Still at no. 13 in the state Class B rankings despite a Jan. 19 defeat to Westhill, the Bishop Ludden girls basketball team rebounded with a pair of impressive wins.
In last Monday’s trip to Solvay, the Gaelic Knights made one gigantic run, which made up for major struggles the rest of the night and led to a 51-39 victory over the Bearcats.
Entering the second quarter, Ludden trailed, 11-9, and whatever coach Jerry Roesch said in the huddle before that period must have taken hold.
For in the next eight minutes, the Gaelic Knights erupted, outscoring Solvay 25-1. That spurt produced a 34-12 advantage at the break, and while Ludden cooled off in a big way during the second half, it wouldn’t get caught.
Kayla Kibling, with 13 points, led a balanced Ludden attack. Kelly Granteed and Lauren Roy each had eight points, while Gemma O’Kane came off the bench to score six points, the same as Natalie Barletta. In defeat, Solvay’s Abbey Jones had 17 points and eight rebounds.
In Friday’s trip to Hannibal, the Gaelic Knights had to wait until the waning minutes to get away and beat the Warriors 53-43.
Ludden only led 36-32 through three quarters before wearing Hannibal down in the waning minutes, even though Kibling did not have a field goal all night. Roy led with 17 points, including a trio of 3-pointers, while Kelly Granteed had 14 points and Nicole Granteed poured in nine points.
Bishop Ludden’s boys team, feeding off the momentum of Cameron Littlejohn’s buzzer-beater that toppled Westhill on Jan. 20, followed it up last Tuesday by ripping past Solvay 74-40.
In a one-sided first half, the Gaelic Knights dominated on both ends of the floor, steadily building a 42-13 lead. What’s more, no single player spearheaded the effort.
Dan Kaigler led with 12 points, but Ben Hackett (11 points) and Zach Harding (10 points) also hit double figures. Nick Walker and Kyle Hawk both finished with eight points off the bench, while Zach Walser and Matt Rogers managed seven points apiece.
Solvay, by contrast, had no player reach double figures. Eric Kendrick led with just seven points, while Jaron Payne, Nick Filippi and Chris Owens earned six points apiece.
A night later, the Bearcats lost to Hannibal 66-59. The two sides played through a 30-30 first half, but the Warriors inched out in front in the third quarter and stayed there, ignoring the work of Kendrick and Filippi, who earned 20 points apiece as Kendrick sank four 3-pointers. Darryl Rupert led Hannibal with 25 points. Solvay also lost Friday to Marcellus 69-39.
By stark contrast, Ludden ripped past Hannibal 78-38, starting the game on a 23-7 spurt and outscoring the Warriros 23-1 in the final period, just to be sure. Hackett managed 20 points, with Kaigler getting 14 points. Littlejohn and Walser had 10 points apiece.
