By RICHIE HALL
NOBLESVILLE – A great season for the Guerin Catholic girls basketball season came to an end on Tuesday, as the Golden Eagles hosted Bishop Chatard in the championship game of Class 3A Sectional 27.
The Trojans used an early defensive surge to take a first-quarter lead, then held that advantage throughout the game, eventually winning 53-38 in a final that was contested between Circle City Conference teams. It seemed like a rivalry game too, as Guerin Catholic brought a huge student section to the Eagles Nest, and Chatard had a good-sized crowd as well.
The Golden Eagles fans were cheering early, as a layin by Kathryn Loso and a 3-pointer from Hannah Weitzel got Guerin Catholic ahead 5-2. But the Trojans’ defense ignited a 10-0 run and they held the lead from that point forward. The last six points all came off baskets from steals, with junior Caroline Bell getting two baskets off takeaways and Kate Caskey making one.
Golden Eagles coach Marc Quaranta said that Chatard has been “great all season” when it comes to getting early leads, and that was the case on Tuesday, saying that “they come out aggressive, they want to get steals and run, and they were able to get a few of those in the first quarter and go on a 10-0 run.”
Chatard led 14-8 after the first quarter, then extended that lead to 32-16 by halftime. Early in the second period, junior Natalie Fernandez’s 3 got GC within 16-11, but the Trojans went on a 16-5 run that ate up most of the quarter.
“We couldn’t quite put the ball in the basket,” said Quaranta. “We gave them 16, 17 extra opportunities in that first half and when a team does that, they’re going to score more points than us.”
The Golden Eagles started the third period with a 6-0 run. Fernandez made back-to-back baskets and Ava Bills’ layin cut Chatard’s lead to 32-22. That initial spurt helped keep Guerin within 41-29 at the end of three quarters.
Weitzel’s two free throws got the Golden Eagles within 41-31 at the 6:34 mark of the fourth quarter, and Fernandez added a foul shot to cut the lead to nine. But the Trojans’ Grace Adams hit a 3 to push the lead back up to 44-32, and Chatard stayed ahead by double digits after that.
Loso and Fernandez each scored 13 points for Guerin Catholic. Loso was one of four seniors on the Golden Eagles team, the others being Katie Koger, Halley Buehler and Mia Thompson.
The Golden Eagles finished their season 14-11.
“We’ve improved our record each year,” said Quaranta, who finished his third year as the Guerin Catholic head coach. “But our schedule’s tough, so even if we lost more games this year than last year, just the style of play and the culture and environment that we’ve built here, I couldn’t be happier.”
BISHOP CHATARD 53, GUERIN CATHOLIC 38
Guerin Catholic FG FT TP PF
Katie Koger 0 0-0 0 3
Hannah Weitzel 2 3-4 8 4
Natalie Fernandez 5 2-5 13 5
Mia Thompson 0 1-2 1 1
Kathryn Loso 5 2-5 13 1
Megan Cobb 0 0-0 0 0
Caitlyn Sharpe 0 0-0 0 1
Ava Bills 1 1-2 3 1
Sutton Worman 0 0-0 0 0
Annie Murphy 0 0-0 0 0
Lucy Collins 0 0-0 0 0
Reagan Haines 0 0-0 0 0
Totals 13 9-18 38 16
Score by Quarters
Bishop Chatard 14 18 9 12 – 53
Guerin Catholic 8 8 8 14 – 38
Guerin Catholic 3-pointers (3) Weitzel 1, Fernandez 1, Loso 1.