Ursuline outlasts Mooney, 38-32

Neither team shot the ball well, but the Irish prevailed.

By DOUG CHAPIN

VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT

YOUNGSTOWN — One can say the defenses were outstanding, or one can say the offenses just were not very good.

Either way, scoring was at a premium Wednesday night as the Ursuline High girls dumped Mooney, 38-32, on the Cardinals’ floor.

Another theory for the difficulty in scoring has to do with the rivalry between the schools, even though the contest did not count as a Steel Valley Conference game.

“Anytime Mooney and Ursuline play, whether it’s basketball, football, even Tiddley Winks, it’s going to be 32 minutes of very aggressive, hard-nosed basketball,” Mooney coach Jack Bermann said. “So sometimes, whatever you plan for in practice, it’s not necessarily going to work. So you’ve got to adjust and make plays.”

Regardless of the reason, the offensive numbers were downright ugly (or the defensive numbers were impressive). Ursuline shot 27 percent (13-of-48) from the field, including 0-of-15 from 3-point range. Mooney was at 26 percent (12-of-46) on field goals.

Both teams were less than 50 percent from the free throw line and each recorded 11 steals from their opponent. In addition, Ursuline blocked nine Cardinal shots.

The Irish (3-3) started two sophomores and a junior and had another sophomore and a freshman play key minutes off the bench. Coach Sean Durkin said he is pleased with the progress and hopes Wednesday’s victory can lead to better things.

“Up until now we’ve really had an up-and-down kind of year,” Durkin said. “We sort of pointed to this game that maybe it could be a turning point for us and hopefully it is. We have to build on it, but I like the intensity the kids played with tonight. As a young team, I think we grew up a little bit tonight.”

Especially heartening to Durkin is the fact the Irish took the lead at 25-24 just 30 seconds into the final quarter and never relinquished it. After opening the lead to 29-24 at the 5:49 mark, Ursuline never allowed the Cards closer than three down the stretch.

“We have a lot of people who really have no experience in that situation and they stood up and did things well,” Durkin said. “We made clutch free throws down the stretch. This is a young group and I couldn’t be more proud of them.”

Sophomore guard Lucia Petrus nailed both ends of a one-and-one free throw situation with 18 seconds remaining and the Irish were five-of-eight from the line in the last 1:22.

Senior post Jaleesa Beverly clearly was Ursuline’s best player Wednesday. She finished with 18 points, 13 rebounds and five blocked shots.

“We play a lot of people and our scoring has been dispersed, but Jaleesa came up big for us tonight. She pretty much carried us in the first half,” Durkin said.

Victoria Miles added eight rebounds and Dominique Jenkins and Petrus had four each. Petrus scored seven points and fellow sophomore guard Jasmine Brown had six.

Katie Hughes came off the bench and led Mooney (5-4) with 11 points. Seniors Sarah Pelini and Dayna Daltorio finished with 10 and seven, respectively. Pelini added four rebounds and four assists, Daltorio had three assists and Hughes grabbed five rebounds. Jessica Farragher had eight rebounds and three steals and Dominique Zordich recorded six rebounds, four assists and three steals.

“There are certain things we did well tonight at times,” Bermann said. “Defensively, we did some good things, but overall, I’m not happy. We lost.”