Cara McCormack leads St. John the Baptist to CHSAA finals
The St. John the Baptist girls basketball team is headed to the CHSAA finals for the fourth straight year and has something distinctly setting them apart from the field: Cara McCormack running the point.
“We have a core four that have been playing together for a long time,” coach Kate Gordon said. “But I have one thing that no one else has right now, and that’s Cara McCormack.”
The Holy Cross-bound senior had 20 points, three assists and three steals to lead the Cougars to a 53-43 win over Our Lady of Mercy in the CHSAA semifinals on Sunday at LIU’s Brookville campus. The Cougars play St. Mary’s in the AA championship at 5:45 p.m. on Tuesday at Hofstra.
McCormack's finest moment came in the final two minutes of the third quarter: Down 35-34, she made two free throws for the lead and hit a three-pointer from the top of the key in the final seconds to propel SJB (24-2) into the fourth with a 39-35 advantage. She scored SJB's final seven points of the quarter.
“I knew I could attack them and with everyone focusing on Katie [Maguire], I had more openings and could be more aggressive,” McCormack said. “And I knew that was the time to do it, because I wasn’t going to let them go on a run without a response.”
The Cougars rolled from there.
Sophomore Ella Clifford opened the scoring in the final quarter with a three-pointer to make it 42-35, then McCormack found a seam in OLMA’s zone on the next possession and hit Jennifer Gaffney for a layup to go up by nine. Maguire delivered the dagger with a corner three to make it 50-38 with two minutes left.
Maguire finished with 12 points on four three-pointers and added five rebounds, two assists and two steals.
“I was just thinking we need to win this and we didn’t want [our season] to be over,” Maguire said. “Everyone had confidence in my shot today and they made great passes.”
Kennedy Keenan added nine rebounds and Gaffney had four rebounds, four steals and three assists to go along with her three points.
“We are a small team and rebounding is something that we have to work on and preach, we transformed five guards into post players because we don’t have them,” Gordon said. “We have to work very hard to do the little things and in the fourth quarter they stepped up.”
Meghan Andersen, a freshman, led OLMA with 20 points, including a three-pointer late to get the Mustangs within 50-43. But McCormack went 3-for-4 from the foul line in the final minute to seal the victory.
