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Ursuline comeback foiled by Akron Hoban
By BRIAN DZENIs
YOungstown
Everything was set up for an epic comeback, but Ursuline couldn’t put it together.
The Irish spent Wednesday night chasing Akron Archbishop Hoban, but couldn’t catch the Knights in a 76-69 defeat,
Ursuline trailed by 13 in the final three minutes of the game when it caught a break. A Hoban defender fouled Ursuline’s Destiny Goodnight as she went up for a 3-pointer. She made the shot and then converted a four-point play to inject some life back in the game.
Working in the Irish’s favor was sophomore Dayshanette Harris. She was the game’s best player, finishing with 30 points and 12 rebounds. She cut the deficit to five points with a three-point play with two and a half minutes left, and another and-1 bucket brought the deficit to four with 1:47 left as she kept pace with Hoban’s trips to the free-throw line.
Lindsay Bell brought the Irish to within a point of tying the game with a minute left with a three to make it 70-69.
But Ursuline couldn’t catch Hoban. Guards Emma Tecca and Leah Hall combined for three perfect trips to the line to seal the win for the Knights.
A sluggish first half left Ursuline constantly in pursuit of Hoban. Before the final three minutes, Ursuline had just one 3-pointer in the contest and was getting little offense outside Harris.
“Our first two quarters aren’t how we play basketball. We struggled in the first half. I think we had 16 turnovers in the first half when we had nine in our last game,” Ursuline coach Vannessa Dickson said. “We were out of sorts and we didn’t get collected. We weren’t running our offense correctly, we’re getting out-rebounded.”
Hoban edged Urusline in rebounds, 37-36, but in the eye test, the Knights’ bigs were winning in the paint. Ursuline’s best rebounder was Harris, a guard.
That figure didn’t surprise Dickson nor Harris.
“I encourage my team to work harder,” Harris said. “My out-rebounding them encourages them to work harder.”
Ursuline’s Simone Comer improved on a six-point performance in the first half to finish with 15. Anyah Curd was the most productive fron-court player with 10 points and six rebounds.
Tecca led Hoban with 22 points. Hall added 13 points and Rachel Chessar and Jackie Roberts each put up 10. Lonasia Brewer pulled down 11 rebounds for the Knights
The loss snaps Ursuline’s three-game winning streak to start the season.
“They’re still young, I start four sophomores and we just need short memory, we have Fitch coming up [on Saturday],” Dickson said. “I need them to think about this tonight — this stinks.”