Cardozo Girls Tops Thomas Jefferson, 61-50

The Lady Judges strike again!

The Cardozo girls varsity basketball team improved their record to 2-0 with a 61-50 win  Friday over the Orange Wave from Brooklyn's Thomas Jefferson Campus.

"I'm very happy with the progress. Last year this team had a super-squad and beat us 101-40," Cardozo Head Coach Vinny O'Donoghue said. "We're playing teams that are really comparable. This was a team effort.  We have no superstars. We looked for each other and we won because of a lot of good teamwork."

Cardozo played together from the opening tip as the Lady Judges started the game with a 6-0 run. Although they struggled with Thomas Jefferson's full-court press, the sophomore backcourt tandem of Krystie Roldan and Gabriella Valdes powered Cardozo on both ends of the floor. The Lady Judges had a commanding, 22-8, lead at the end of the first quarter.   

Thomas Jefferson senior Kierra Cargill scored six of her nine first-half points in the quarter and the Orange Wave began to make their move. As Cardozo continued to struggle against the press, the Orange Wave cut the halftime deficit to seven points.

"We struggled with the press, it's something we talked about and went over," said O'Donoghue. "We work on not dribbling through the press and trying to pass through. We've still got a lot of work to do in that area, but we are working on it."

Early in the third, Cardozo increased their lead to ten, but made several turnovers trying to break the press. Thomas Jefferson went on a 6-0 run to early in the quarter forced O'Donoghue to call time out. 

"We talked about using the clock better in the timeout - we didn't plan on all the turnovers and basically giving the ball to the other team," O'Donoghue said. "I tip my hat to them. (Thomas Jefferson) didn't give up at all."

Once the Lady Judges regrouped, they went on a 6-0 of their own and regained their 10-point lead. Gabrielle Hernandez was in the right place for the Lady Judges at almost every critical point of the game. The junior finished the game with 16 points and three rebounds. Daomi Burch hit a 3 pointer at the buzzer to end the third quarter with Cardozo ahead, 46-33.

Cargill kept coming despite her team's deficit and finished the day with a game-high 24 points. Hernandez and Valdes protected the Lady Judges' lead in the fourth quarter and gave O'Donoghue the opportunity to clear his bench and get everyone in the game.

Burch lead the Lady Judges with 19 points and five rebounds, while Valdes tallied 13 points, seven rebounds and eight assists. Sierra Mundine also had a strong game, collecting 10 points and eight rebounds for the Lady Judges.

"Towards the end of the fourth quarter we all lost it for a minute or two, but we knew what we had to do" Valdes said. "Everyone knew we had to step it up, this was a pretty important win for us."