Englewood – Anybody can have an off night. But that doesn’t concern the Holy Family girls basketball team.
The Tigers know they have enough balance and talent to compensate for one of those nights.
Visiting Holy Family, No. 2 in The Denver Post/9News Class 3A poll, shut down a young St. Mary’s Academy squad on the way to a 46-30 Metropolitan League victory Tuesday night.
Jessica Giltner, the Tigers’ leading scorer, averaging 13.6 points, was held scoreless. So sophomore Dori Gills stepped in to score a game-high 12 points.
“When somebody has a bad game, somebody else has a good game,” Gills said. “We always have someone who will pick it up. So it doesn’t matter if someone has a bad game.”
To be fair, Giltner did not exactly have a bad game.
The 5-foot-11 junior pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds. Lindsey Halligan finished with 11 points and six rebounds for Holy Family (12-1, 3-0 Metropolitan).
St. Mary’s Academy (10-3, 1-3) struggled mightily to find the basket. The Wildcats did not make a field goal in the first quarter.
“We just can’t put the ball in the basket right now,” St. Mary’s Academy coach Phil Gentry said. “But defensively I feel like we are doing the things we need to do. We just have to hit our free throws and do a little better offensively. We’ll be OK.”
Jenny Knapp and Riley McHugh paced the Wildcats with five points apiece.
Holy Family coach Ron Rossi has turned the Tigers into competitors in his four seasons. Using a lot of movement on offense, the Tigers were able to move the ball around at will. But credit goes to their defense, which put the clamps on a St. Mary’s Academy team that is trying to fill in after six seniors graduated last year.
“This is a really good defensive club because we play a lot of different defenses,” Rossi said. “My leading scorer didn’t score tonight. … But it doesn’t matter what level you play – YMCA to the pros – people have nights where the ball doesn’t go in. That’s what happened to her, but some of the other kids picked it up.”
Holy Family 11 12 12 11 – 46
St. Mary’s Academy 2 8 7 13 – 30
Holy Family – Halligan 3 4-4 11, DePinto 2 0-0 4, Giltner 0 0-0 0, Gills 6 0-0 12, Griffin 1 0-0 2, Carian 1 1-1 3, Szabo 2 2-3 6, Metzger 1 0-0 2, Spellman 2 0-0 4, Lancaster 0 0-0 0, Keefe 0 0-0 0, Jones 0 0-0 0, Hengemhie 1 0-0 2. Totals 19 7-8 46.
St. Mary’s Academy – Knapp 2 1-2 5, Wallace 0 0-0 0, McHugh 1 3-6 5, Pavek 1 2-3 4, Bell 0 0-0 0, Geraghty 0 0-2 0, Moton 0 0-0 0, Galoob 1 0-0 3, Moya 0 0-0 0, Diffendaffer 1 0-0 2, Miller 0 0-0 0, Milligan 2 0-0 4, Dotson 2 0-0 4, Malik 0 3-4 3. Totals 10 9-17 30.
3-pt. goals – Halligan; Galoob. Total fouls – Holy Family 17; St. Mary’s Academy 12. Fouled out – None. Technicals – None.
