Tiana Thompson's 25 points and eight rebounds lead St. Mary's to second straight title
St. Mary’s Tiana Thompson heads to the basket to score against St. Anthony during the CHSAA girls basketball Class AA championship held at St. Joseph's University on Monday. Credit: Kathy M Helgeson
It says something about a team when its third option is a Division I commit.
St. Mary’s senior forward Tiana Thompson racked up 25 points, eight rebounds, four assists and a steal to lead the top-seeded squad past second-seeded St. Anthony’s, 68-57, in the finals of the Nassau-Suffolk CHSAA Class AA tournament on Monday night. Thompson’s big performance helped St. Mary’s (20-3) secure its second consecutive league title and its seventh in the last eight years.
Thompson, who is committed to La Salle University, is no ordinary third scoring option. She entered Monday’s championship game averaging over 15 points and nine rebounds per game, and could easily carry the burden of being a team’s go-to scorer at a moment’s notice.
Teammates Kayla Solomon and Destiny Robinson were slowed down for much of the first three quarters. Solomon, a guard committed to the University of Massachusetts Lowell, entered Monday just 30 points shy of 2,000 career varsity points. Robinson, a forward, was averaging over 19 points and 16 rebounds per game coming in. They were held to 16 and 13 points, respectively, and combined for just 17 points through the first three quarters.
“I’m not just a regular third option,” Thompson said. “I could do as good as anybody else. I’m just that confident. Obviously having them on my team makes it easier, but I just had to step up tonight to help my team win. I have confidence in myself, and I’m not afraid of pressure, so when it’s time for me to step up, I do.”
Thompson was named the game’s Most Valuable Player.
“It shows that our team is well-rounded,” Solomon said. “Everybody can go out there and drop however many points we need to win. We don’t say No. 1, No. 2 scorer. Whoever’s hitting shots, that’s who we get the ball to.”
The victory sent St. Mary’s to the CHSAA Class AA tournament, where its journey will begin in the semifinals against St. Mary’s of Lancaster at Christ the King in Queens on Friday.
Julia Anderson totaled 11 points and 17 rebounds, while Isabella Turner scored 17 points for St. Anthony’s (16-6).
Earlier in the evening, top-seeded St. Dominic defeated third-seeded Sacred Heart, 52-26, behind 12 points, five rebounds, four assists and four steals from senior guard Mia Padula in the NSCHSAA Class A championship. It was St. Dominic’s first league title since 2008.
St. Dominic (18-1) advanced to the CHSAA Class A tournament and will face Moore Catholic of Staten Island in the semifinals at the College of Staten Island at 7 p.m. on Friday. Sacred Heart finished 7-10.
“All the work we put in was worth it,” Padula said. “This is what we looked forward to all season. All the late practices, early mornings, everything was all for this. It's so great that we were able to finish this off, and now we go into states hoping to be state champions.”
Mike Anderson is a high school sports reporter who has covered 12 sports so far at Newsday. He was the sports editor of Stony Brook University's campus newspaper for two years.
