TCA has Sister Dorothy with them in spirit for state final
Do it for Sister Dorothy.
When the Trenton Catholic Academy girls’ basketball team goes after the NJSIAA Non-Public B state title Saturday, it will do so with the school’s former president in its thoughts and prayers, looking over them.
Sr. Dorothy Payne, Sister of St. Joseph, was a big part of all of the TCA students’ lives. She loved them all, including the school’s hard-working athletes.
“Expect the Exceptional,” she liked to say before her passing Feb. 3 of this year. It was a big blow to a little school which loved her back.
Despite a spectacular 25-3 season, in which it won its first sectional title in eight years, the Mikes will need to be exceptional, like Sister Dorothy directed them, to win their first state title since 2011.
That is because TCA will go up against a loaded, 26-2 Saddle River Day School squad, which has four Division I players on its roster, when the teams meet for the Non-Public B crown at 5 p.m. Saturday at the RWJ Barnabas Health Arena on the campus of Toms River High North.
When it comes to state rankings, this looks like a battle between the No. 8 Mikes and the No. 4 Colonial Rebels, yet it looks a little more like David versus Goliath in biblical terms.
Saddle River Day, the defending NonPublic B state champ, has 5-foot-8 senior guard Michelle Sidor headed to the University of Michigan, 5-8 senior guard Sydnei Caldwell headed to Arizona State, 5-11 senior forward Jaida Patrick headed to Duke and six-foot senior forward Jenna Jordan headed to LIU-Brooklyn. All four of those players average double-digit scoring with Sidor leading the way with close to 3,200 points in her career, including a 26.8 points per game average this season.
Any one of them can control a game as was the case in the North Jersey final Wednesday when the Rebels defeated Morris Catholic, 76-64, behind 23 points from Caldwell and 19 more from Patrick.
TCA, meanwhile, has one player who has currently committed to play at a Division I school, 5-6 senior guard Naomi Shorts. Shorts is headed to Delaware State and has been averaging 9.4 ppg this season. Head coach Bob Fusik’s club only has one other senior, 5-7 guard/forward Habiba Elgizawy, who averages 5.0 ppg.
The two-time defending Mercer County Tournament champions, who have lost to Blair Academy, Cherokee and Franklin this season, are led by 5-3 junior guard Maniya Custis, who averages 14.9 ppg, and six-foot junior forward Giana Boulden, who scores 11.4 ppg. Leianya Massenat, a 5-9 junior guard/forward who usually rounds out the Mikes’ starting five, contributes 7.8 ppg.
“With Sister Dorothy’s passing, the girls wanted to accomplish something big this season,” Fusik said after his team defeated Gloucester Catholic, 74-64, in the South Jersey final Wednesday at Jackson Liberty High. “This was our big one for now, yet we’re aiming for more. The next game’s going to be tough, but we’re going to approach it the same way we always do.”
While Trenton Catholic Academy has scored 69.5 ppg, it relies on a stingy defense which limits opponents to 39.8 ppg. Those numbers will be tested since Saddle River, which has lost to only Franklin and St. John Vianney this season, score 76.2 ppg, while only allowing 42.5 ppg.
Sounds like the Mikes may need a little divine intervention. But don’t worry, if Sr. Dorothy Payne can get the Big Guy’s ear, she will.
“You might say that our job is to turn exceptional expectations into exceptional realities,” Payne says in her President’s Message on the school’s website. “This is a place where students Dream, Believe and Achieve.”
That is exactly what TCA’s girls will set out to do Saturday even though the odds may be stacked against them.