by In the D3R10 semifinals, the St. Vincent-St. Mary Irish used their two powerhouse players to take down a tough Highland Hornets team.
Last night at the Elida Fieldhouse, both teams were evenly matched, but it was SVSM that came out on top courtesy of Melania Cornute and Sydney Ferguson.
Like last Saturday, Highland used a tight six man rotation, with every starter minus Jordyn Caples going the whole distance. This worked out for most of the game as Madi Morgan, Rowan Kildoo, Emeri Gausman, and Grace Shondel evenly scored all night, with three of the players having ten points.
But it was the Copley transfer Cornute and the 6’4″ sophomore sensation Ferguson who burned the Hornets all night long. The two combined for 40 points, outscoring the entire Hornets team by one. Ferguson led the dynamic duo with 22 points and Cornute was not far behind with 18. Another player that contributed to the game included Taylor Roger Williams, who had many critical rebounds to go along with Ferguson.
However, the game was really determined by the free throw shooting. Whereas Highland struggled from the line all night, missing many shots, the Irish made almost all of them, including the ones at the end to pull away from the Hornets.
The St. V-St. M Irish, who are now 20-5 on the year, will make it to the Elite 8 once again and will face Notre Dame Academy in Elida on Saturday at 3. The Hornets end their season with a 22-4 record and fall to 0-6 all time in the regional semifinals for girls basketball. However, optimism seems to be a theme for James Madison and his Highland squad, as only Grace Shondel and Kennedy Lawson will be graduating, and four of the five starters will return next year.
