FSHA Varsity Cagers Hold Off Lakewood St. Joseph, 52-44

Although Lakewood St. Joseph staged a rally in the second half of their Cardinal Classic Tournament pool play game last Thursday, the Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy varsity basketball team was able to hold on to win, 52-44.

The Tologs, who improved to 8-6, continued participation in the tournament, held at Cantwell/Sacred Heart of Mary High in Montebello, through last Saturday.

Sacred Heart will travel to Mission Hills Alemany today (Thursday) to open Mission League play with a 7 p.m. contest. The Tologs will visit Chaminade next Tuesday and will host Louisville next Thursday in 7 p.m. league games.

In the St. Joseph contest, Sacred Heart had built up a big lead in the first half and that helped them hold off the Jesters in the second half.

The Tologs led 17-9 at the end of the first quarter and 32-17 at the half. St. Joseph, which outscored Sacred Heart in the second half, 27-20, closed the gap to 42-29 after three quarters.

Senior Breanna Barnhart led the Tologs with 16 points. She was followed by juniors Ashley Kokawa with 14 points and Arielle Orona with 10 points.

Other scorers were seniors Nicki Witt and Annelise Lupica with six and five points, respectively, and junior Nina DiPietro with one point.

By holding Norwalk to just 11 points in the second half of their tournament pool play game on Dec. 27, Sacred Heart was able to walk away with a 64-44 victory.

Sacred Heart opened up a 24-14 lead against Norwalk at the end of the first quarter, but the Lancers closed the gap to 36-33 at the half. The Tologs put the game out of reach in the third quarter by going ahead, 53-40.

Four Tologs scored in double figures. Orona led the team with 16 points and she also had six rebounds, three assists and one steal. Lupica was next with 14 points and she also contributed two rebounds and two blocked shots.

Kokawa added 12 points, three rebounds, three steals and one assist. Barnhart chipped in 11 points six rebounds, one assist, one steal and one blocked shot.

Witt came through with six points, five assists, two rebounds and two steals. Junior Maddy Emanuel had four points, two rebounds and one steal. Freshman Michelle Martinez had one point, two rebounds and one blocked shot and sophomore Nicki Moriguchi finished with two rebounds.