Guerin Catholic’s Lorigrace Rockwood scored eight points for the Golden Eagles’ during their win over Lafayette Central Catholic. (Mike Navarro)
By CRAIG ADKINS
For The Reporter
NOBLESVILLE – The Friday, Dec. 19 varsity doubleheader got off to a great start for the Guerin Catholic girls basketball team.
The Golden Eagles jumped out early and kept Lafayette Central Catholic at a distance for a majority of the game, dominating the visiting Knights, 50-19, to hoist the Bishop’s Cup.
Guerin started off on an 8-0 run with two Lorigrace Rockwood free throws, a Dana Dues jumper from the right elbow and a pair of Cecilia Titus buckets. That forced the Knights to burn a full timeout.
“Even though all of these kids are new, they know what this has been like,” said Guerin Catholic head coach Danielle Cardinal. “Every time we’ve gone to LCC, it’s been an absolutely murderous game and not played well. This meant a lot to this group and it’s a step forward for our program.”
In the overall series, Central Catholic owns a 10-1 record and owned a 10-game winning streak against the Golden Eagles, prior to this meeting. Guerin Catholic got its lone win over the Knights on Jan. 31, 2014 (66-63).
The closest LCC got was 12-8 in the last couple minutes of the first. Guerin led 19-8 after one and didn’t look back.
The second quarter was tight, but great ball movement and solid rebounding helped propel the Golden Eagles to a 31-15 lead at halftime.
“They always have a little bit of nerves before we start,” added Cardinal. “I think once we got into that press and they saw how well it was working, they felt great about it and it changed the dynamic immediately. It also changed LCC’s dynamic and they immediately got back on their heels and got nervous.”
Rebounding and second chance opportunities were a big part of this win. Guerin had unofficially 23 offensive rebounds, which made Central Catholic work even harder on defense.
The Golden Eagles outscored the Knights 9-4 in the third to push it to 40-19. They were 5-for-6 at the foul line in the frame and also got their two field goals on offensive rebound putbacks from Ella Horvath and Delanie Cardinal.
“He doesn’t put stats on MaxPreps, so it’s hard to know who does what,” stated Cardinal. “Then what ends up happening is, you watch an insane amount of film. And by watching that film, we start to be able to adjust things. I think for us that was a benefit.”
Cardinal’s squad wound up having to watch a lot of film to figure out how to defend Central Catholic and it paid dividends.
“We knew what to expect. I think the girls really locked in and they did a great job,” Cardinal continued.
The Golden Eagles shut out Central Catholic 10-0 in the fourth for the rout of the Knights.
Cecilia Titus had 13 to pace Guerin. Lorigrace Rockwood had eight, followed by Caroline Ford and Lillian Berhle each with six off of the bench.
Guerin Catholic is playing the tough field at Richmond’s Casey Pohlenz Memorial Tournament on Dec. 22 and 23.
“We’re actually going to spend the night, which will be really fun. We haven’t done that ever as a program. Win or lose, there are great teams on both sides of the bracket,” Cardinal added. “Regardless of what happens with us on Monday, we are scheduled to face some serious competition. I think it’s a good test for these kids getting ready for sectional.”
