All Saints and St. Pius X began the game with a photo of both teams together symbolizing the friendships that have been built over the years in competitions between the teams. The gesture was a tribute to both programs.
All Saints sunk a 3 pointer to get the game started and the two teams were off to the races. St. Pius outscored the Ramblers by 2 to end the first quarter. In the second quarter, All Saints tightened their game, held onto the ball and ended the half ahead by 7.
The third quarter saw the Panthers claw their way back and tie the game with 2 minutes left in the quarter. St. Pius X took the lead after a 30 second timeout with Coach Ted Stark. St. Pius went ahead until All Saints tied it back up with 20 seconds to go then sunk a three pointer at the buzzer for a 3 point lead going into the fourth.
In the fourth quarter, “The Game”, All Saints went ahead by 6 while St. Pius X continued to work away at the deficit. With four minutes left the Panthers cut the lead by 2. Lauren for the Panthers sunk a three to bring it within 1 then All Saints sunk another deuce to keep a three-point margin. Alexa drew a foul but could not convert any points then fouled on the rebound leading to Panther free throws. With two minutes left, Lauren made one of two and All Saints got the rebound. Emma went back to the free throw line for the Panthers, made one and it was All Saints ball, one point difference.
The panthers stole the ball and headed down the court scoring two to put St. Pius ahead by 1. Pius played catch till fouled with 20 seconds left in the game. Zea missed the first, sunk the second and All Saints again could not hold onto the ball giving it up to Pius and fouling to keep the game alive. Samantha goes to the line and sinks one, misses one now a three point lead and Lauren goes to the line for Piux. She misses both her free throws and All Saints cannot get the ball to the other end of the court to score. St. Pius X wins the 8th grade girls championship by three in a great game.
All Saints led the contest by a margin of 5 by the end of the first quarter. St. Anthony won the regular season contest between the clubs. In the second half, the Hawkes fought their way back to tie the game at 18 all as All Saints took a 2-point lead into the half.
The second half opened with Seth from All Saints connecting on a 3 point and immediately blocking the shot of the Hawkes and getting the ball. Ben from St. Anthony connected on a three pointer to keep the Hawkes close. The third quarter ended with a 1 point difference favoring the Ramblers.
The fourth quarter was the “game” and with under three minutes St. Anthony took the lead for the first time and there were 5 lead changes until St. Anthony sunk a three pointer and added a point on the foul. With 29 seconds in the game, the Hawkes lead by 5 points. With 17.2 to go, the Ramblers put in a three pointer to cut the deficit to 2. All Saints gave it their best shot in the last few seconds but could not get the ball to drop in the hoop.
St. Anthony, undefeated in regular season play came out to a quick lead shooting and scoring to end the quarter with a 12-point lead. The Cardinals found their stride in the second quarter but could not match the scoring of the Hawkes. The quarter finished with a 21-point favor to the Hawkes.
In the second half, the Hawkes continued to dominate and show a lot of excellent skills that made them this year’s championship team. The Cardinals gave a wonderful effort in the contest today.
A balanced game through the first quarter into the second half when the Panthers outscored the Bulldogs finishing the half with an 8-point lead. The Panthers owned the second half with the Bulldogs never giving up. Trailing by 20, the Bulldogs had tenacity but not the ability to pull out a win today.
Quarter 1:
Quarter 2: St. Pius X 19 – St. Thomas More 11
Quarter 3: St. Pius X 29 – St. Thomas More 19
Quarter 4: St. Pius X 47 – St. Thomas More 27 FINAL
Exciting first quarter with a lot of good play between the teams, evenly matched with a quarter ending score of 10-10.
St. Clare went ahead by ten in the third quarter. St. Pius X fought their way back in the fourth quarter. With 1:20 left in the game the Panthers, Chase, sunk a 3 pointer to go ahead by 2.
Basketball Commissioner, Steve Mueller set the stage as he announced the CYO 8th grade Girls Basketball championship beginning with team names. He made the calls throughout the game giving the kids a sense of true championship and it was very special for all of the players.
Valley Catholic and St. Rose both had an enthusiastic start playing each other toe to toe in the first quarter. Valley Catholic made some fast break points immediately in the top of the second quarter and outscored St. Rose 12 to 2.
In the second half. In the third quarter the scoring was balanced for both teams. The Valliant’s outdistanced the Hawks in the fourth quarter with a final score of 44 – 27.
2023 CYO 7th Grade Girls City Championship at Valley Catholic School
Home Team: St. Pius X
Coaches Ted Stark (Head Coach), Marc McCullagh
Players: Avery, Maddy, Zea, Alexa, Lauren, Madeline, Samantha, Anna
Mascot: Panthers
Visiting Team: Holy Redeemer
Coaches: Sonora Thirdgill
Players: Edie, Nola, Jayda, Jeannemarie, Julia, Isira, Amelia, Gema, Eva, Kalkidan, Sera
Mascot: Wildcats
Game Highlights:
Quarter 1 – With 4:54 left in the first quarter, McCullagh scored the first basket of the game from the charity line to give the Panthers the lead. Stiles for Holy Redeemer tied the game at the other end of the court from the free throw line with a score of 1-1 with 3:56 left in the quarter. With 2:30 left in the first quarter, Holy Redeemer scored the first bucket of the game to lead the game 3-1.
Quarter 2 – Both teams got into the groove early in the second quarter and St. Pius X Stark drilled a three pointer to bring them within 1 point of the Wildcats. She sunk another 3 on the next trip to her basket to go ahead before the Wildcats answered with a 2 pointer to even the score at 9-9.
Bourque scored a three pointer for Holy Redeemer with 2:30 left in the first half and Stark put a third three pointer in for St. Pius X. More 3 points were scored in the first half than 2 point baskets.
Quarter 3 – Holy Redeemer came out of the break and scored two quick baskets to tie the game and got the ball back immediately on a St. Pius X inbound infraction. Both teams were pumped for the second half. Much back-and-forth excitement, three pointers, great defense on both teams.
Quarter 4 – St. Pius X scored 5 quick points including a three pointer to get the quarter started giving them a 10-point lead early on. Holy Redeemer could not dig their way out, missing their shots in the fourth quarter. A great game between two talented teams.
2023 CYO 6th Grade Boys City Championship at Valley Catholic School
Home Team: St. Andrew Nativity School
Coaches Clay Alexander
Players: Andre, Daniel Arthur, Caeden, Justin, Deandre, Shamar, Ramon, Keenan, Israel
Mascot:
Visiting Team: St. Pius X
Coaches: Clayton Lindsay (H), Andrew Ruginis (AS)
Players: Zachary, Parker, Carter, Luca, Jack, Charlie, Lucas
Mascot: Panthers
Game Highlights:
First half – The two teams stayed evenly matched throughout the first half with the score staying within 1 to 4 points of each other.
Second Half – St. Pius X garnered a considerable lead which St. Andrew Nativity worked hard to close, getting within 5 in the fourth quarter. In the end, St. Pius X by 6 in a great game by both teams.
Quarter 1: St. Pius X 10 – St. Andrew Nativity School 6
Quarter 2: St. Pius X 20 – St. Andrew Nativity School 16
Quarter 3: St. Pius X 36 – St. Andrew Nativity 24
Quarter 4: St. Pius X 50 – St. Andrew Nativity School 43
A high scoring game with both teams sinking 3 pointers toward the end of the first half with the score vacillating until St. Pius X drilled the last basket of the half to go ahead by 3. Amos for St. Clare hit three, three-pointers.
St. Clare broke open in the third quarter behind some three-point shooting including another by Amos to close out the period. St. Clare added 17 points to St. Pius X’s 6.
Both teams performed well in the fourth quarter but St. Clare outscored St. Pius X by one point with thirteen for the quarter. The game was fun to watch and kept the fans on the edge of their seats!
CYO/Camp Howard 