Holy Angels Defeats St. Joe’s on the Brandywine,

27 - 25, on Their Way to Become the

2009 CYM Champions

by Jim Charles

March 3, 2009

Haley Schweizer takes it hard to the hoop against St. Joe's Kathryn DeLillio.

With a serious winter nor’easter looming just hours away, a new CYM champion was crowned at Padua Academy Sunday afternoon, thus bringing down the curtain on an exciting season of 7^th/8^th grade basketball. 

The match-up featured an upstart St. Joe’s team, small on numbers, but big on talent, pitted against a Holy Angels lineup that has been nothing less than a basketball machine this year. 

The Angels’ offense is not to be believed and must be witnessed in-person to get the full effect.  There are no less than three girls relied upon for point-guard duties, and every one is a gem.  Leigh Ann Lennon brings up the rock, as do Haley Schweizer and Claudia Seemans.  Each of these has her own unique style.  Schweizer is a flashy, speedy, take-it-to-the-bucket 1-guard.  Seemans is more of a “table setter.”  She distributes the ball well, protects the ball better than most guards, and is a deadly three-point threat when called upon to dial her own number.  Lennon’s game is more cerebral than that of the other two girls, but no less effective.  Her strength seems to be shooting in the high-traffic areas just under the basket.  An accomplished follower of her own shots, she can put points on the board from second and third tries.  Having these three very different looks out of the guard position creates, as you would expect, headaches in opposing coaches.  In the frontcourt, Sabrina Hackendorn does all a coach could ask.  A bear on the boards, she is an ace at putbacks when under her own basket, and at ending opponent possessions under the opposite hoop. 

The path to the finals for the Titans was paved with a biting man-to-man defense, savvy play from the backcourt duo of Kendall Robino and Rebecca Salter, and one of the best forwards in the C Division, Sophie McCoy.  Although you’ll often see just 2 players on the bench for St. Joe’s, the team gets a lot of mileage out of each girl.  The choice of man defense was a masterstroke from Coach Salter.  Not employed nearly as often as it should be by league coaches, when a team goes to it and gets it right, opponent offenses invariably are put into a panic.  But more importantly than the win or the loss of the moment, Coach Salter is doing his players a very big long-term favor.  An incoming high school freshman well-versed in man-to-man will have a great head start over her teammates that played it only rarely, if at all.  And, if her high school coach happens to be a fan of zone defenses, she can make the transition from man to zone fairly easily.

In the semi-finals, Holy Angels made quick work of an 8 – 2 St. Anthony’s team by a score of 39 - 21, while St. Joe’s could fairly be credited with something of an upset over the 9 – 1 Eagles of St. John the Beloved with their 33 - 28 victory.  SJB just could not get a sustained offensive run going.  Hailey Lawler had trouble finding the basket, as did most of her teammates.  Liz Bates fouled out, St. John’s ill-affording the loss of such a good player on the floor.  In fact, just about the only thing that went right for Eagles was the solid, dependable play of Jenna Wolff who had a dozen points.  Were the results due to a lot of St. John’s players just having an “off day” all at the same time, or could a lot of credit go to that stingy St. Joe’s defense?  A subject that could be debated either way.

At any event, when the finals rolled around and the game got going, it looked like St. Joe’s was picking up where it left off in the semis.  The Holy Angel offense was knocked a little off kilter.  After the first quarter of play, the Titans were up 10 - 7.  At the split, St. Joe's still was on top, 15 - 13.  Early on in the game, the Titans got out to leads of 5, maybe as much as 7 points.  Then, just when it seemed like the Forest Green & White were going to get off on a roll, the Angelic Ones would come up with a couple of big plays and reel the Josephesians back in.  All in all, a good and exciting game.

Holy Angels made good adjustments in the second, calmed themselves down a bit with regard to the Titan defensive schemes, and began playing their game.  While Lennon struggled to put points on the board, Schweizer picked up the slack and nailed key buckets.  She was a model of consistency dividing up her 12 points evenly over the 4 quarters.  Her energy level didn't drop off a bit, from tip off to final buzzer.   She certainly deserved her fair share of the credit for the final result.  But, as surely as no one girl can take all the credit, the Angels provided lots of help from the whole roster.  While only scoring a paltry 27 points, no less than 6 Angel players supplied points to the cause.  And if forward standout Sabrina Hackendorn had trouble lighting up the scoreboard (2 points), her 13 rebounds (more than double the amount of the next-best total) more than made up for the deficiency.

Perhaps, at the end of the day, though, Sabrina Hackendorn summed it up best when she simply said, “This is the greatest team I’ve ever been on!”

On the St. Joe's side of the ledger, it was a treat seeing Sophie McCoy shine and solidify her already good name.  She had 12 points in the semis and 7 in the finals.  Another real good forward is Lauren Kerrigan.  She had 6 points in the finals to go along with a team-leading 9 rebounds.  Still another front-court standout is Bella Gallo.  She was killer in the semis (10 points), and solid in the finals (6 points). 

The scoring queen of the day, Haley Schweizer, had a cool dozen.

A Titan timeout.

Sophie McCoy is simply one of the very best front-court players in CYM...

...And she comes complete with her own fan club!

Her counterpart on Holy Angels is the equally impressive 7th grader, Sabrina Hackendorn.

Leigh Ann Lennon brings it up against Bella Gallo.  Claudia Seemans observes from behind.

Kendal Robino making a pass.

Claudia Seemans doing her best impression of the NBA logo.

Lauren Kerrigan takes it in to the hoop with nothing but white jerseys around her.  Maddie Waegle (#11) is closest, while Emma Mathews (#13) and Haley Schweizer (#23) can also be identified.

And speaking of Emma Mathews, here she is during a break in play.

The 2009 Champs!

Click here to see the Holy Angels players celebrating their big win as it happens!

DelGirlsHoops@aol.com