Bishop Guertin girls basketball remains unbeaten with win over Jamesville-Dewitt (video)

NASHUA - The Bishop Guertin High School girls basketball team knows that it may take some time to create any separation against tough competition.

But ultimately, the Cardinals are confident that eventually, they'll be able to pull away. Such was the case Saturday afternoon against Jamesville-Dewitt (N.Y.).

Down six points at the end of the first quarter, Bishop Guertin went on an 11-0 run to open the second quarter, and pulled away in the third quarter for a 59-46 win over the Red Rams.

Erin Carney had 14 of her game-high 20 points in the second half while Addison Smith (12 points) and Brianna Wilcox (11) were also in double figures as the Cardinals (12-0) remained undefeated.

"We keep learning a lot about ourselves when we get tested like that," Bishop Guertin coach Brad Kreick said. "We tell the kids all the time, we may give up some stuff in the second quarter and even into the middle of the third quarter off our press game. But the cumulative effect of people having to run up and down the floor for an entire game, usually helps us."

The Cardinals started to see those affects in the third quarter, when they were able to stretch a four-point halftime lead extend to 12 by the end of the quarter.

"You saw the mid-third quarter on, where we played in the halfcourt a little more," Kreick said. "We had some legs and I think they were getting a little tired, and it makes it easier to defend people in the halfcourt when they’re fatigued."

The Red Rams (10-4) got 15 points from Momoka LaClair while Gabriella Stickle and Paige Keeler each had nine. But Jamesville-Dewitt got into foul trouble in the first half and played most of the second half in a zone on defense that the Cardinals were eventually able to execute against.

"We’ll mix it up with a zone every once in a while, but primarily we play man," Jamesville-Dewitt coach Rob Siechen said. "Our big kids were in foul trouble the whole game, so we had to try to preserve them as long as we could. They got comfortable with it and we couldn’t get out of it because we had multiple kids in foul trouble. They adjusted and made some good decisions."

Smith did a lot of her damage in the middle of the zone, whether it was finding an open teammate when she got the ball at the elbow, connecting on a mid-range jump shot or getting to the basket.

"Addison was fantastic in that high post against the zone," Kreick said. "She’s a very skilled kid like that in the high post. She’s a very good passer and she’s got great vision, and she is a really good mid-range shooter."

Bishop Guertin took an early lead right off the opening tip, as Ava Owens went in for an uncontested layup just four seconds into the game. The Cardinals forced a turnover right away and Owens scored again for a 4-0 lead with just 18 seconds gone off the clock.

But Jamesville-Dewitt was able to figure out Bishop Guertin's press, using a combination of quick passes and dribbling, and the Red Rams got out to a 10-6 lead.

The Cardinals were able to tie the game at 10, but a 6-0 run, including a 3-pointer by Keeler at the buzzer, gave Jamesville-Dewitt a 16-10 lead at the end of one. But the Red Rams wouldn't score again for almost six minutes, as Bishop Guertin went on an 11-0 run to take a 21-16 lead.

It was 25-21 Cardinals at halftime and Wilcox opened the second half with a 3 to give Bishop Guertin a seven-point lead. Jamesville-Dewitt kept it within five points, but a 3 by Carney and two free throws by Owens put Bishop Guertin up 35-25 with 4:36 left in the third.

The lead grew to 12 points by the end of the quarter and the Cardinals continued to add to it in the fourth, going up by as many as 16 points.

Bishop Guertin is off until Friday, when it heads to face Manchester Central, and then returns home for its final home game of the regular season on Feb. 10 against Braintree (Mass.).