St. Anthony's girls run ends with loss to St. Joseph by the Sea
St. Anthony's Alexis Mitas shoots over St. Joseph's Jackie Lanza for the basket during a CHSAA state Class AA semifinal on Thursday at Christ the King. Credit: Patrick E. McCarthy
Chalk it up as a learning experience.
The young St. Anthony’s squad lost to St. Joseph by the Sea, 79-47, in the girls basketball state CHSAA ‘A’ semifinals at Christ the King High School on Thursday.
St. Anthony’s finishes its season at 20-8.
St. Joseph by the Sea (26-2) closed the final 5:12 of the second quarter on a 19-3 run to take a 38-22 lead at halftime.
“They’re good,” coach Hugh Flaherty said. “We knew they were good coming in. They were a little faster than we thought they were. They’re a good team”
Danielle Williamsen had 30 points and Angelina Hodgens had 18 points for St. Joseph by the Sea.
Alexis Mitas had 15 points for St. Anthony’s, including 10 in the third quarter. Emma Toner and Iyana Morel each added nine points.
The Friars only graduate four seniors and return their entire starting lineup. St. Anthony’s entered the CHSAA playoffs as the No. 3 seed and defeated Our Lady of Mercy, 56-48, in the semifinals before falling to St. Mary’s, 68-39, in the Nassau-Suffolk CHSAA final.
St. Anthony’s then defeated Our Lady of Mercy for the second time in a week to qualify for the state CHSAA ‘A’ semifinals. The Friars won, 35-31, on March 3 to qualify.
The Friars scored eight of the first 10 points of the second half, capped off by a three-point play by Shani Clark to cut St. Joseph by the Sea’s lead to 40-30 with 7:07 left in the third quarter. But St. Joseph by the Sea scored the game’s next four points and St. Anthony’s was never able to narrow the score to within single digits.
St. Joseph by the Sea went on an 11-0 run over 1:52 to take a 55-34 lead with 2:38 left in the third quarter. St. Joseph by the Sea outscored St. Anthony’s, 26-17, in the third quarter to take a 64-39 lead after the period.
“It’s good, we’ll be fine,” Flaherty said. “We’ll be back next year with a vengeance for sure”
The Friars starting lineup featured three sophomores in Mitas, Clark and Toner with two juniors in Amanda Paci and Morel. St. Anthony’s hopes the chemistry and experience the players developed this winter will carry into next year.
“I can’t say enough,” Flaherty said. “We’re so happy to be here, they did a great job. They had so much energy all year. To go out with a [22]-point loss is not what we were anticipating. But we’ll be back.”
