Albertus Magnus Wears Down Clarkstown North to Win RCPSAL Girls Basketball Championship

There were few who viewed Saturday’s match-up between Albertus Magnus and Clarkstown North as the “true” Rockland County girls’ basketball championship game.

The Falcons and Pearl River, two of the top-ranked teams in New York State let alone the county, split a pair of regular-season games, and many fans hoped the County Championship would be the rubber match.  But only one of them could advance to play their large-school counterparts. After Albertus won a coin toss earlier this week to earn its place in the title game, Saturday's game felt a bit anti-climactic.

Albertus Magnus didn’t allow Clarkstown North much of a chance to change that mood, earning a workmanlike 65-44 victory and the 2011 Rockland County Public School Athletic League Championship before a packed house at Clarkstown South. The victory was the fourth in a row for the Falcons (17-1), who are ranked 10th in the state among Class A schools.

“This was a good opportunity for us to play for a championship,” said Albertus coach Pat Buckley, whose squad has averaged 69.5 points in four games since suffering its lone loss to Pearl River two weeks ago. “Clarkstown North did a great job. The format [of the game] is the format, though. It’s unfortunate on our side because it came down to a coin toss. I’m just happy, though, that the girls had an opportunity to play in a game like this.

“It’s a championship and I’m glad we had the opportunity to play for one. It’s also another game that will help us prepare for Sectionals [next week.]”

The loss capped a rough week for Clarkstown North (11-6). Junior varsity coach John Sullivan, who was also a varsity assistant coach, died last Sunday. His passing left the Rams in a somber state, though that was not evident in their early play. North was able to keep the game close for much of the first half, effectively utilizing a zone defense before the Falcons opened a double-digit lead that ballooned to as many as 25 points in the second half.

“Our girls showed a tremendous amount of character,” said North coach Kerry Sullivan, who is not related to John Sullivan. “We had a loss and we had a lot to deal with. But they came out and to play as hard as they did, I give them so much credit."

Sullivan said the perception that Pearl River was more deserving of a spot in the finals "is a little disheartening."

"The girls played hard all year and earned every second on the court today. I just try not to let the girls know about that kind of things,” Sullivan said.

Kassie Kayser led the Falcons, scoring 16 of her team-high 18 points in the first half. She had 11 in the first quarter, allowing Albertus to maintain a slim advantage as it worked to figure out the Rams’ zone defense.

“Kassie is a good defender and she really scraps for us,” Buckley said. “It’s nice to know when we need to have someone step up and score, we do. We were taking a lot of quick shots against the zone and we weren’t making some threes. If Kassie doesn’t make some of those big shots, it’s definitely a different story at the half.”

Kerry Sullivan didn’t put the zone defense into her game plan until Friday. While it was effective for a while in the first half, she simply didn’t have enough time to work on it in practice during the week, and ultimately, Albertus was able to make adjustments while the Rams were not.

“We came out so fired up,” Clarkstown’s Amanda Cooper said. “We knew the whole thing was going to be a pace of play thing with them. Playing with them is a different game and when they got the lead, they were able to break away.

“The whole situation this week also hurt us. We came in knowing that we had a huge weight on our shoulders. We just wanted to leave it all out there."

Cooper scored all six of her points in the first quarter. Teammate Danielle DeStaso had a game-high 20. Felicia DaCruz had 13 for the Falcons, who also picked up a 24-point victory over the Rams in their December season-opener.

By the Numbers

Albertus Magnus 65, Clarkstown North 44

Score by quarter
Clarkstown North 14-8-10-13 < 44
Albertus Magnus 15-19-16-15 < 65

Clarkstown North (44) - Brooke Schwartz 2-0-5, Liz Baisley 1—0-2, Danielle DeStaso 6-8-20, Nikki Petri 2-0-4, Brianne Schneider 0-2-2, Nicole Santamaria 0-0-0, Amanda Cooper 3-0-6, Kyla Donegan 0-0-0, Lexy Eckhart, 0-0-0, Christina Graziano 2-1-5, Julie Trainor 0-0-0, Jen Mongiori 0-0-0, Jillian Housman 0-0-0, Totals: 15-11-44.

Albertus Magnus(65) - Russell 0-1-1, Siclari 0-0-0, DaCruz 2-9-13, Power 0-0-0, Spicer 1-2-5, Kayser 7-1-18, Guarino 3-3-9, Widmer 0-0-0, Richards 4-1-9, Parahaus 3-2-8, O’Riordan 0-0-0, Doherty 0-2-2 Totals: 20-21-65.

3-pointers made
3-point goals - CN: Schwartz 1,  AM: Keyser 3, Spicer 1

Records
Records - Clarkstown North 11-6; Albertus Magnus 17-1

Game Notes: For Clarkstown North, Danielle DeStaso had a double double with 20 points and 10 rebounds.