Nazareth celebrate their victory over Moore Catholic. (William Thomas)
It was no time for a letdown and Ron Kelley made sure his Nazareth team knew it.
The co-coach got off the bench to start the fourth quarter with his team up 11 after three quarters and starting to surge and continuously yelled, “Let’s get it done! Let’s get done!” as he walked down the sideline.
It brought much of the school’s fans to their feet at Christ the King. One of late coach Apache Paschall’s goals was within reach.
“It inspired us,” junior guard Sadie Edwards said. “It motivated us. I think we came out in the beginning of the fourth quarter just ready to stick a fork in them and just end it.”
Nationally ranked Nazareth continued a 20-0 run over the third and fourth quarters, including 3-pointers from Edwards, Brianna Butler and Destini Feagin, to secure the school’s second straight CHSAA Class AA state girls basketball title.
The Lady Kingmen beat Moore Catholic, 68-46, in the title game Saturday in Middle Village and advance to Albany to defend their state Federation crown in two weeks. They will be joined by their boys team, which rallied to win the CHSAA Class B state crown earlier in the day in a year where the school announced it will close in June.
“It was do or die,” Kelley said. “And they brought it.”
His words and the win completed a week of preparation and refocusing for Nazareth (18-3), which lost to Bishop Ford late in the year and was knocked off by Christ the King in the Brooklyn/Queens semifinals. Kelley said he and fellow coach Lauren Best showed the team a video of Paschall, who died in January from cardiac arrest, talking about how much he loved his players. They wanted to remind them of how proud he would be of them.
“He wanted us to win,” sophomore Bianca Cuevas said. “It means a lot for him. It does mean a lot for us.”
Added Kelley: “When we win games like this and we win championships. I always think about him first.”
Edwards led all scorers with 21 points, Cuevas had 19 and the Syracuse-bound Butler added 11 points. Jamie O’Hare tallied 17 points and Christina Rubin had 13 for Archdiocesan champion Moore Catholic (22-6). Gabriella Rubin and Taylor Robertson each chipped in eight. Kelley applauded the play of Feagin on O’Hare, who hit a 3 to cut the Nazareth lead to 40-34 with 2:53 left in the third.
But by the time the Lady Kingsmen’s run was over it was 60-34 with 5:13 remaining in the fourth. The usually hot-shooting Mavericks were held without a field goal until an O’Hare three-point play with 2:48 remaining in the game. Moore had a great run to the final, upsetting Bishop Ford and beating Archbishop Molloy in Briarwood in the semifinals. Mavericks coach Rich Postiglione said he felt Nazareth wore his team down a bit and is really tough to beat when they shoot well from the perimeter.
“I feel bad for our kids,” he said. “I’m proud of our kids, but I’m happy for [Nazareth]. Some of these kids are going on a second school closing. They have had a very difficult year with their coach.”
Playing for Paschall and completing the mission he put forth when the year began has been a rallying cry all season, especially this week and soon enough in Albany. It’s a journey the players believe he is taking with them still.
“We know that he is somewhere looking down on us,” Edwards said. “He’s going to be proud of us. I think winning this game and winning this season for him, that’s everything that he would ever want and everything that we want.”