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Girls: Mary Louis Tops LuHi

FLUSHING, NY - After having watched Duke shock North Carolina on Wednesday night, The Mary Louis Academy head coach JoAnn Arbitello-Pinnock sent a text to her team with one simple message, you got to believe.

She wanted her team to believe that they could compete and do what Duke did when her Hilltoppers took on one of New York's best in Long Island Lutheran on Thursday at Holy Cross H.S. in Queens. It was important to her that her girls knew and believed that they were on the same level as LuHi.

It was as much believing in themselves that they could do it as anything else, and on Thursday the message that the coach sent to her players rang true as junior forward Danielle Patterson '17 connected on a layup as time expired to see TMLA knock off Long Island Lutheran in dramatic fashion 43-42.

Playing Long Island Lutheran is never easy, but The Mary Louis Academy have competed with everyone they have faced this year with only 1 of their 7 losses this season coming by more than 5 points, and Arbitello-Pinnock said playing the Crusaders at this time of year can only benefit her team as they move forward into postseason play.

"I like to play them the last game of the season which we have done year after year because it gets us ready for the playoffs," Arbitello-Pinnock said. "They are a very good team and are very tough so it's a great test for us."

It was a test, but it was a test she believed her team could pass. She believed they could win the game coming in, it was a matter of her players believing it as well.

Early on in the game while TMLA was playing strong defense, they were struggling from the field, especially on opportunities driving to the basket where the Hilltoppers failed to convert on easy opportunities in the opening half.

Jasmine Brunson & Danielle Patterson
Jasmine Brunson & Danielle Patterson (M. Libert)
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Grace Stone '18 started to heat up a bit for LuHi with a long three from the wing, and then a pull up jumper in transition, but Patterson was able to close the half strong scoring 6 straight points to finish the half and give Mary Louis at 19-18 lead at the half.

Everyone on the Mary Louis squad had to be pleased to have a lead going into the break with how they had shot the ball, and they were hoping to extend the lead early in the 3rd and open up some breathing room, but that didn't happen.

A returning from injury Sarah Mortensen '16 was able to convert on back to back buckets for Long Island Lutheran midway through the 3rd, and even though the Hilltoppers had maintained a small lead midway through the period, Patterson picked up her 4th foul of the game with 3:53 to go in the 3rd sending her to the bench.

It was the last place Patterson wanted to be as she admitted after the game that she felt as if she was letting her team down, but she said she tried to maintain a positive attitude, knowing she would eventually make her impact on the game.

"I wasn't even trying to foul," Patterson said about getting called with her 4th foul. "It really just happened and when I went to the bench I felt like I had left my team out there alone but I said to myself that when I got back out there I would make an impact however I could."

She sat though for the rest of the quarter and with Patterson on the bench LuHi took advantage as Stone and Celeste Taylor '19 each were able to drive to the basket and get themselves to the FT line where they were strong on the night, helping the Crusaders take a 2 point lead into the 4th.

Patterson came back on the floor to start the 4th, but it was all Jasmine Brunson '16 at that point as the Minnesota bound guard scored 8 straight for her team to give Mary Louis back the lead. It wasn't a comfortable lead though, and with both teams struggling come down the stretch to score, it seemed like the game would come down to the final possession.

With 20.1 seconds to play, TMLA guard Vanerlie Valcourt '18 missed a pair of FT's with her team up 41-40, and off a timeout called by Long Island Lutheran head coach Rich Slater, Mortensen got the ball on the left wing and drove past Patterson and Valcourt and scored on a runner with 5.6 seconds to play to give LuHi a 42-41 lead.

Arbitello-Pinnock called a timeout to set up a play. She said she looked in her girl’s eyes and saw that like she had preached to them the night before, they still believed. It was about belief before the game, and coming down to the final seconds she needed that belief to be as strong as ever.

She called a play to get the ball to Brunson, but with the star guard being doubled the ball was inbounded to Valcourt. Patterson then came to the ball on the left wing and it was her time. The player who said she let her team down in the 3rd was ready to step up.

"I got the ball and I said to myself ok let's make it go in," Patterson said about getting the ball in that situation.

Time was running down and Patterson made her move to the basket and she avoided her defender as she went down the left side and connected on a beautiful layup just before the final buzzer sounded to hand The Mary Louis Academy their biggest win of the season as they took down Long Island Lutheran in dramatic fashion, 43-42.

Brunson ended up with a game high 18 points in the win while Patterson added 14 points as the duo helped lead the Hilltoppers to a major statement making victory over the Crusaders.

Mortensen was the leader for Long Island Lutheran as the senior guard had 13 points, while Stone and Taylor added 12 points and 11 points respectively as well in the very tough defeat.

It wasn't just the win, it was how they won that truly has to give Mary Louis some huge momentum as they head into the Brooklyn/Queens Diocese Playoffs which begins next week. Arbitello-Pinnock wanted her team to believe, and they repaid her with one of the biggest wins in school history.

The team showed their coach that even when the chips are down in the closing seconds, they can find that grit and desire to pull out a win, and a win like this can only help them the rest of the way according to the coach and her players as well.

It's just one win, but it has instilled in this group of Hilltoppers that they can win a Diocese Championship coming up, and any championship after that as well. They are confident and ready for whatever is ahead, and after a win like this, Patterson knows that anything is truly possible for her Mary Louis Academy team.

"We have so much trust in each other and faith that we can get it done and I think we proved that day in and day out this season. This just shows that we are coming, and that we are ready, and that we are going to get this chip."


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