Neumann-Goretti Captures Second-Straight Catholic League Title
PHILADELPHIA, PA (CBS) — They were a grenade waiting to explode over the last few weeks. The Neumann-Goretti girls' basketball team, No. 1 in the nation, had been waiting for a chance to meet Archbishop Wood again in the Catholic League finals.
What had been building spilled out in a Neumann-Goretti 50-45 victory over Wood at a packed, raucous Palestra Monday night. It marked the second-straight Catholic League title for the Saints, who improved to 24-0 thanks to a team-high 13 points from Georgia Tech-bound senior guard C.C. Cryor, 12 from junior Kamiah Smalls and 11 from Sianni Martin. Wood was led by standout junior Bailey Greenberg, who scored a game-high 21.
For the Saints, beating Wood exorcised a few raw feelings that had been lying dormant. The Neumann-Goretti program was embroiled in a controversy that it had nothing to do with, after the resignation of Wood coach John Gallagher, who allegedly sent malicious emails to college coaches about the Saints' program.
So beating Wood came as a form of sweet revenge.
"In the end, our coach resigned in the beginning of the season, and their coach was the one who was wrong," Cryor said. "Yea, we wanted to get back at them. Wood is a good team. They played a great game. I liked that about them. Those girls fought and I respect that as one player to the other. It was nothing really we were angry about toward their players, we just don't like what their (former) coach tried to do. It's why it meant more to beat them. But I'm not satisfied. We want more. We're not done. We want to win the state championship."
Neumann-Goretti trailed just once, 11-9, though after that, led throughout. But each time Neumann-Goretti tried to pull away, Wood came fighting back, mostly behind the brilliance of Greenberg, who stood out in the Catholic League championship game last year scoring 17.
A clutch Martin 3-point play with 3:27 gave the Saints a comfortable 46-41 edge.
"I had a tough game in the semifinals against (Archbishop) Carroll, I didn't score a point and I had to come back in the championship game," Martin said. "This was a very special game for us. But we want the state championship. There is a lot that we've had to go through. There's a lot of pressure we were feeling, but we had to put that aside and play the game we're able to play. There are things we could do better, but defense was the key."
Christina Aborowa, who is bound for Texas, played a strong defensive role for the Saints. The 6-foot-4 senior was also coming off a tough game in the semifinals against Carroll. She picked up her game to play a big defensive presence for the Saints Monday night.
"This feels so great," Aborowa said. "We know what we went through and we know this wasn't in vain. After all the stuff that we had happen, and it didn't involve us, it shows how strong we are."
