Cathedral girls extend reign of dominance
LOWELL >> The preseason favorite to win the Div. 4 girls title left little doubt it was a deserving champion on Sunday at the Tsongas Center.
The Cathedral Panthers simply overwhelmed No. 3 Wahconah as senior Sara Thompson led four players in double figures while Cathedral’s defense stifled the high-scoring Warriors. It all added up to a 75-53 win and the Panthers fourth title in the last seven years.
“These girls have a piece of history now with a state championship,” Cathedral coach Clinton Lassiter said. “I told them to leave everything they had on the floor and they did.”
Wahconah’s Grace Wigington actually lead all scorers with 23 points but the Panthers’ (20-3) depth gave the Warriors fits almost from the opening tip.
The Warriors led only once at 2-0 as Cathedral turned the game into a runaway by halftime thanks to torrid shooting from behind the arc. The Panthers knocked down nine three pointers in the first half, four of them coming from Thompson.
Hijjah Allen-Paisley (13 points) added three and Jasmine Day-Cox (16 points) had two as Cathedral turned an 8-8 game into a 45-21 lead by halftime.
“You know coming in that we’re gonna shoot the ball,” Lassiter said. “But when they’re going in like they were in the first half, it makes us tough to beat.”
Any thoughts of a stunning comeback for the Warriors (21-4) effectively died at the start of the third when Cathedral went on a 15-2 run, capped by Thompson’s fifth three of the game, to open a 60-23 lead.
About the only thing left in doubt at that point was if Cathedral could break Masconomet’s record from 1996 for points in a title game or even the margin of victory record.
Wahconah, to its credit, kept battling and outscored the Panthers 21-12 in the fourth. All that was left was for the Panthers to complete a remarkable weekend for the Catholic Central League, which won two girls titles and a boys title.
“St. Mary’s and Bishop Feehan are at the pinnacle of our league and they’re what we strive to be like,” Lassiter said. “They’re the ones we look up to and they’ve set the bar high from Day 1. And we’ve been able to meet it.”