Albertus Magnus Girls Basketball Starts Post-Season Strong with 55-35 Win Over Nyack

The Albertus Magnus Falcons took home their first girls basketball playoff win of the season Friday night with a dominant 55-35 victory over the Nyack Indians.

In facing off against the third seed Falcons, the 14 seed Indians put forth an excellent effort, however, they could not match up against the Falcons talent, skill and depth.

“I thought Nyack played great, I didn’t think we played that well,” said the Falcons head coach Pat Buckley.  “They came out with a lot of intensity and I thought they controlled most of the game.  We have a talented team and they are not as talented as we are, but they did a great job as a team.  We beat them the first time we played by a bunch, so this was definitely the closest game and they did a really good job.”

Despite the loss, Darren Shepard was pleased with his team’s performance and their effort through all four quarters.

“I can say I’m really, really proud of my team,” said Shepard.  “I thought we played hard, I mean they obviously have more talent than we do and we knew that and the only way we could do it is not make a mistake and play as hard as we could.  We played as hard as we could, but it’s still a good team and I thought they all played terrifically.  There are kids who I wish had maybe hit a few more shots, but that’ll come in the future, they’re young kids.”

Nyack’s star senior forward Rachelle McNair agreed, saying, “My goal going into the game was just to lead my team.  I told them from the beginning of the game, just work as hard as you can and we went as hard as we could.  So I was satisfied with that, we played as hard as we could.  With an inexperienced team, I think we did very well.”

McNair carried her team throughout the game.  In addition to being the scoring leader for the game with 18 points, McNair made her presence felt as she rebounded the ball, blocked shots, forced turnovers and took the ball coast to coast.

“We know we ride on her [McNair’s] shoulders,” said Shepard.  “I was hoping that some of the young kids could take a few more shots.  That’s what we needed, because they would just close in on her, so all we needed was somebody else to shoot and again, tentativeness.  But it will come from experience.

The Falcons really keyed in on her to shut her down in the second half.  They were mostly successful and, unfortunately for the Indians, they did not have the depth to have solid second, third and fourth options to go to.

In a game that started off sluggish for both sides, McNair kept the Knights in it in the first half with 12 of her team’s 16 points.  The Falcons began to warm up, however, and went into the half leading Nyack 24-16.  Felicia DaCruz and Ryan Doherty led at the half for the Falcons with six and five points, respectively.

The Falcons did an excellent job defensively in the third quarter to keep Nyack to six points.  Offensively, they continued to warm up as they scored 14 to make it 38-22 going into the fourth.  McNair got to the line a couple times and hit a field goal to tack on another five in the fourth.  DaCruz and Katelyn Spicer led Albertus with five points a piece as well.  The game finished with Albertus securely in the lead 55-35.

DaCruz was the high-scorer for the Falcons with 15 points.

“In practice this week especially, and all season, we’ve been working on getting tougher,” said DaCruz.  “I think we’ve been getting out-toughed and out-hustled some of the closer games, so we worked on that this week and we did that to our best ability tonight and I think we did that really well.  Also, just working together as a team like we did all season, we did that also and overall we played a good game and I’m happy with the way we played.”

Nyack finishes 8-12 for the season.  Albertus improves to 18-1 and moves on to face Tappan Zee in the quarterfinals Tuesday.

Despite the dominant win, Buckley is looking to see some significant improvements by Tuesday.

“We were just a little sloppy,” said Buckley.  “I thought we fouled early, a bunch of our girls got two fouls in the first quarter, so we’ve just got to clean it up if we’re going to be consistent and successful, we’ve got to play better.”  He added, “Any playoff win is a good win, because their season is over and ours is not.  So we just found out that Tappan Zee won, so we have Tappan Zee on Tuesday here and I’m hoping we play much better, we’re going to need to.”

Though she is taking the time to enjoy Friday’s win, DaCruz is also looking forward to the quarterfinals.

 “Basketball is an emotional game, but you’ve got to keep your emotions inside until we get the goals that we’ve set for each other and for our team,” said DaCruz.  “So yeah, it’s a win for us, but also we’ve got to look ahead to the next game and we can’t be too happy, but we can be happy for tonight.”

She went on to outline what they are going to have to do to move onto the semifinals.

“We’re going to have to come out and just play our best game that we can and work on what we’ve worked on all season,” said DaCruz.  “They’re [Tappan Zee] a great team and they’ve got great players on their team, so we have to play our best and we have to just contribute every way we can and just play our roles.”

If they stick to their game and play hard, DaCruz is confident in their ability to take home a win.

“We’re pretty confident, but at the same time, you can’t take any team lightly, and you can’t underestimate any team, especially Tappan Zee,” said DaCruz.  “I feel like they have been looked over all season and really they’re a great team and they have great players.  They have much athleticism on their team, so I wouldn’t overlook them, but we’re definitely confident going in.”

The Falcons will take on the Dutchmen in the quarterfinals at home on Tuesday, Feb. 22, at 5 p.m.