WOW, what a game!!!!!

 

Nikki Kiernan 24 pts.

 

Dajah McClendon 25 pts.

NewCath 17/32 from the foul-line. :no:

 

McClendon was a one women wrecking crew tonight, phenomenal effort by this young lady tonight. Breds had absolutely ZERO answer when she penetrated the lane.

 

NewCath did a great job of working the ball inside and forcing fouls on the Holy Cross "twin towers".

 

NewCath pressure defense again was it's saving grace, forced the Indians into a string a turnovers to make a big run in the 3rd.

 

Big buckets in this one.........NewCath's Ansley Davenport's trey to give the Breds the lead back in the 3rd quarter. Kiernan's "tip in" at the 3rd quarter horn. Holy Cross's Hungler with a "bank" trey in the 2nd quarter to continue a run, and her triple with less than 30 seconds to give the Indian's the short lived lead in the 4th.

Congrats to both. Sounds like a barnburner of a game.

As methodical as the first semi was this second semi might have been one of the strangest games I've seen. More details later.

Wow what a game!! Usually when a team can't make an outside basket to save their life, and barely shoot over 50 percent from the free throw line they usually end up on the wrong side. However, as the late Jimmy V said, "survive and advance" and that is what Ncc did. Pure grit and willing themselves to victory they ended up two points better at the end.

 

The star of the night was Dejah McClendon though. Basically putting the team on her back and she just flat couldn't be stopped. Ncc send 4 different girls to try and stop her and she just kept driving, and either hitting floaters or getting fouled and knocking down free throws. With both Mayhaus girl reduced to cheering from the bench due to foul trouble in the third period, it looked like Ncc was going to pull away with a 39 to 31 lead, but McClendon turned it up even more and brought the game to a tie at 39. The 4th quarter seemed to last an hour with all the lead changes and both teams fighting and scraping for every point. At the end Kiernan's two free throws proved to be the difference as now the Bred's have to come back to Earth and get ready for Notre Dame on Sunday evening to see who claims the regional crown.

NCC can't guard anyone in first quarter but HC misses layups and stick backs and NCC leads 15-7 somehow. Second quarter NCC really can't guard anyone and HC makes shots to out score NCC 21-5 and lead 28-20. Third quarter NCC sole goal is to get the ball out of McClendon's hands and let anyone else shoot it. Runs off first 13 of third quarter. With both 6'2" HC players on the bench with 4 fouls somehow NCC lets McClendon eat them alive and come back from 6 down I believe to tie it at 39. Kiernan tips one in at the buzzer for a 41-39 NCC lead after 3.

 

4th quarter was just nuts. NCC could not make foul shots and HC came back to lead. NCC lead by 2 when HC throws in an NBA three from the corner to lead by one (51-50 with 30 seconds left. NCC gets fouled with 11.8 seconds left and hits two to go up 52-51. Holy Cross McClendon drives the floor and a layup rolls off and Kiernan is fouled with 2.8 seconds left. Misses the first, makes the second for a 53-51 lead. Holy Cross calls timeout and McClendon drives to half court and gets off a 3 for the win that is just wide off the backboard.

Hard fought game by both teams Holycross could have easily ran away with this one but fouls killed them which a lot of them I'd say "questionable" calls a lot of flopping by Kiernan do get foul calls! But when a team like Holycross puts themselves in that situation it's tough to win!

I thought the officiating hurt holy cross. They called seven fouls against holy cross in the first four minutes of the third quarter. Kieran is an absolute beast. Gun game to watch.

They really hurt holy cross tonight I hate to blame officiating for a loss but how does two bigs for HC have 10 fouls and the two bigs for NCC only have 3? And Kiernan's first coming in the 4th? Both teams are determained to pound the ball downlow but no love for HC tonight from the zebras.

They really hurt holy cross tonight I hate to blame officiating for a loss but how does two bigs for HC have 10 fouls and the two bigs for NCC only have 3? And Kiernan's first coming in the 4th? Both teams are determained to pound the ball downlow but no love for HC tonight from the zebras.

 

I thought NCC really did not contest many of the shots by the HC bigs or the McClendon drives and that lead to the big HC second quarter. So hard to call a foul on uncontested layups.

 

On the flip side HC did a good job contesting the NCC shots down low but got called for some of them. Once the bigs both had 3 fouls they may have been better off just letting NCC score. Although the way NCC was shooting foul shots maybe putting them on the line was the way to go.

Not contesting shots or layups? I can name multiple times where at one end of the floor Kiernan would throw her body to the floor after lowering her shoulder into the bigs of HC with there feet planted not moving hands straight up in the air and a fouls would be called! But at the other end if HC got a shot in the paint everytime they would be bumped and rode to the basket and nothing be called! It's really bad when sitting around ncc fans and they start laughing and questioning why there girls where not being called for fouls!

 

 

Game photos, enjoy:

 

Not contesting shots or layups? I can name multiple times where at one end of the floor Kiernan would throw her body to the floor after lowering her shoulder into the bigs of HC with there feet planted not moving hands straight up in the air and a fouls would be called! But at the other end if HC got a shot in the paint everytime they would be bumped and rode to the basket and nothing be called! It's really bad when sitting around ncc fans and they start laughing and questioning why there girls where not being called for fouls!

 

What about the 15 block calls again Ncc girls when McClendon was driving to the basket. The refs were calling everything for the offense. NO ADVANTAGE either way due to the refs. The girls decided this one. Heck of a game and lets leave it at that. Both teams played their hearts out.

The question I have is if McClendan was doing all the damage getting in the lane, did NCC ever go to a zone? NCC ended up winning, but it just seems like going to a zone would have slowed down the gal that seemed to tear them up tonight.

The question I have is if McClendan was doing all the damage getting in the lane, did NCC ever go to a zone? NCC ended up winning, but it just seems like going to a zone would have slowed down the gal that seemed to tear them up tonight.

 

I wasn't there so I can't answer that. However, I did see her do the same to NDA's zone in the district championship.