Rosary's rally falls short against St. Joseph
Trying to turn the corner is proving a challenge for Rosary this year in the Girls Catholic Athletic Conference.
The Royals had a chance to even their conference record when they hosted St. Joseph Thursday night. They battled, cutting a 15-deficit to 6 in the third quarter and then again rallying from 16 points down in the fourth to get within 7, but didn't have enough to get over the hump in a 53-39 loss.
"This was the third time this year I thought we were ready to take the next step and we can't do it," Rosary coach Don Rasich said. "We get to a plateau. In some respects we have to learn to finish a ballgame."
St. Joseph (10-9, 5-1 in the GCAC) and Rosary (7-10, 1-3) played a near even first quarter. Jenna Hernandez opened the scoring for the Royals with a 3-pointer, the first of 10 ties or lead changes through the game's first quarter and a half.
Sydney Drozdowski sank a jumper, putting Rosary up 15-13 in the second quarter, the Royals' last lead of the night. St. Joseph hit Rosary with a 12-0 run on its way to a 27-18 halftime lead.
"They played hard and they played together tonight," St. Joseph coach Andrew Winston said. "We've been struggling. We had a real hard December."
After falling behind 35-20 in the third quarter, Lauren Smith helped get the Rosary back in the game with 6 points. Caitlyn Unruh knocked down a short baseline jumper on a third-chance rebound as the Royals stayed within 37-29 going to the fourth.
St. Joseph again extended its lead, this time to 45-29, and again the Royals chipped away. A hard-driving layup from Mary Kate Bakala started a 9-2 run that also included Drozdowski's 3-point basket to trim St. Joe's lead to 45-38 with 1:20 remaining.
Rosary didn't get any closer, four turnovers in a row sealing its fate. The Royals committed 10 of their 23 turnovers in the final quarter.
"We knew they were going to come after us," Rasich said. "You have to play all 32 minutes. It's maintaining our poise through all kinds of battles."
Freshman Maia Marshall led St. Joseph with 19 points. Amber Brooks had 14 and Elise Estelle 10 points and 10 rebounds.
While nine players scored for Rosary, none of them reached double figures. Hernandez and Smith both scored 8 points and Drozdowski added 7 as the Royals shot just 35 percent from the field (14 for 40) and 47.3 percent at the line (9 of 19).
"It's finding the leadership at the end of the game," Rasich said. "We haven't had a go-to player all year. We've had injuries. We've had multiple starting lineups. We've had multiple rotations. I love the girls' effort. You saw that tonight. We're just missing something and hopefully we'll find it before the postseason."