There’s a saying that sports are 95 percent mental, five percent physical. A player’s confidence goes a long way.
Carolyn Gallagher is a perfect example.
The Archbishop Molloy sophomore forward got off to a great start after a solid preseason, but after a few down performances, her confidence sagged. It led to a mini-slump. Recently, her confidence returned and it’s showing on the court.
Saturday afternoon she had her finest outing yet, scoring a career-high 30 points to go along with 14 rebounds, as Molloy advanced to the CHSAA Class A state final with a 55-44 over Holy Trinity at St. John Villa on Staten Island.
“This lifts it up obviously,” Gallagher said of her confidence.
She set the tone early with 12 first-quarter points as Molloy built a 25-13 lead and helped put away Holy Trinity with 12 more in the final quarter.
Entering the matchup, Stanners coach Tom Catalanotto felt Molloy’s forwards could be the difference since both teams have very good guards, a notion that bore out as Gallagher scored inside and out, hitting jump shots and finishing around the hoop.
“I needed to score, make sure I tried to get open,” she said. “I needed to move my feet, get the ball, rip through and do the rest.”
Said the coach: “She did everything we asked her to do.”
Kamille Ejerta scored nine points for Molloy (15-13) and Amani Tatum, a sophomore like Gallagher, had six. Katie Poppe paced the Titans (19-9) with 16 points.
Holy Trinity was down just 46-39 late in the fourth quarter, but Ejerta went backdoor for a layup and Gallagher sank four straight free throws.
The Stanners’ belief is through the roof now heading into Sunday’s ‘A’ final showdown against Nichols (Buffalo), a 68-58 winner over Cardinal Spellman in the night cap. Molloy battled through an inconsistent regular season, in part because of its youth. It had a chance to go ‘AA,’ but lost a fourth-place tiebreaker game to Bishop Ford.
Catalanotto was disappointed at the time, but knew it was better for his players to possibly get to Albany as an ‘A’ instead of having to deal with ‘AA’ powers Nazareth and Christ the King.
“This is more beneficial, absolutely,” he said. “It’s more experience. This is gonna prepare them for the ‘AA’ next year.”
Catalanotto made sure his players understood getting to Albany as an ‘A’ would be just as important to their growth as pulling upsets in ‘AA.’ It has shown in their play, winning both state playoffs games by double figures.
“It would mean a lot to the seniors,” Ejerta said. “They want to go out with a win. It would be a good feeling to represent Molloy for a state championship.”
Catalonotto also thinks the crown would set up his underclassmen to challenge for league supremacy next year, having the confidence – there’s that word again – of a state title.
“Next year we don’t plan on being in the ‘A,’ we plan to be in the ‘AA’ and one of the teams to beat,” he said. “The whole winning thing will hopefully carry over to next season.”
