Notes: York Catholic girls defend Division IV title
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After her team's 57-46 victory over Delone Catholic on Tuesday night, York Catholic guard Rachel Forjan emerged from her team's locker room wearing a gold, Vanderbilt T-shirt.
The wardrobe was an obvious nod to Forjan's friend and former York Catholic teammate Kady Schrann, now a freshman starting for the Commodores.
Did Schrann have any words of advice before Tuesday's game?
"Not really," Forjan said. "Play the game, have fun."
Then again, Forjan joked, maybe there was some good karma in play. Forjan visited Schrann a week ago and watched her friend pile up 29 points in a win over LSU.
After the two talked earlier Tuesday, Forjan proceeded to score 15 points, including a trio of big 3-pointers, during the Irish's senior-night victory.
"I went there and she scored 29 points. She called before this game," Forjan said. "So I feel like we reciprocated very well. I was there for her, she was there for us."
Some other notes...
- York Catholic coach Kevin Bankos was quick to praise 5-foot-11 senior Carly Marks, who scored seven points but piled up 13 huge rebounds. Marks had 10 boards by halftime.
"Carly Marks played the game of her life," Bankos said. "I thought she was definitely the key to the game. She’s that kid that I just keep saying to her ‘Carly, you’re going to have a game one day when the rebounding is going to be more important than the points.’ Today was the day.
"I couldn’t be more proud of her and for her tonight. She established herself and what her role is for this team."
After some early struggles from the foul line, Marks even hit a pair of go-ahead free throws in the third quarter. She finished 5-for-12 from the line.
"This night, it was very emotional, but it couldn’t have ended better," Marks said. "This is the last time I’ll ever play on this court. I just wanted to do everything I could, as we all did."
- The Irish also received key contributions from their bench.
Reserves Deanna Chesko and Zaenna Echevarria each scored four points in the fourth quarter. Echevarria also got the assist to Forjan on the latter's put-away 3-pointer in the waning minutes.
Delone, meanwhile, got just one field goal from its bench, a 3-pointer from Madelynn Comly.
- After knocking down a slew of jump shots in the team's first meeting, a 70-54 Squirettes victory, Delone struggled from the field Tuesday. It shot 14-of-50 from the field, including 3-of-20 from 3-point range.
"I thought our shot selection today was better than it was Saturday against Lancaster Catholic," Squirettes coach Gerry Eckenrode said. "We just didn’t knock the shots down. The girls who usually knock those shots down didn’t."
- Finally, one can't help but think that these two teams will end up seeing each other again. And probably sooner rather than later. The two teams are on the same side of the bracket in the YAIAA tournament. They'll play a double-header at Dover High School on Saturday; Delone plays West York at 6:30 p.m., following by York Catholic and Dallastown at 8 p.m.
If the Irish and Squirettes win, they'll play again next Wednesday at Dallastown. Oh, and they'll also likely be the two top seeds in the District 3-AA tournament (they met in the district final last season).
Let the fun begin.