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The Blue Streaks of Magnificat defended their home court tonight against fellow state powerhouse SVSM with a thrilling 53-51 victory. Thanks in part to great defense in stretches, and just relentless composure against a tremendously talented Fighting Irish squad, that brought the pressure all night long.
The Blue Streaks were paced with 13 from Brynn Roggenburk , while Julia Hall and Katie Maryo had 8 each. Elizabeth Spicer had two big three pointers for 6 total points, while Sofia Wilson and Reese Roggenburk had 7 each. Gemma Wichman rounded out the Blue Streak points with 4.
This SVSM team is very talented and tremendously coached. Tonight, Melania Cornute finished with 16, including 12 during a tremendous fourth quarter rally. Erica King is a pleasure to watch as she has a great touch to her shots, finishing with 17 and scoring in a multitude of ways. Kamiah Pryor and Kendall Batchik each had 3 while Jaicee Wallace scored 4. Finishing the scoring for SVSM was Tatum Smith with 7 and Denni Lawrence with 1. In regard to Smith, she had some clutch foul shots in the third to keep the Blue Streaks from pulling away. Smith may very well be one to watch down the stretch for SVSM.
The first quarter saw physical play on both ends that took some time to adjust too. SVSM managed to turnover the Blue Steaks several times in the first, keeping them in it, and only trailing 11-8 after one as the quarter was played at a rapid pace. Outside of 2 three balls in the early minutes by Maryo, the Blue Streaks struggled to find an open shot. A Maryo three did make it 8-3 briefly, before a Erica King 3 was to quick to answer it.
The second quarter was a different story as after a Wilson step back three to start the quarter, both teams found their stride. There was a two-minute stretch that saw 5 straight possessions with three pointers made, alternating teams each time. It went Brynn Roggenburk King, Brynn again, Smith and then Spicer. This exchange only netted the Blue Streaks 3 total points tacked onto their lead, but gave them the spark to close out the first half up 31-20.
Blue Streak head coach Danny Gallagher explained why they had better luck in the second quarter , “We were able to handle their physicality better. But for us, it starts with stops on defense, and we get into the stuff we want to do and play our game. It helped ease the worry of their pressure.”
Magnificat poured on the defense in the third quarter, holding SVSM to just one field goal made, until 1:03 left in the frame. Until then, it was all Blue Streaks as they took a 43-29 lead into the fourth quarter. It was at the 3:26 of that third, in which a Spicer 3 had given the Blue Streaks their first double digit lead of the night.
Coach Gallagher explained why they met with better success on defense in that third quarter, holding SVSM to just two field goals, ” Our defense is good and we made a halftime adjustment to guard Erica King a bit different. That worked really well, and then we started rebounding the ball not giving them second chances. ”
SVSM started the fourth quarter on an 8-3 run, all on the legs of Melania Cornute who nailed two from deep during that stretch as well. Cornute would finish with 12 in the fourth quarter as the Fighting Irish rallied to cut it to 46-37 with 4:43 left, and then cut it to 50-46 with 46 second left. Big shots coming from Erica King during that stretch as well. With the lead at 51-38 with 8 seconds to go, Julia Hall calmy went to the foul line and sunk both, to put the game away for the Blue Streaks. A Kendal Batchik 3 at the end, closed the game at 53-51.
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