Defensive fix for Irish

By Pete Mollica

Ursuline’s second-half rally stopped Mooney

Some defensive adjustments at halftime led the Irish to a 47-30 win.

YOUNGSTOWN — Ursuline High girls basketball coach Sean Durkin made some defensive adjustments at halftime, and they were just what the Irish needed in their cross-town battle with visiting Cardinal Mooney Wednesday night in a Steel Valley Conference game.

The Cardinals were penetrating at will in the first half while taking a 20-19 halftime lead, but the Irish shut them down in the second half and rolled to a 47-30 victory.

The Irish (4-2, 1-0) played a pretty sloppily first half, committing 18 turnovers — 11 in the first quarter — and Mooney (1-5, 0-1) was in the bonus on free throws in the first eight minutes.

The only thing that kept the contest close early was the Cardinals’ shooting — they couldn’t make much of anything from the field or the free throw line.

Mooney finished 11-for-46 from the field and 8-for-19 from the free throw line, and the Irish defense held them to just 10 total second half points.

“We had to make some adjustments defensively at halftime because they were killing us with their penetration in the first half,” said Durkin. “We did a pretty good job shutting them down in the second half, but we still had way too many turnovers.

“I told them at halftime that we’ve committed 18 turnovers and are only down one point, so we need to play some defense in the second half,” Durkin added.

Mooney head coach Jack Bermann just can’t seem to get two good halves out of his Cardinals in the Irish gym.

“I don’t know what it is, but we just can’t put two good halves together here,” he said. “We played very well in the first half, we didn’t shoot well, but we were aggressive and kept them off their game.”

“They came out and put more pressure on our guards in the second half, as I expected and we didn’t handle it very well,” he said.

While Ursuline was turning the ball over often in the opening quarter, the Cardinals had trouble finding the hoop, hitting just 2-of-11 shots from the field and 5-of-9 from the foul line.

Ursuline didn’t score its first basket until 1:33 remained in the quarter, but trailed just 9-5.

The Irish tied up the game early in the second when freshman Courtney Powell scored off a rebound, but the Irish never got the lead trailing 20-19 at intermission.

Lucia Petrus connected on a 3-point shot to open the third quarter giving Ursuline its first lead 22-20 and then the defense took over.

Shamia Harrison’s 3-pointer gave Ursuline a 35-26 lead after three quarters.

The Irish scored only two baskets in the final quarter, but were 8-of-11 from the foul line to put the game away.

Freshman Aurielle Irizarry led the Irish with 15 points while Petrus added 11 and Harrison had 10.

The Cardinals didn’t had a player in double figures as Katie Hughes led the way with nine points.

The Irish finished with 30 turnovers, while the Cardinals had 22 — 16 in the second half.

“We a very young team and we’re getting better,” said Durkin.

“I thought our two freshmen [Irizarry and Powell] did an excellent job.

“I think this team can be pretty good this year.”