ARC D’TRIUMPH

By Joe Scalzo

Martino sparks Mooney victory

It was the sixth straight win for Mooney, which had lost three straight to the Irish.

YOUNGSTOWN — After watching his team go 0-for-14 from behind the arc in a loss to Ursuline on Dec. 17 — his players often missing the rim in the process — Mooney High girls basketball coach Jack Bermann figured the much taller Irish would stick to a zone defense in Thursday’s rematch.

Sure enough, it happened.

“So Coach [Dom] Daltorio says to me, ‘Hey, don’t forget about Kelly,’ ” said Bermann, referring to sophomore Kelly Martino. “So we put her in.”

Martino entered the game early in the third quarter with her team trailing 25-19 and promptly made three straight 3-pointers, giving the Cardinals the lead.

They never lost it, pulling away midway through the fourth quarter for a 54-47 victory in a Steel Valley Conference opener for both teams.

“Kelly’s one of those shooters where if she makes the first one, she’s gonna hit a couple more,” Bermann said. “She hit that first one and they never moved out on her.

“Our kids were smart enough to put it where it should have been and away we go.”

Martino finished with 13 points as the Cardinals outscored the Irish 35-24 in the second half.

It was the sixth straight victory this season for Mooney (7-5, 1-0), which had lost three straight to the Irish, including one in overtime last year.

“I can’t really explain how I feel,” said junior Dominique Zordich, who had nine points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals. “I’m really excited. Losing three in a row was really tough.”

The Irish (5-5, 0-1) got within two, 36-34, with 6:52 left in the fourth quarter but Mooney answered with a 10-2 run to get some breathing room. Ursuline trimmed the deficit to four, 50-46, with a minute left before Martino made 4-of-6 from the free throw line to put the game away.

“The kids never quit, they played hard and they did all the little things tonight,” Bermann said. “We were 1-5 and then we got on this little win streak and this is probably one of our bigger wins.

“Hopefully this will help us take the next step.”

Senior starters Katie Griswold, Jessica Farragher and Katie Hughes all added eight points.

Ursuline held a 37-27 advantage on the boards, but Mooney played the Irish even in the second half in that department despite a huge size disadvantage. Ursuline rotated five players 5-foot-10 or taller, while Mooney didn’t play anyone over 5-9.

But what the Cardinals lack in size, they make up for in savvy.

“We have five seniors on our team and they’ve been in these types of situations before,” said Zordich, the lone non-senior starter.

Junior Kaneesha Tensley had 11 points, freshman Aurielle Irizarry had 10 points and three steals, and junior Dominique Jenkins had seven points and nine rebounds for Ursuline, which has lost three straight.

“We’re the type of team that continues to make the same mistakes over and over,” Irish coach Sean Durkin said. “Part of that certainly has to be considered coaching.

“We’re young, but we have enough kids with experience that we shouldn’t be making these mistakes. I’m putting that on myself. I have to do a better job preparing them and we didn’t look very prepared for them [Mooney] today.”

In Ursuline’s defense, Thursday’s game was just their third since Dec. 20, due to limited scheduling and weather woes.

“Hopefully we’ll get into a flow of playing two-three times a week and that will get us where we need to be,” Durkin said. “But it still comes down to making the same mistakes over and over and over again.

“Until we’re able to fix that, we’re not going anywhere.”

scalzo@vindy.com