It was another tough session of night court for Cardozo‘s girls varsity basketball team.
The Lady Judges fell 56-30 to the visiting Midwood Lady Hornets on Friday night and their record fell to 3-8 for the season. Amber Rivera led all scorers with 14 points for the Lady Hornets, while freshman Daomi Burch led the Lady Judges in scoring with 12 points.
The first period started slow as both teams failed to hit a field goal for two minutes. Francess Henry, who finished with 13 points for Midwood, scored the first basket of the game and the Lady Hornets went on a 20-0 run in the first quarter.
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“They threw a 1-3-1 at us and we hadn’t really seen that so far this year,” Lady Judges head coach Vinny O’Donoghue said. “They switched up their defense and we got impatient.”
The Lady Judges were on the verge of being shut out in the first quarter when junior Gabrielle Hernandez beat the buzzer to make the score 20-2.
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“We have to do a better job of rebounding the ball,” O’Donoghue said. “We have to crash the boards and the amount of put-backs we allowed was too much to win.”
Cardozo played their best basketball in the second quarter. Daomi Burch flexed her scoring touch and nabbed five quick points to momentarily swing the momentum in Cardozo’s favor.
Sophomore Krystle Roldan created shots for herself and her teammates and forced steals that put the Lady Hornets back in the game during the second quarter. At halftime Midwood was ahead 26-12.
The Lady Judges were within striking distance at the start of the third quarter, but couldn’t get back in the game quick enough. Midwood outscored Cardozo 18-7 in the third quarter and ended any hopes of a home team rally. At the end of three, the Lady Judges were feeling the sting of Midwood’s 44-19 lead.
“Hopefully, next year, the experience we’ll have gained by getting the underclassmen so much varsity experience will help us a lot,” O’Donoghue said. “We’re looking forward to it.”
O’Donoghue had his entire team in the game by the fourth quarter, hoping to add some court experience to a roster with only one senior.
Freshman Alyssa McAdam found her self in the right spot to collect three rebounds and junior Sierra Mundine scored four points. Roldan finished with six points, while sophomore Gabriella Valdes and junior Gabrielle Hernandez each had five points.
“We’re getting a lot of experience and this is a complex game,” Burch said. “We’re learning to work harder and improve as a team by playing varsity now.”