To put it bluntly, the state playoffs are a crapshoot. With every team, many of whom haven’t seen one another during the season, gunning for one another, each game presents a new and unique challenge. The pressure to win well and with flair is on the top seeds, and many aren’t able to live up to it.
East Catholic had scored the biggest upset in the Class LL tournament to date when the Eagles, a No. 15 seed, had beaten second-seeded Lauralton Hall in the second round. Seemingly every tournament, a lower-seeded school goes on a great run, and East Catholic looked capable of being that team. To justify their No. 10 seed, Mercy needed to end the Eagles run and thus establish themselves as one of the top contenders for the Class LL championship. And they did. Last night, East Catholic ran into a Tigers team that is on a mission to win a state championship.
Propelled by a strong third quarter, Mercy defeated East Catholic 46-32 at home last night. The Tigers featured very balanced scoring, as five players had five or more points.
Early in the first quarter it appeared like that dreaded upset could happen. East Catholic led 9-4 in the quarter as its aggressive defense gave Mercy fits. The Tigers closed the deficit to one at the end of the quarter, and after trailing by one midway through the second, scored the last five points of the quarter to take a 19-15 lead into halftime.
The third quarter was all Mercy. They found their shot and outscored East Catholic 13-4 in the quarter. A consistent theme on offense as the Tigers built up their lead was the squad’s ability to earn points in transition. By forcing the Eagles into quick and unsuccessful offensive possessions Mercy was able to answer with open layups and jump shots. With every made transition basket off of a missed shot or turnover, you could see East Catholic’s frustration and lack of confidence becoming palpable.
“We did a strong job of rebounding in their matchup zone in the second half,” said Mercy head coach Tim Kohs. “Off those rebounds we were able to get the ball to players who were offensive minded and they found some nice shots. Once we got the tempo going in our favor we were able to control the game.”
I was especially happy with the play of (junior forward) Liz Falcigno,” Kohs said. “She gave us a huge spark in the third quarter. She’s a strong shooter and when she hit a few shots at the beginning of the third, it helped to soften up the defense for everyone.”
After only leading by four at the half, Mercy took stretched their lead as big as 41-23 before East Catholic was able to pick up a couple harmless baskets near the end of the game.
The Tigers were strong on defense for the entire 32 minutes. Mercy never allowed East Catholic to look comfortable on offense and rarely allowed the Eagles to run offensive sets. Only one Eagle scored more than 6 points.
“I thought we played very good defense,” stated Kohs. “Landy (Sheena) and Fitzpatrick (Maura) did a great job of shutting down Nicole Ferguson, who’s her best player. They kept forcing her into tough shots.”
Mercy has now won each tournament game by at least 14 points.
The Tigers will face No. 6Manchester in the semifinals. The matchup will be at Sheehan High on Friday at 7:45.
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