Irish finally put it all together
At long last, Sacred Heart Cathedral’s girls basketball team played at full strength Tuesday at USF, and it showed.
One might say the No. 8 Irish played lights out during an 80-54 West Coast Athletic League-opening win over ninth-ranked St. Ignatius (12-2).
The Irish got a big boost from transfers Jayden Benitez, a 5foot-4 junior point guard from Washington High, and Taloauau Li-Uperesa, a 5-11 sophomore post from Gateway, to support another big game from Cincinnati-signee IImari’I Thomas, who had 25 points, 13 rebounds and seven blocks.
Benitez (17 points, four assists) and LiUperesa (10 points, nine rebounds) played their first game for the Irish (7-5), who snapped a three-game losing streak and scored a season high in the process. The two players missed SHC’s first 11 games because of the Central Coast Section transfer sit-out rule.
The Irish are the defending state Division III champions. They used a 21-4 spurt in the first quarter to run away from St. Ignatius, which got 15 points from Ayzhiana Basallo and 10 by Maggie Burke.
“It’s nice to see everyone out there together and show a little of their potential,” SHC coach LyRyan Russell said. “Especially playing (top-ranked) Mitty on Friday.”
The Irish played a rugged preseason schedule using primarily a seven-person rotation.
“No excuses, but the teams we were playing went much deeper into the bench,” Russell said. “It was great to shuffle girls in and out. Plus they really opened up the floor for” Thomas.
Yaniah Fleming made four three-pointers and finished with 12 points.
Thomas took just 10 shots (she made six), but drilled 13 of 15 free-throw tries.
“It was great having everyone, but we can play even better,” Thomas said. “We’re going to need to to beat Mitty.”
The game was delayed 25 minutes with 5:12 left in the fourth quarter when the lights went out because of the stormy conditions.
“I’ve never been in a situation like that before,” Russell said. “I thought of the 49ers’ Super Bowl in New Orleans. It didn’t seem to bother the girls, though.”
The Irish outscored St. Ignatius 23-12 in the fourth quarter.