MAPLEWOOD, NJ — With the regular season winding down, the St. Joseph’s CYO basketball team played hard during the holiday weekend.
After playing both St. Aloysius teams over the weekend, the St. Joseph’s JV Celtics girls team endured back-to-back losses. But St. Joe’s had a lot to be proud of in its play, particularly in Sunday’s game against the powerful squad of Coach Michaud, which has an undefeated record.
With great ball-handling from point guards Jane Kessler and Addie Walmsley, the Celtics girls challenged St. Al’s early, holding the score at 4-4 at the end of the first quarter. With the Celtics’ intense defense, especially Keegan Donohue stealing every loose ball, the team kept St. Al’s shooters from racking up too many points. And although the game ended with a final score of 30-11, it felt like a victory for St. Joe’s, with Grace Pachal nailing a layup in the final seconds.
In both games – Saturday saw a 26-11 loss to Coach DeFilippo’s team – the Celtics truly left everything on the court.
The eighth-grade varsity team split victories with St. Aloysius in two close games over the weekend on back-to-back nights.
St. Joe’s defeated St. Aloysius, 38-32, in overtime Saturday night in a barn-burner kicked off by Maya Hersh’s scrappy shot, as well as 10 points for Mary Kola, who always seemed to be in the right place at the right time.
Other scorers of note were Sofia Peterson and Summer Connell each with 8 points and Lauren Ryan with a pivotal basket.
Sunday night’s game got off to an exciting start with Cassie Maguire scoring in the first few seconds and setting the tone for the rest of the first half. Ultimately, St. Aloysius won, 59-55, after an intense back-and-forth, trademark toughness and excellent passing from Violet Kessler and teamwork from Kelsey Kouyoumdjian, Naomi Southers and Evie Quinn.
The gym roared during determined rebounds and clutch shots from Kola, who led in scoring with 14 points and smooth defense from Hersh, who scored 2 points.
Home games are played at the St Joseph’s Church gym, located at 240 Franklin St. in Maplewood. The games are open to the public and admission is free. Concessions are sold and each game offers a 50/50 raffle.
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