Players: Cole, James, Luke, Mario, Mark, Reef, Robbie, Ry
Mascot: The Cardinals
Game Highlights:
Valley Catholic and Holy Family traded points with the Valliant’s seizing the lead and ending the first quarter with a positive margin of 4. The deficit increased for Holy Family in the second quarter where they were outscored by 12 to end the quarter 30 – 14. The Valliant’s won the regular season contest but at tournament time it is anyone’s game.
At the end of the third quarter, The Valliant’s led the Cardinals by 17. Holy Family started to gain in the fourth quarter, but the Valliant’s kept them at bay with a few well-timed shots. Holy Family shot several three pointers in the last few minutes which brought them back within 6 points.
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.
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.
Coaches: Chris Wojnar, Andrew Over, Marcus Penhale
Players: Anthony, Attivus, Dylan, Jack, Jackson, Jacob, Luke, Rory, Tomas
Mascot: Cardinals
Game Highlights:
St. Pius won the contests by a narrow margin in pre-season play. Holy Family jumped out to a 10 point lead in the first half with St. Pius X in close pursuit. Holy Family continued to lead by 10 at the end of the third quarter in a very exciting game by both teams. The fourth quarter was truly the game with boy teams vying aggressively for the ball and making many of the shots they put up. With four minutes left in the game, Holy Family lead by 12 with both teams matching basket for basket. With 1:41 left in the game, it was an 8 point game with both teams still in it to win it.
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
A slow paced, balanced game, tied with 1:50 left in the third quarter thanks to 3 steals by the Saints, Lyons and shooting by Ethan. The Saints took the lead after a 6-point deficit near the end of the third quarter.
HISTORY: This was the first time Franciscan Montessori Earth School has won the City Championship level, the highest level of the CYO Basketball Tournament.
Quarter 1: Franciscan Montessori Earth School 6 – St. Clare 9
Quarter 2: Franciscan Montessori Earth School 16 – St. Clare 15
Quarter 3: Franciscan Montessori Earth School 29 – St. Clare 25
Quarter 4: Franciscan Montessori Earth School 44 – St. Clare 34
St. Pius X came out to an early lead outscoring St. Anthony by 15 in the first quarter. Layla’s height and athleticism enabled the Panthers to keep control of the ball.
In the second quarter, the Panthers again came out scoring, rebounding, and controlling the ball. With 2 minutes left in the quarter, the Hawkes began scoring and added 7 points to the tally.
Caitlin Clark, the inspirational, NCAA record breaking scorer is influencing the play in girls’ basketball and it is evident from the bleachers!
In the third quarter, the Hawkes outscored the Panthers and slightly reduced the deficit to 22 points behind the skillful shooting and ball handling of St. Anthony’s Riley and Sloane.
Both teams had some great young players who are developing very good skills. As they continue to grow and mature, we will see these teams again and who knows what it might look like next year! So far, my favorite game of the tournament.
A fast-paced game with both teams running back and forth between the baskets, scoring intermittently. St. Thomas More, undefeated during regular season play, towered above, and outsized the Hawks. A few years in the future will change the dynamics between the two teams.
Game Highlights: No shooting from the logo in this game but lots of back and forth running from basket to basket as the girls worked to get the ball in the hoop. St. Pius X Scored 6 early in the second quarter to go ahead by 6 and added 4 in the third quarter to lead St. Cecilia by 8 going into the fourth quarter.
St. Cecilia came alive in the fourth quarter scoring 6 toward the end, behind by 2 with 1:18 left to go. With 40.5 left in the game, Audrey was fouled and the Cyclones got another chance to inbound the ball under their basket. The Panthers grabbed it and headed to the other end stepping out of bounds. St. Cecilia made several attempts to get the ball through the hoop. With 8 seconds on the clock, the Panthers, Sophia, shot two free throws swishing them both like Caitlyn Clark on a Friday night.
With .09 seconds, St. Cecilia’s Audrey had two shots, but the basket continued to evade the Cyclones today.
The first two quarters of the game were very exciting back and forth action with great play from some top talents in the eighth grade from Holy Redeemer and Valley Catholic. Unfortunately, Holy Redeemer was plagued by playing time issues and did not get all their players their mandatory playing time even after they were reminded by the CYO Basketball Commission at the beginning of the game and each quarter of the game. Finally, toward the end of the game the team worked to get all their players their required time and at that point, it was too late for strategy.
Two basic rules of CYO are 1. There is a place for everyone, no one is cut. 2. Everyone plays and in volleyball and basketball there are mandatory playing times. In basketball, each player is required to play for 8 minutes of the game. This is a full quarter. It is possible to get 20 players on a team a full quarter.
Congratulations to Valley Catholic for their win in the 2023 CYO 8th grade boys Championship.
Half Time Score: Valley Catholic 23 – Holy Redeemer 21
CYO/Camp Howard 