JoAnn Wagner warned her team that this time would be different. The last time her St. Francis Prep team met St. John Villa in the comfort of Fresh Meadows, the Terriers picked up a lopsided win.
“We told them that was three weeks ago,” the coach said. “That was on our court with our officials and our Senior Night. Today you are going to be on their court, it is going to be Staten Island officials. The one thing that they can’t dictate to you is your level of intensity.”
The Terriers came out strong in the opening minutes, but slowly saw Villa’s effort surpass theirs. Starters Meghan Erdman and Jenna Halaby sat out most of the second quarter after picking up two quick fouls with the fear that the third wasn’t far behind.
SFP fell behind by 12 at the half and never got closer than five in the fourth quarter of an eventual, season-ending 61-53 loss to host St. John Villa in the CHSAA Class A girls basketball state tournament first round Wednesday.
“Once our people got into foul trouble that’s when everything went downhill,” senior guard Shatira Hamlet said. “We were pumped, ready for the game, ready to win.”
Hamlet scored 20 points, including SFP’s first six, but Villa ended the first quarter on a 9-2 run led by Nicole Francomano (18 points) to grab a 13-10 advantage in the game. With the Adelphi-bound Halaby and Erdman out of the game and Katie Pulido still too sick to play, the Terriers (11-16) struggled to rebound against the scrappy Bears and defend the paint. Villa (15-14), which also got 11 points from Dorothy O’Neill, took a 29-17 lead into the half. SFP beat the Bears, 59-40, in the first meeting.
“There were many times we stood and watched and waited for that ball to come to us and they went and got it,” Wagner said.
Halaby came alive after the break, scoring all 11 of her points and Erdman added seven. Halaby nailed a trey and converted a 3-point play to open the third but Villa answered, like it would the rest of the way, with a 6-0 run of its own. A Hamlet drive pulled the Terriers as close as 57-52 with 40.8 seconds left in the game. Danielle Iacampo made just 1-of-2 free throws for Villa, but Erdman had an entry pass to the post tipped and ended up turning it over to allow the Bears to finally close it out.
“It was really irritating,” Hamlet said of Villa continually turning back her team’s runs. “We had dumb fouls and they were finishing their foul shots. We weren’t at all.”
It ends the career of the team’s seniors, many of whom played since they were sophomores. Their senior moment and effort came too late to keep their season going.
““Their intensity was a lot higher than ours was,” Wagner said. “Until the fourth quarter when I think the bell final went off and they realized this could be it.”
