St. Saviour was mounting a wild rally. Pandas senior post Alyson Caiazzo was completely dominating the game. St. John’s Prep looked headed for a fourth devastating league loss.
And all Red Storm star guard LaShonda Hathorne could do was watch.
“I was going crazy,” the senior Division I prospect said.
Hathorne picked up her fourth foul midway through the third quarter and didn’t re-enter the game until the fourth. When she did, she made sure her team would leave the gym with a key victory. Hathorne had 13 of her 23 points in the fourth quarter to lead St. John’s Prep to a 49-48 win over St. Saviour in CHSAA Brooklyn/Queens Division II girls basketball Monday night in Astoria.
“I thought I had to take over,” Hathorne said. “And I thought that if I didn’t take over we were gonna lose the game. I knew I couldn’t pout about my fouls or anything. I had to worry about my team and not myself.”
But she was relegated to little more than a cheerleader with 3:38 left in the third. Hathorne fouled Caiazzo on the baseline for her fourth of the game and SJP coach Ed Flood removed her. Less than a minute later, Red Storm 6-foot-2 center Jen Miller got her fourth foul and she took a seat as well.
That opened the door for Caiazzo and St. Saviour (6-5, 6-3 B/Q). The Pandas went on a 16-1 run after Hathorne was taken out and took a 33-32 lead into the fourth quarter. Caiazzo, who was relentless inside, had eight of her 18 points during the stretch.
“She was unstoppable,” Flood said.
That’s a also solid way to describe Hathorne in the fourth quarter. She put St. John’s (4-3, 4-3) back up 34-33 right away with a tough driving layup at the 7:21 mark of the fourth quarter. After Saviour went ahead 41-38 with 3:57 left on a Lilly Bradley basket, Miller knocked down a short jumper after a pretty post move and Hathorne reeled off seven straight SJP points to give the Red Storm a 47-43 lead with 1:18 left. The final three of those were free throws after she was fouled behind the arc.
The Pandas weren’t done yet, though. Alexis James hit a pair of free throws with a minute left to get Saviour within 47-45 and, after two more Hathorne free throws, Kathleen Hachmeyer drilled a clutch 3-pointer with 24 seconds to go that got her team within 49-48.
On the other end, Caroline Souza (nine points) missed two free throws giving St. Saviour a chance to win. But Miller forced a tieup and Jennifer Walsh stole the ensuing inbounds pass to seal the St. John’s Prep victory. It could be a massive one with first-place and undefeated Fontbonne Hall on the schedule Wednesday.
“It might be big for the playoffs as far as seeding,” Flood said. “Now we have to go play Fontbonne. We’ll see what happens.”
Miller, a Stella Maris refugee, finished with 12 points and held her own against Caiazzo when she wasn’t on the bench. In the teams’ first meeting, Saviour won and Caiazzo had a fine performance.
“We told her last time we played them, she showed you up,” Hathorne said. “Now it’s your turn. You just have to play and don’t think about it.”
Kind of like what Hathorne did once she got back into the game. The 5-foot-8 speedy lefty was impressive with coaches from NJIT and Adelphi in the gym. She knocked down a pair of 3-pointers and finished inside strongly. Hathorne has interest from those two schools as well as Robert Morris and Dominican College.
But Monday she was just happy to get back into the game.
“I felt like we couldn’t do anything and I saw the lead just going down,” Hathorne said. “I just tried to stay positive and help my team anyway I can while I was on the bench.”