Holy Innocents', Pace Split Region Hoops Contests

Tuesday’s Holy Innocents’ basketball rivalry with Pace turned out to be a split decision – the girls won ugly while the boys were victims of a strong Knight second half in their effort.

Starting with the girls, Coach Tony Watkins’ squad endured a cold shooting night, but offset it with great defense in a 48-27 Region 6AA victory.“We played as sloppy offensively as we have all year,” Watkins said. “We missed 14 easy shots around the basket in the first half alone. Unfortunately, things didn’t get much better in the second half. We did have a season high of steals – with 27 – but we just couldn’t capitalize on their turnovers.

“For the positives, I think Khayla Pointer did a nice job of trying to make things happen on defense. When all is said and done, we’ll just chalk it up as a bad game and go back to work at practice.”Pointer led the stat sheet – the junior guard had 12 points, six steals and six rebounds while Kaila Hubbard contributed nine points, seven rebounds and five steals. Erika Cassell also scored nine to go with four boards and Aaliyah Milord picked had six points, four rebounds and five steals.

Shai Blanding scored five points; Kennedy Suttle four and Grace Asbury three. Blanding also picked up three assists and four steals; Suttle had 11 boards and Asbury three rebounds.

In the boys’ game, Terry Kelly’s bunch was up by one after a quarter and by five at half, but the Knights scored the first seven points of the third period in turning the tides. Pace led by as many as nine in the final stanza before holding on for a 63-58 victory.

Jules Erving had another good game with 20 points and six rebounds; Richard Surdykowski continued to come on strong with 13 points and seven boards. Cole Smith also scored 13; Matt Meadows had five, Ibrahim Shabazz four and Harrison Cobb three.

”Despite playing without Brent Duncan, we don’t take this loss as a moral victory,” Kelly summarized. “It’s not a case of ‘next time’, we feel we can compete with all the teams in our region and in the state. We have some areas to improve upon on the offensive end; we have all the necessary tools, we just need to get a better understanding of each other’s strengths.

“Defensively, as always, we played smart and together. Being undersized at four positions, we found a way to limit their interior options and slow their transition. You’d be hard-pressed to find a better defensive team in the region than us.”

Looking ahead, the Bears face a busy region weekend – the boys play at BEST Academy Friday night while both teams are at home Saturday against Wesleyan. The HIES-Wesleyan girls’ matchup will be a rematch of last year’s Class AA state finals.