RICHMOND, Calif. – For all but about three minutes in Tuesday night's marquee matchup between host Salesian and Sacred Heart Cathedral, the Pride had the lead. Yet the Fightin’ Irish kept coming back before eventually falling, 60-55.
Eryn Gardner paced Salesian (3-0) with 15 points and nine rebounds, D’yani Berstine registered a double-double with 10 points and 15 rebounds, UNC Greensboro-commit Makiah Asidanya contributed 13 points, and Sofia Fidelus had an outstanding all-around game with 10 points, seven rebounds, and six assists.
Reza Po paced Sacred Heart Cathedral (8-1) with 18 points and five assists. Madison Eade added nine points, Inez Gallegos had eight points and nine boards, and Leilani Blecha tallied eight points and four steals.
“All season we’ve been able to get the first rebound (and) the first touch,” Sacred Heart Cathedral coach Demetrius Jackson said. “Tonight we were able to do that. We came out on the short end, but they competed till the final buzzer, and I can’t ask for anything more than that.”
While pleased with the win, Salesian coach Steve Pezzola acknowledged, “We need to be more patient. We got a little bit excited on some of the fast breaks and couldn’t finish. We rushed some shots.”
Salesian dominated the glass, and although they didn’t convert on as many second-chance opportunities as one would hope, they made up for it with key plays at several junctures in the game when the Fightin’ Irish were closing the gap.
When Sacred Heart Cathedral went on a run for most of the second quarter, trimming a 12-point halftime deficit to five with two minutes to go in the third, Nyana Asiasi picked off an inbounds pass and converted a floater; at the end of the period Madalyn Kanazawa threaded a beautiful pass to Gardner under the hoop for a buzzer-beating layup. With 6:21 remaining in the game, the Fightin’ Irish closed to within three, but Asidanya promptly nailed a long-distance shot on the very next trip down.
Sacred Heart had the ball down four with 1:08 to play. They couldn’t score, and after two free throws by Gardner, Kanazawa blocked a driving shot and the ball went out-of-bounds to Salesian. Asidanya then netted both ends of a one-and-one to secure a 60-52 advantage.
The game featured only one made three-point for each team in the first half; in the second half, the Pride again only had one, for a total which Pezzola called “uncharacteristic,” and Sacred Heart had four.
While the Fightin’ Irish walked away with a loss, it signified great improvement from last season to this one. Almost exactly one year ago, Salesian thumped Sacred Heart Cathedral 75-27. The Pride went on to win the CIF Division I State Championship, while the Fightin’ Irish ended the year 9-16, their third straight losing season (discounting the abbreviated campaign in 2021).
“Tonight you saw glimpses of what we were last year where we had negative spurts and then you saw glimpses of what we are this year and last year as well,” Jackson remarked.
Salesian has nine games remaining in December, including the Nike Tournament of Champions in Phoenix and the West Coast Jamboree.
