CICERO – Kaitlyn Kibling exited the court, having fouled out in the fourth quarter of the Bishop Ludden girls basketball team’s Class A regional final against Averill Park Saturday at Cicero-North Syracuse.
Having scored a team-high 17 points, Kibling had, like her fellow Gaelic Knights, had gone all-out, only to run into an opponent in the Warriors blessed with talent, skill and discipline who controlled nearly every phase of the game from the outset.
As Kibling went to the bench, head coach Carm Petrera embraced her, and the Ludden fans on hand gave her a long ovation, one that was repeated when the team walked across the court at game’s end.
There was no shame or disgrace for the Gaelic Knights, who simply ran into a better opponent as Averill Park prevailed 67-43 and advanced to next weekend’s state final four at Troy’s Hudson Valley Community College.
“They (Averill Park) pretty much set the tempo,” said Petrera. “We were reacting instead of anticipating and didn’t capitalize on our defensive stops.”
At 22-2 and no. 3 in the state rankings, the Warriors have dominated Section II Class A basketball in recent years. But in the last six state tournaments held from 2014 to 2019, AP had lost to Jamesville-DeWitt each of those years in regional play.
Now the Warriors were dealing with a Ludden side fresh off a 68-36 romp over J-D in the March 5 sectional final. And the Gaelic Knights would answer an AP opening basket with four straight points from Kibling.
But that would be Ludden’s only lead.
Over the last five minutes of the first quarter, the Warriors put together a 14-2 run, sparked by its defense, which forced a rash of turnovers on Gaelic Knights possessions while proving quite effective on two other fronts.
Not only did AP effectively cut off most of Ludden’s outside shots, it blanketed the Gaelic Knights’ star junior forward, Amarah Streiff, who was shut out in the first quarter and only managed eight points overall.
“They did their homework and were ready for Amarah,” said Petrera.
Meanwhile, the Warriors continued to put together timely scoring spurts. After Ludden closed the gap to 28-22 late in the second quarter, AP closed the half on an 8-0 run, with six of the points from Le Moyne College-bound senior guard Michelina Lombardi.
And when Kibling finally hit her team’s first 3-pointer of the game in the third quarter, the Warriors answered with an 11-2 spurt that all but put the game out of reach.
Amelia Wood led AP with 22 points. Lombardi earned nine points, with Tatiana Tune and Arianna Verardi earning 10 points apiece. For Ludden, Elizabeth Gaughan had nine points as Bridget Dunham got six points.
