The outcome of a back and forth contest between the Holy Names Cougars and the Newport Knights girls basketball teams went down to the wire in a non-league contest between two storied programs.
With Holy Names clinging to a 46-43 lead with less than a minute in regulation, the Newport Knights had three offensive possessions in the final minute of play. Unfortunately for Newport, they were 0-for-3 from beyond the arc. Newport sophomore Vanessa Hsia missed a three-pointer from the top of the key with seven seconds left in the game and Holy Names post player Lindsey Cleary corralled the rebound. Cleary was fouled and then knocked down two free throws with 5.3 seconds left in regulation, lifting the Cougars to a 48-43 win. Cleary scored eight of her game-high 12 points in the second half. The majority of her buckets came in the paint.
“In our first game against Cleveland, Lindsey had 15 points and 14 rebounds with 10 of those rebounds coming on the offensive glass. Tonight she had another great game. I think that is going to be key for us,” Holy Names head coach Amy Donovan said. “She is going to be a huge part of our offense.”
Newport started the game off strong building a 16-7 lead late in the first quarter of play. Holy Names battled back, tying the game at 22-22 at halftime. Newport head coach Travis Whitaker said his team had chances to win the game but didn’t seize them.
“We just got to keep fighting. We had lots of opportunities to finish the game. We didn’t get it done. There was plays to be made. We just need to make those plays,” Whitaker said.
Hsia led the Knights with a team-high eight points in the loss. Freshman Luci Stewart had seven points and Anateya Sommerville had six points in the loss.
Donovan believed her team got more comfortable as the game progressed.
“I’m a new coach and we have almost an entirely new team. We spent the first two weeks at practice learning a brand new system. They (the team) are not quite comfortable with it yet but we are getting there. I think we were second guessing ourselves a little bit at the beginning but we turned it around,” she said.
