Irish sweep season series from arch-rival Cardinals
By Greg Gulas
YoungStown
In their first meeting back on Dec. 18, Ursuline relied on Tanaya Beacham’s double-double in a 49-37 victory over arch-rival Cardinal Mooney.
In Thursday’s return matchup at the Cardinals’ Gymnasium, four Ursuline players scored in double figures to pace the Fighting Irish to a 56-37 victory.
Beacham had a team-high 13 points; Simone Comer added 11 points while Meghan Cross and Gabby Miklandric each added 10 as Ursuline (5-7) won for the second straight time en route to the series sweep.
“We’ve gotten better every time out and that has been our goal from the beginning of the season,” Ursuline coach Sean Durkin said. “We knew we would experience growing pains and while we’ve gotten better offensively, we’ve gotten much better defensively as well and that really showed tonight.
“Tanaya is a tough match-up who causes a variety of problems while Simone is a freshman who just keeps getting better every game. Tonight she had some big assists and buckets when we needed them the most.”
A bucket by Cardinal Mooney’s Jaclyn Yankle at 2:16 of the opening frame gave the Cardinals (5-5) a 7-6 lead , but a bucket by Cross and two free throws by Miklandric helped Ursuline forge a 10-9 lead in what was a see-saw opening quarter.
That, however, was the closest the Cardinals could get the rest of the way.
A 14-2 run would help the Fighting Irish open a 20-9 margin at 3:31 of the second period, but a bucket by Renee Santisi and triple by Yankle cut the Ursuline lead to 20-14 with a little under two minutes remaining in the opening half.
A 5-0 run by the Fighting Irish to close the half helped Ursuline build a 25-14 lead at the intermission.
“Our goal was to pressure them, take them out of their game and make them play our tempo,” Comer stated. “A win like this, especially against your arch-rival can only build your confidence.”
Beacham, who had just three points in the opening half, scored six points after intermission as Ursuline went on a 15-5 run to open 42-20 lead with one quarter remaining.
Miklandric and Beacham each added four points in the final frame, offsetting Yankle’s seven tallies to ensure the win.
“I picked up two fouls in the first half, didn’t penetrate like I wanted to and had to sit in the second quarter,” Beacham said. “I played much smarter in the second half and that was because I was able to stay out of foul trouble.”
The Fighting Irish held a 19-16 rebound advantage with Xavia King hauling in a game-high six caroms for Ursuline.
“Tonight we were outplayed and you have to give Ursuline credit because they played four solid quarters at both ends of the court,” Cardinals coach Bill Ritter said.
Yankle had a game-high 15 points for Cardinal Mooney while Maggie Monahan hauled in a team-high five rebounds for the Cardinals.