Good Counsel Cougars Capture Championship
It was a near perfect week for the Good Counsel Cougars Basketball Program. They won three straight games in a five-day span and captured the Catholic High School Athletic Association (CHSAA) Girls Bronx/ Westchester Class B Championship with a 40-39 victory over Aquinas on Friday afternoon. Good Counsel last won this championship during the 2010-2011 season.
The Cougars victory over Aquinas was bittersweet in some sense. Their top scorer junior Johanna Levine injured her knee early in the fourth quarter. According to the Good Counsel head coach and athletic director Maura Lynch, Levine is most likely done for the season. Lynch said Levine couldn’t put any weight on the injured leg after the game. Levine went to the hospital on Friday night after the game and found out she has sprained ligaments in her knee. On Monday Levine plans on seeing a specialist about the injury.
“I felt great but I felt bad because Johanna was on the bench in a lot of pain,” said Lynch about her team’s championship and Levine’s injury. “It was great we had so many fans there. So many students came. Everybody came rushing on the court. It was really great but it was only three seconds of celebration and then I wanted to make sure she (Levine) was okay.”
On Friday the Cougars started out scoring eight points in the first quarter and 10 in the second. During the second half they played better as a team and they were able to build a 10-point lead early in the fourth quarter. When Levine was injured the Cougars were up eight points according to Lynch.
After Levine went down Aquinas slowly started to chip away at the Cougars’ lead until it was just a one-point game with 50 seconds remaining.
“It was a crazy last 50 seconds of basketball,” said Lynch. “With Johanna out it was kind of like who was going to step up. Stefany Montealegre did a nice job of handling the ball. Kathleen Massaroni did a great job.”
Levine led all scorers with 11 points against a talented Aquinas squad. Amy Jeanty added eight points and Kathleen Massaroni contributed seven points to the Cougars victory. Asia St. Cloud had four points; Tranisha Gumbs and Montealegre each scored two points on Friday.
Two days earlier the Cougars defeated Sacred Heart 52-32 at home in the CHSAA Class B Semifinal. Levine led all scorers in the game by pouring in 20 points in her team’s victory. Jeanty and Jackie O’Shea were key contributors for the Cougars by scoring seven points apiece. Gumbs finished the game with five points while Massaroni had four points in the game.
On Monday the Cougars started their postseason with a 70-25 home victory. Levine was her team’s leading scorer with 15 points while Gaelle Desroches had her best game of the 2012-2013 season finishing with a very impressive 13 points. Other important contributors for the Cougars on Monday versus Cathedral were Gumbs (seven points), Massaroni (seven points), St. Cloud (six points), Katie Dunker (five points), Devon O’Toole (four points) and Kerri Walsh (four points).
The Cougars by virtue of reaching the CHSAA Class B Finals have qualified for the New York State Catholic High School Basketball Tournament, which begins on Monday. The Cougars have a bye in the first round because they defeated Aquinas. Their first game will be in the quarterfinals on Wednesday afternoon. If they win on Wednesday they will play in the semifinals on Thursday. The championship game would be played on Saturday.
Despite losing Levine for the season Lynch is very positive about her team’s chances for the state tournament.
“We can move some people around. Everyone has been playing a lot. We consistently play 10-11 kids a game. We should be okay. Someone just has to stand up and handle the ball,” said Lynch about the upcoming state tournament.
Lynch hopes her team continues to push the ball up the call as quickly as possible on offense. She believed that her team’s fast paced offense and their intense full-court pressing defense that were the keys to winning the CHSAA Class B championship can continue to aide them in the state tournament.
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