Queen gets triple-double as TCA advances to title game
TRENTON » Somebody’s Got To Survive!
Little did the Trenton Catholic Academy girls basketball team realize how appropriate their warmup shirts emblazoned with that saying would be Tuesday night at the CURE Insurance Arena.
Paired with fourth-seeded Notre Dame High in the semifinals of the Mercer County Tournament, the top-seeded Mikes had to scrap their way to a 51-46 victory to advance to Thursday’s 5:30 p.m. MCT final with third-seeded Pennington. The Red Raiders defeated second-seeded Allentown, 56-43, earlier in the day.
So close was this second semifinal match-up, that most believed it was still anybody’s game until Jada Queen picked off a pass with 1.5 seconds left to secure the win.
It was that kind of game for the 5-foot-11 senior forward. Though known for her rebounding and scoring, Queen actually achieved a triple-double because of that last swipe.
“We watched a lot of films on them, so I knew their plays,” Queen said. “I wanted to hang back to watch their guards, so I could get the steals.”
From start to finish, Queen was slipping through the defense and picking off passes, plus hauling in 16 rebounds, scoring 11 points and blocking two shots.
“We were expecting this kind of a game because they play hard, and we play hard,” Queen said.
So close are the two teams that each had a Seymour twin playing for it. Breyonna Seymour, a 5-10 senior forward, was standing alongside Queen and grabbing 11 rebounds, while scoring nine points. Brittiney Seymour, a 6-1 senior forward, did not get on the board, but ripped down a handful of rebounds while playing alongside ND 6-2 sophomore Erika Porter, who led the Irish with 17 points and 12 rebounds.
“If you’re going to beat a good team like TCA, you can’t give up as many turnovers and offensive rebounds as we did, or miss as many layups,” Notre Dame head coach James Martinos said. “We had 42 turnovers and just nine assists. I told them, ‘You just need to relax and play.’”
That was not easy for either team to do. After one quarter, they were tied at six. Queen helped the Mikes go on an 8-0 run to open the second quarter, only to see ND come back to cut the lead to 20-17 at intermission after a last second 3-point field goal missed the mark.
The game was tied at 24 with just over four minutes left in the third quarter when TCA got some separation, building a 39-30 lead. But when Kayla Burnett scored off an inbound pass and Eve Crawford hit a 16-foot jump shot with 2:48 left in the fourth, the Irish drew as close as 45-43.
“I think our energy toward the end saved us,” TCA head coach Bob Fusik said. “We were lucky to be on the winning side at the end.”
Giana Boulden matched Breyonna Seymour with nine points for the Mikes, while Leah Johnson added 14 points to keep ND in the mix until Queen, who hit two free throws and came up with two steals in the last two minutes, helped the top seed survive.
Jantorno 2-1-6, ECrawford 1-0-2, BriSeymour 0-0-0, NSmith 0-0-0, Burnett 2-0-5, AJones 1-0-2, LJohnson 5-3-14, Porter 5-7-17.
16-11-46.
Totals —
BreSeymour 3-3-9, Reed 0-2-2, Queen 4-3-11, Boulden 4-0-9, Maddox 0-0-0, Saunders 0-0-0, Massenat 3-2-8, JBoyd 2-0-5, Elgizawy 3-1-7.
19-11-51.
Totals — NotrDame(18-6) TCA (23-2) 3-point goals — 6 6 11 14 13 19 16 — 12 — 46 51
Jantorno, Burnett, LJohnson (ND), Boulden, JBoyd (TCA).