Holy Angels Wins St. E's League Championship, 27 - 19, Over Ursuline

by Jim Charles

March 6, 2009

For all you hoops fans out there who don’t give much credit to any level under high school, you have no idea what you’re missing.  There is strong, exciting, and very enjoyable local basketball – even at the 5^th & 6^th grade level.  As Exhibit A, we would humbly submit the St. Elizabeth’s League.  At its worst, league competitive level is fairly competent.  And, when any two of the better teams in the league lock horns, the on-court product is every bit as thrilling as a Caesar Rodney/Middletown game.

More important than how well the basketball looks from the stands is how well these young players are learning and implementing the skills they’ll need to win high school varsity roster spots.  And make no mistake, the girls in this league are the stars of tomorrow, give or take a couple of years.  This season, one could witness killer crossover dribbles from Claire Igo (St. John the Beloved), exceptional floor reading from Courtney Wallace (Ursuline Academy), true spin dribbling moves from Brittany Walls (St. John the Beloved), tough-as-nails play under the basket from Miranda Schiccatano (Ursuline) and Caroline Davis (Holy Angels), and just about every other skill not already mentioned from Adrianna Hahn (Immaculate Heart of Mary).

The finalists this year are Ursuline and Holy Angels – a rematch of the Sherwood Park Shootout finals, held earlier in the year and dutifully covered on this website.

If stocks were issued for sports programs, then the Holy Angels girls basketball shares would be trading at a very high price.  Their 7^th/8^th grade varsity C team recently won the CYM girls title and the St. E’s League 5^th/6^th grade team has hardly been any less successful.  The future of the varsity team there should be very secure.  For the Angelic Ones, the path to the finals featured wins over host St. Elizabeth’s and St. John the Beloved.  They were the only team to run the table in the playoffs.

For Ursuline Academy, the road to the big game was a little more circuitous.  A first round loss to St. John’s meant that the Raiders would have to work their way out of the loser bracket with no margin for error.  UA then beat St. Mary of the Assumption, 33 – 19, IHM, 34 – 29, and lastly, exacted revenge on St. John’s for the earlier loss by notching a 31 – 23 victory, thus punching their ticket to the finals.

The Championship Game started out pretty much according to the predicted script.  Caroline Davis and Miranda Schiccatano – the teams’ two “bigs” – were battling it out for control of the low post, while Renada L’Italien and Courtney Wallace were dueling it out at the point guard position.  All four girls have noteworthy skills that separate them from the typical players of this age group.  All four can hit the three.  Davis and Schiccatano, though frontcourt players, are very good advancing the ball and may have been point guards in previous lives.  L’Italien and Wallace, despite not being particularly blessed with excess height, are amazing rebounders – giving them a dimension not normally found out of the 1-guard slot.  L’Italien has an array of shot types including something that looks like a running hook shot.  Players this age don’t have hook shots!  Moreover, she’s actually quite successful with her hook.  And Wallace’s peripheral vision skills are downright confounding.  While it appears that her eyes are not looking at anything in particular, she’s actually seeing everything and all her teammates at any given time.  And the proof of that is in her passes. 

As the game wore on, Holy Angels was getting a bit more offense than UA, thanks to the great day that Caroline Davis (11 points) and Renada L’Italien (8 points) were combining for.  At the half, the Angels were up, 12 – 7.  However, Ursuline starting showing signs of life in the 3^rd, winning that 6 minute frame by an 8 – 6 score.  The game was a one-possession affair after 3 periods, 18 – 15, Holy Angels.  In the 4^th quarter, Holy Angels kept applying their steady offensive pressure while Ursuline did not help their own cause by making some ill-advised and weak passes into traffic which generally resulted in turnovers.  There may also have also been an over reliance on a “pound it into the paint” strategy by the Raiders at the expense of spreading out the shot selections.  If Holy Angels is concentrating their defense in the interior on Schiccatano, why not play to the strong UA perimeter shooting of Wallace (6 points), Maddie Hughes, and other guards?  Of course, it’s easy to “backseat coach” from the stands.  And to be fair, there’s no way of knowing for sure that even if the Raiders went to a more “perimeter” game that the outcome would’ve been any different. 

So, as it was, the Angels prevailed and capped off an exceptional season with a 27 - 19 win over UA to claim the 2009 St. E’s League Title.

Top scorers for UA:  Courtney Wallace & Miranda Schiccatano, 6 points each; Carolanne Deal, 3 points.

For Holy Angels:  Caroline Davis, 11 points; Renada L'Italien, 8 points; Micah Morgan, 4 points.

Maddie Hughes pumped up during the pre-game player introductions.

Caroline Davis and Miranda Schiccatano battle for a rebound.

When running point, Renada L'Italien has ice water in her veins.  She is one cool customer.  We've never seen a moment's worth of panic on her face or in her basketball.

A little bit of an optical illusion.  Miranda Schiccatano tries to put up a shot on Caroline Davis, but the attempt is being thwarted by another hand on the ball.  At first glance, it looks like Davis' right hand.  But a closer look reveals it to be from another Holy Angels player entirely.

A temporarily hurt Raider is attended to by Kelly Mark and Shawn Venesky.

One thing guards do is, umm, guard.  Don't know exactly which one is on offense, but we see good guarding going on all the same.  Maddie Hughes for UA, Bridget McLaughlin for Holy Angels.

Davis and Schiccatano battled it out all day long.  Here, Miranda goes up nicely with a layup.  She would score 6 points for Ursuline.

And turnabout fair play, this is what it looked like when the lefty Davis ran the ball in.

Basketball brings many experiences.  Sometimes, there is pain.  Here is captured the moment Aria DiLiberto made contact with the floor at the end of a tussle for control of the ball with Micah Morgan.

If a picture can capture the "poetry of basketball", this one might just do it.  #33, Renada L'Italien has just released her shot.  All around her, every girl is springing into action doing her own job.

Aria DiLiberto argues her case to Coach Kelly Mark.

Caroline Davis would collect an unprecedented THIRD iPOW award for the Holy Angels program this winter season.  The other Angels' winners being Leigh Ann Lennon and Haley Schweizer.  Yet a fourth Angel, Sabrina Hackendorn, won an iPOW last summer in AAU competition!  The future looks bright indeed for fans of H.A.

Your runner-ups, Ursuline Academy.

The 2009 St. Elizabeth's League Champions:  Holy Angels

Click here for video of the final moments of the game.

DelGirlsHoops@aol.com