Notre Dame topples Bowsher

Notre Dame s Kasey Fought, on floor, passes the ball before Bowsher s Tiara Roberts can take it away at Savage Hall. The Eagles Jasmine Webb, left, tries to give her some direction.

Notre Dame Academy used some effective pressure defense to break open its girls basketball game against Bowsher last night in the first act of a girls-boys City League doubleheader at Savage Hall, and the Eagles flew off with a 62-41 victory to stay unbeaten.

Notre Dame (6-0, 4-0 CL) got 12 points apiece from Patrice Lalor and Whitney Shindorf plus 10 from Mary Delaney.

The Eagles forced eight Rebel turnovers in a span of less than two minutes early in the third quarter, triggering their pivotal 15-0 run.

Bowsher had pulled even 24-24 on a free throw from Taylor Brown 49 seconds into the third quarter, but things unraveled quickly for the Rebels (2-4, 1-3).

Delaney hit a 15-foot jumper, and Lalor and Kasey Fought each added layups off steals as the Eagles got three buckets in just 18 seconds.

At that particular moment we got a couple of breaks, and we sneaked into the passing lanes, Eagles coach Rhett Boyd said. We got some steals and some quick shots. We went from being tied to up six, and we rode that momentum through the second half.

Delaney then sandwiched a pair of baskets around two free throws from Lalor, and Jasmine Blanton drained a 3-pointer with 4:29 left in the third quarter to cap the crucial stretch and give Notre Dame a 39-24 lead.

We knew they were going to come out and press, and we got lackadaisical on our passes, Bowsher coach Karen Lake said.

A Stephany Johnson bucket finally ended Bowsher s drought. During Notre Dame s run, the Rebels managed to get just one field goal attempt off while yielding the eight giveaways.

Bowsher, which hit just two of its 15 fourth-quarter shots, got no closer than 10 points after the Eagles big surge.

We were loose before the game, which was good, Boyd said of his team trailing 11-7 after one quarter. We had some good looks early and just didn t make em.

It was probably the nerves of being in this [Savage Hall] environment, but we settled down and played like we ve been playing the last couple weeks. We shot the ball really well, and we got a lot of contributions from a lot of kids, so that was great to see. It was a great win.

Johnson led all scorers with 17 points, and Tiara Roberts added six points for the Rebels.

We are really struggling with execution, Lake said. Day in and day out in practice we try to tell them that we need to execute plays and that we can t go one-on-one and beat teams, especially good teams.

We have a lot of talent on this team, but we re just not executing. And, without execution, we re not going to beat good teams. Period.

Notre Dame was 22 of 44 (50 percent) from the field, 14 of 17 from the line, and outrebounded Bowsher 35-33. The Rebels were 16 of 59 (27 percent) from the field and 9 of 17 from the line.