St. Francis Prep dropped its fourth straight game. (Damion Reid)
It was St. Francis Prep that inspired Molloy coach Tom Catalanotto to experiment in the first place.
He sent struggling Mount St. Mary’s-bound guard Kelly Guerriero to the bench and inserted hard-nosed Kathryn Edwards, feeling it was the best way to match an opponent without a true post player. The changes have since sparked a string of good play from the Stanners as their defense, speed and ball movement has improved.
“It gets the game going,” Binghamton-bound forward Kyra Aloizos said. “It gets everyone moving. It’s better for our team just because it get everyone involved.”
The effects were again on display against the Terriers. No. 4 Molloy turned up its half-court defense and got out in transition in the third quarter to pull away for a 50-34 win over host No. 5 St. Francis Prep in the CHSAA Brooklyn/Queens Division I girls basketball quarterfinals Tuesday night. They advance to face top-seeded Christ the King 6 p.m. Thursday at Bishop Ford in the semifinals.
“It really gets to them,” freshman guard Amani Tatum said of her team’s quickness. “When we get into them, they get frustrated. You hear them yelling on the court.”
Kyra Aloizos scored the game’s first 10 points and finished with 16 for Molloy (11-14). Tatum added 10 points, Marielle Duryea had six and Guerriero added five. Meghan Erdman led St. Francis Prep (11-11) with nine points, Katie Pulido had seven and Jenna Halaby six. SFP had dropped four straight and lost all three meetings with Molloy.
The Terriers trailed 10-0 at the start, but went on an 11-0 run to take an 11-10 lead after the first quarter and trailed just 22-20 at the half. Molloy answered with an 8-0 burst, capped by an Edwards jumper off an inbound pass to take a 32-22 lead with 2:58 left in the third quarter.
“On one play they have four or five options,” SFP coach JoAnn Wagner said of her team’s offense. “We got suckered into going in and forcing shots in the lane. We lost the team flow.”
Guerriero then made sure St. Francis Prep, which began to struggle from the perimeter, couldn’t make another comeback. She scored all five of her points during a 10-3 Molloy spurt that gave it a 44-29 lead with 2:53 left to play in the game.
“I’m doing this for her for next year,” Catalanotto said. “I can win with her in there, but I think this is going to show her what the college is level is going to be like. If she doesn’t defend, she won’t play.”
Since the change the Stanners have won four of their last five heading into a date with the Royals. Molloy lost a tight one early in the season at home, but were handled recently in its trip to Middle Village.
“I’m excited to play CK again,” Aloizos said. “We have to control Ariel [Edwards] and Bria [Smith]. We just have to box out and play well and just play our game.”
That seems to be working lately.