Girls Basketball Falls in Semifinals to Elizabethtown

By Neil Kavanaugh

Catholic University Women’s Basketball played Elizabethtown this past Thursday in a 61-43 playoff loss. The girls fought hard all season, posting a final record of 16-10, and snuck into the playoffs. The Cards went a respectable 8-6 in the conference, beating teams like Susquehanna, Junita, Goucher, and Drew. Catholic also had a very impressive show at the Jamie Lynn Roberts Tournament, winning both of those games by a 20-plus margin. The girls also had a good February, going 5-1 for the month. The Cardinals averaged 59 points a game, 40.3 rebounds per game, and 12.3 assists per game. They finished with a healthy 26.2% on 3-point shots.

Freshman forward Luca Mamula led the team in scoring with 270 points on the season, and an average of 11.3 points per game. Junior foreword Sydney Poindexter recorded 254 points this season, and an average of 10.2 points per game. Junior forward Megan Stafford put up 224 points this season with an average of 8.6 per game, and junior guard Mollie Reynolds finished the year with 179 points and 6.9 per game. Freshman guard Amanda Johnson had a great season with 79 points, and 7.2 points per game.

The semifinals game was held at 0-0 until a layup from the Bluejays with 8:23 left in the first. Elizabethtown got another three, but the Cardinals answered with a free throw by sophomore guard Maggie Rakowsky. This was followed by a layup from Johnson to get the Birds back within two. This back and forth seemed to go on for awhile, but the Bluejays began to build traction, and the first quarter came to an end with the Cards down 18-6. The Birds performed much better, but could not seem to get over the hump, and ended the half down 34-17.  The Birds tried hard but it was just too deep of a deficit to climb out of, and the girls fell to Elizabeth 61-43 at the end of regulation.

This may not have been the ending that the team was looking for, but the future is bright. The roster is young, and the entire starting lineup will be returning next season. The girls posted a very impressive season, being the ninth straight time that the team has had at least 16 wins.