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Parma Heights, OH- The Great Lakes Conference for girls’ basketball is officially gone as Holy Name takes down Valley Forge 78-36 in the first of two final games in the conference this afternoon.
Holy Name shot out to a quick 6-0 lead in the first quarter following a few turnovers. Cloe Rzeczycki got the patriots on the board after this. Valley Forge did well to keep the game close as Taylor Patrick scored 5 of her 6 total points. Gracie Kercher rounded out the first for the Patriots with a field goal. The score was 11-8 in favor of the Green Wave, but they slammed the door shut quickly after. Honesti Williams cleaned the glass for HN as she had 6 points, all from putbacks. Claire Coljon posted 5 points in the first quarter. Noemi Cartagena, Nalani Simon, Mary Elise Rispoli, and Natale Stibley all contributed with field goals. Layla Rudolph rounded out the first quarter scoring with 4 points of her own. Holy Name took a 23-8 lead into the second quarter along with an ever growing 12-0 scoring run.
The Green Wave continued their impressive offensive explosion with a 7-0 run to begin the second quarter. This took the overall run to 19-0 before Rzeczycki stopped the bleeding. Mikalyla Hoang and Rzeczycki both had 4 total points this quarter for the Patriots. Kercher and Kallie Yeager both added 2 points and Patrick added her final point to round out the scoring for the home team in the first half. Coljohn turned up the heat as she scored 9 of Holy Name’s 16 points this quarter. This took her tally up to 14 points at the break. Rudolph added another 4 points. Cartagena added a free throw and Williams another field goal to round out the scoring. The Green Wave led 39-21 at the half.
Valley Forge continued to struggle on offense in the third quarter. They were held scoreless by Holy Name for the first half of the quarter. Kercher converted a triple as that was the only bucket the Patriots made from the field this quarter. Hoang and Kercher added 3 points combined from the charity stripe. The Green Wave kept finding success on offense. The only difference was that 3 players added their first points of the game. Emmalee Majoros posted 3 points while freshmen Maura Mihalik and Sophia Szymczak both converted shots from outside the arc. Heading into the final frame, HN led 55-27.
The trends of the game continued into the final frame. In the middle quarters, HN posted 16 points. In the first and last quarter, they scored 23 points. Stibley led the way with 7 for Holy name. However, the story of the quarter was in the final 2 minutes. The Green and White had 69 points. This was 10 points away from the outright record for most points Holy Name Girls Basketball has put up in a game in the MaxPreps era. The dream fell just shy as they ended with 78 points. This still tied the record that was originally set against St Peter Chanel on January 19, 2013. Either way, HN took home the commanding win 78-36.
With this win, Holy Name clinched their first winning season under Coach Chris Petitti who took over the position from Holy Name’s Assistant Athletic Director Kim Luthman following the 2021/22 campaign. The Green Wave will have to wait a week and a half before they make the hour trip out to Alliance to take on Marlington in the playoffs. Valley Forge has a similar wait with Archbishop Hoban awaiting them in Akron.
Valley Forge Key Players
#2 Taylor Patrick: 6 Points
#3 Gracie Kercher: 8 Points
#21 Mikayla Hoang: 8 Points
Holy Name Key Players
#2 Layla Rudolph: 12 Points
#25 Honesti Williams: 10 Points
#35 Claire Coljohn: 21 Points
Player of the Game: Claire Coljohn
