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Carroll girls stay perfect in PCL play

02/03/2022, 11:00pm EST
By Joseph Santoliquito

Joseph Santoliquito (@JSantoliquito)
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The feeling came in August during the open workouts that something special was brewing. The Archbishop Carroll girls’ basketball team didn’t mind the heat or the sweat. They embraced it. It told them they were working hard.

It’s when an underlying attitude began to form that this team could make a deep state playoff run. They had no doubt about that.

More proof came Thursday night, when the Patriots fought off numerous charges from tiny, feisty Neumann-Goretti in a 53-46 Catholic League victory.

Brooke and Taylor Wilson stand in a gym

Brooke (5) and Taylor (22) Wilson combined for 40 points to keep the Patriots undefeated in the PCL. (Photo: Joseph Santoliquito/CoBL)

Carroll, behind a game-high 26 points from Taylor “Wilt” Wilson, 14 from her sister Brooke and 13 from Grace O’Neill, improved to 12-4 overall and remained perfect in the Catholic League at 8-0, while Neumann-Goretti fell to 6-6 and 2-2 in the league.

This is where the Carroll players expected themselves to be. In this last month, the Patriots have made believers of the rest of the Catholic League. The Pats have beaten league stalwarts Cardinal O’Hara, Archbishop Wood and now Neumann-Goretti.

Three Catholic League teams won the six state championships last season: O’Hara in 5A, Wood in 4A and West Catholic in 3A. The Pats had the feeling that they may have been an afterthought with O’Hara and Wood returning solid nucleuses to both of their teams.

“We expected this success, we’ve been working really hard since August and we did expect to win,” Taylor Wilson said. “I do think we might have been overlooked. There are so many talented girls and so many talented teams in the Catholic League, and Wood and O’Hara have been so good for so long.

“We knew what we were capable of doing. I think our defense is the difference. I think that was the difference tonight, especially in the fourth quarter.”

Even though Carroll looked in trouble, the Pats never really seemed to be in trouble. The Saints were up, 42-35, with 6:14 to play after a Mihjae Hayes layup. That seemed to jumpstart Carroll, which went on a 18-4 run to finish the game and quell any chance for an upset.

“We still have a lot of season left, and we’re trying to keep it a game and a practice at a time,” said Carroll assistant coach Erin Shields, who subbed for her mother, head coach Renie Shields, who was on a business trip. “I would say this is a tough and resilient team. We have really resilient kids, and that fourth quarter showed it.

“We have some of the toughest girls we ever coached, and that goes from our starters to the end of the bench. We didn’t play our best defense during most of the game, so that was disappointing, but we locked down during the stretch and pulled through.”

Brooke Wilson did a great job defending Hayes, a dangerous scorer who can score from any area of the court.

“I think we were overlooked, which was not a bad thing at the start of the season, but I (say) would that’s changed,” Wilson said.

The game was played in spells. Neumann-Goretti scored the first basket of the game, which was answered by a 9-0 Carroll run, feeding Taylor Wilson inside. Just when it looked like the Pats would run away, Neumann-Goretti came burrowing back, surging ahead, 20-17, with 3:24 left in the half. That was answered by another Carroll 11-1 sweep of points.

Neumann-Goretti, which received balanced scoring from Brooke Barnes (14), Amirah Hackney (12) and Hayes (11), appeared in position to pull off the upset with 6:14 to play, but gradually, showing no panic, the Pats whittled away.

The Saints had the best team on the Catholic League on the ropes.

“I think my young ladies did a great job the whole game and we focused on no possessions off, which I thought we did,” Saints’ coach Andrea Peterson said. “I think we learned that we could be a pretty tough team, since we’re just getting out stride right now.

“We had them, but we made some mental mistakes and mental breakdowns. Every one of these teams will see again. We’re going to back to practice and work on the things we need to work on.

“Carroll is a nice team. I don’t think anyone in the Catholic League overlooks anyone, but you see Carroll beating O’Hara, Wood and now us, and they do the little things well.”

By Quarter
Neumann-Goretti:   6 | 15 | 15 | 10 || 46
Archbishop Carroll:  13 | 15 | 7 | 18 || 53

Scoring
Neumann-Goretti: Brooke Barnes 14, Amirah Hackney 12, Mihjae Hayes 11, Carryn Easley 7, D’Ayzha Atkinson 2
Archbishop Carroll: Taylor Wilson 26, Brooke Wilson 14, Grace O’Neill 13

Joseph Santoliquito is an award-winning sportswriter based in the Philadelphia area who began writing for CoBL in 2021 and is the president of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be followed on Twitter here.


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