Aquinas defeated by Catholic Central in girls basketball state semifinals

TROY — Based on youth alone, Aquinas' run to the NYSPHSAA Class A semifinals can be considered a mild surprise. The senior-less group powered through the Section V tournament and reached its first state tournament since 2012.

While Aquinas' turn as a state champion may come, the 2023-24 season wasn't the Lil Irish's time. Their pursuit of the program's first title was disrupted in a 63-46 defeat to Section II's Catholic Central.

"To win a sectional title, to win a regional and get to states -- what they achieved and overcome speaks volumes about their perseverance, their buy-in and commitment to each other," Aquinas coach Mark Loria said. "I'm proud in that respect. We just got beat by a better team today."

This conclusion had a different feel than most, when coaches spend their final visit to the locker room saying goodbye to soon-to-be graduates. Aquinas' starting lineup against the Crusaders featured one junior, two sophomores and two freshmen, suggesting there will be ample opportunity to return to this stage again in coming years.

If and when that happens, Loria can only hope his team is more well-suited to counter Catholic Central which, oddly enough, also played this season without a senior.

"Now we're here and we know what we've got to do during the offseason," Loria said. "We've got to pound the weights and make that our No. 1 commitment. The basketball skills are already there, but we have to keep building a team mindset and get in the weight room. We don't have a ton of size, so we've got to get stronger physically."

How it happened

For all the eventual struggles, it was Aquinas that came out of the gates hot. The Lil Irish opened the game with a 7-2 lead thanks to four quick points from junior Molly O'Toole.

That was, however, not a harbinger of things to come. Catholic Central earned a three-point lead by the end of the first quarter and later went ahead by eight midway through the second.

Two 3s from Lil Irish freshman Loren Green kept Aquinas within striking distance, 27-25, at halftime.

Hopes of overtaking the Crusaders ended early in the second half. Catholic Central utilized a 10-2 run to push its lead to double digits — too large a difference to overcome.

Aquinas went 14-for-50 from the field and posted its third-lowest scoring game of the season.

Loria pointed to the teams' difference in size as to why the Lil Irish struggled to score, backed by Catholic Central's 45-26 rebounding advantage.

Aquinas was also playing with a short bench. Only seven different players were used during the 32-minute game, and all five starters played at least 25 minutes.

"I thought we did a tremendous job on defense in the first half," Loria said. "But at some point, fatigue starts to set in. We're in good shape, but when you're playing a good team like Catholic that wears you down physically, you've got to be able to match that physicality."

By the numbers

6 — Aquinas' 3-point total, which doubled Catholic Central's.

20.7 — Green's scoring average in six postseason contests. Aquinas' freshman guard led the team in points in each playoff game.

20-6 — Aquinas' final record. The Lil Irish won their first Section V title since 2018 this season, despite being ranked No. 6 in the Class A tournament.

This article originally appeared on MPNnow: Aquinas vs. Catholic Central score in NY girls basketball tournament