It took a while, but No. 14 Fenwick (22-5, 7-1 East Suburban Catholic Conference) finally got its shooting mojo after an abysmal first-half against Nazareth in which the Friars went 2-of-16 shooting from three-point range and had 15 team turnovers put them in a 33-27 hole against the Roadrunners.
“We shot very poorly in the first half,” Friars coach David Power said. “We weren’t able to find our rhythm.”
Friars guard Jade Owens got them out of the slump with six points in the first two minutes of the second half. The rest of the Friars followed suit as they scored 27 points against the Roadrunners (13-13, 2-7 East Suburban Catholic Conference) in the third quarter.
“We’d been in a slump from three for a while, and it felt good to get out of that,” Power said.
The Roadrunners, who had kept pace with the Friars’ aggressive style of play in the first half, were undone in the second by unforced errors and severe foul trouble. They managed to close the gap to 63-52 in the fourth, but were unable to keep pace with the Friars’ relentless full-court pressure.
Owens led the Friars with 18 points and and six steals. Guard Deja Cage had 14 points.
Forward Juliana Raimondi led the Roadrunners with 13 points and guard Molly Alberts scored 12.
“The third quarter is what buried us,” Roadrunners coach Kim Connell said. “Too many mistakes on both sides of the ball.”
The Roadrunners’ regular season is complete while the Friars play their regular season finale Saturday against Marian Catholic as they look for their 17th conference title in 19 seasons.
