Hawks bounce back in win

Jade Medley, Hudson Catholic

Jade Medley scored a game-high 14 points for Hudson Catholic yesterday.

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By Jason Bernstein
Editorial Director

JERSEY CITY – Despite trailing in virtually every game it plays, Hudson Catholic girls basketball coach Felicia Harris-Sellers has tried to preach a message of playing hard throughout and fighting back. Yesterday, the young Hawks saw the reward that can come with it.

The second-year program experienced two more firsts – a come-from-behind win and a winning streak – as they overcame a six-point deficit in the fourth quarter to defeat Arts 32-26 yesterday. It marked the second-straight victory for a team, which went winless a season ago.

“I hope that they actually believe that they can actually come from behind now,” Harris-Sellers said. “I told them you didn’t give up and you finally came from behind. It can happen; you just got to play through it. The thing is getting them to believe that these things can happen.

“Today showed them that still playing hard and picking it up pays off. It will pay off sooner or later and that’s what it did today.”

Such belief may have been shaken as Hudson Catholic (3-8) was held without a field goal for more than eight minutes in the second half and scored just two points in the second quarter. But the offense, which had previously been dormant, came alive in a big way late in the game.

After a basket and free throw from freshman Mikeera Brown, Marissa Monteiro tied the game at 23-all on her layup with 2:50 left. Lena Howard put the Jaguars (3-7) back on top with a free throw, but Brown put the Hawks on top for good with a bank shot from the wing and Jade Medley put the game away with her 3-pointer with 1:48 left in the game.

“It was great to just see the team play through it,” Harris-Sellers said. “That’s the trouble that we’ve had all year, them being able to play though us being behind or teams being a little more aggressive. But today we were able to withstand that and play aggressive also. It finally picked up in the fourth quarter. They played very hard and we’ve been working hard at continuing to keep playing and be competitive. It’s showing.”

The trey capped off a huge second half for Medley. The senior had 11 of her game-high 14 points after the break and scored seven-straight points in the third quarter.

“She’s the difference on our team this year,” said Harris-Sellers of Medley who added six blocks. “She’s been getting better as the year goes on. No matter how good you are, you have to play hard and teams are going to guard her and leave the rest of her teammates open and she’s got to be able to play through that.”

Brown scored seven of her eight points in the fourth quarter. Harris-Sellers was also pleased with the aggressiveness of Franchesca Rodriguez. The senior post player posted 15 rebounds and teamed with sophomore Sydney Stanton (15 rebounds) to clean up on the glass. Monteiro added six points and seven rebounds.

Shanice Williams led Arts with five points, 12 rebounds and five blocks. Sydonia Daniels scored a team-high nine points and eight rebounds.

Franchesca Rodriguez, Hudson Catholic

Franchesca Rodriguez had a game-high 15 rebounds.

	1	2	3	4	Total
Arts Jaguars (3-7)	0	9	11	6	26
Hudson Catholic Hakws (3-8)	6	2	9	15	32

Arts

Hudson Catholic

	2s	3s	1s	Pts
Aanise Barnes	1	0	0	2
Sydonia Daniels	2	0	5	9
Lena Howard	0	0	2	2
Shanice Williams	1	0	0	2
Elsie Gonzalez	0	2	0	6
Diane McRae	2	0	1	5
Latoyah Green	0	0	0	0
Total:	6	2	8	26

	2s	3s	1s	Pts
Marissa Monteiro	2	0	2	6
Mikeera Brown	3	0	2	8
Sydney Stanton	1	0	0	2
Franchesca Rodriguez	1	0	0	2
Jade Medley	2	2	4	14
Jasmine Rodriguez	0	0	0	0
Total:	9	2	8	32

Arts: Williams 12 rebounds, 5 blocks; Daniels 8 rebounds; Barnes 5 rebounds; McRae 4 steals. Hudson Catholic: F. Rodriguez 15 rebounds; Stanton 15 rebounds; Monteiro 7 rebounds; Medley 6 blocks.