Girls basketball: Elyria Catholic gets off to hot start, beats NDCL

ELYRIA — Maybe the panther is the king of the jungle after all.Elyria Catholic played a near perfect first quarter in its North Coast Conference girls basketball game Saturday afternoon leading Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin 23-1 and never looking back during a 54-32 victory over the Lions."You don't generally expect something like that (first quarter)," Panthers coach Eric Rothgery said. "That's a solid team (NDCL) at 4-2 and I think we had 10 points before they even took a shot."Rothgery was close, but a little low. EC (4-2, 2-0 NCC) scored 14 points before the Lions could get a shot off.Gabby Rodriguez (eight points) got things going hitting a 3-pointer on the first shot of the game. Sophomore Ari Dimacchia split a pair of free throws and had a layup wrapped around a Juliana Cerny 3-pointer for a quick 9-0 lead.Dimacchia added to her team-high 16 points with a 3-pointer and a bucket in the paint off a Rodriguez steal to go up 14-0 before NDCL's Gia Roberts took a 3-pointer about three minutes into the quarter."I was pretty surprised that we held them to just one point in the first," Dimacchia said. "We've actually been getting off to slow starts lately, so that felt really good to get off to such a fast start."EC kept scoring, getting a Rodriguez 3-pointer and two Juliana Cerny (10 points) free throws before the Lions' Coco Cochran split a pair of free throws with 1:45 left on the first quarter clock to give NDCL (4-3, 1-2) its only point of the quarter.Dimacchia hit two free throws to finish off the incredible first-quarter scoring run for the Panthers for their commanding 23-1 lead that never went lower than 16 for the rest of the game."We kind of have a weird schedule right now, we played on a Saturday and were off for a week and did it again," Rothgery said. "You never know what you are going to get when you have a layoff like that and come out on a Saturday afternoon. It was great to see the girls come out hard and ready to go."The Lions ended their eight-minute-plus field goal drought by scoring the first basket of the second quarter when Brynn Munn hit the first of her three 3-pointers as she finished with 10 points for NDCL.Junior Sophia Niederst helped keep the Lions caged up with five of her 11 points, including a 3-pointer for a 32-10 halftime lead.EC went deep in the bench during the second half, getting all 11 players in uniform on the floor as the Panthers continued to play stingy defense and keep its advantage on the scoreboard above the 20-point level.Contact James Brady at (440) 329-7135 or jbrady_ct@yahoo.com.Elyria Catholic 54, NDCL 32NDCL (32): Gia Roberts 2-1-7, Lily Reginelli 0-0-0, Brynn Munn 3-1-10, Frankie Sargi 0-0-0, Coco Cochran 3-1-8, Olivia Tibaldi 0-0-0, Fallon Campolieti 1-0-3, Cece Pomnean 0-1-1, Maya Rowan 1-1-3. Totals 10-5-32.ELYRIA CATHOLIC (54): Riley Treadway 0-0-0, Trinity Metzinger 0-0-0, Alena Bray 2-0-5, Gabby Rodriguez 3-0-8, Claire Petrus 2-0-4, Nicole BeVier 0-0-0, Sophia Niederst 5-0-11, Lyla Smith 0-0-0, Ari Dimacchia 5-5-16, Capri Aviles-Laurenti 0-0-0, Juliana Cerny 2-4-10. Totals 19-9-54.NDCL 1 9 11 11 — 32Elyria Catholic 23 9 10 12 — 54Three-point goals: NDCL 7-21 (33 percent, Munn 3, Roberts 2, Cochran, Tibaldi), Elyria Catholic 7-20 (35 percent, Rodriguez 2, Cerny 2, Bray, Niederst, Dimacchia). Field goals: NDCL 10-50 (20 percent); Elyria Catholic 19-59 (32 percent). Free throws: NDCL 5-10 (50 percent); Elyria Catholic 9-11 (82 percent). Rebounds: NDCL 36, Elyria Catholic 51. Turnovers: NDCL 18, Elyria Catholic 16.Junior varsity: Elyria Catholic, 34-28.