Girls basketball: Pope John ends Immaculate Heart stranglehold on North Non-Public A title
PATERSON — Winning 12 consecutive championships in any setting is daunting.
Knocking off an 11-time champion can be tougher still.
Top-seeded Pope John XXIII accomplished the latter in Monday’s North Non-Public A girls basketball final at Kennedy High School, holding off No. 2 Immaculate Heart, 39-38.
IHA had won every title contested in the section from 2012-23 (excluding a COVID season), while the Lions celebrated their first sectional title in 26 years.
Sophomore Addison Platt scored the go-ahead basket on a putback with 1:51 remaining. Her sister, freshman Kaity Platt, grabbed the rebound with 0.7 left after IHA missed two free throws, and Pope John was able to run out the clock.
“I am so happy – I can’t even put it into words,” Addison Platt said. “We worked so hard. We’ve grown so much as a team. It’s awesome.”
What it means
The Lions (25-4) have two major tournament trophies this season after claiming their first Hunterdon/Warren/Sussex title last month.
Next, they'll face South sectional winner Red Bank Catholic (25-5) in Friday’s 1 p.m. Non-Public A championship game at Rutgers University. In their only previous state-final appearance, Pope John fell to St. John Vianney in 1998.
IHA (16-10) had beaten the Lions in the North final three times since 2016, including last year in an overtime thriller. The Blue Eagles were also the opponent when Pope John won its first sectional crown, 63-44.
Key plays
Immaculate Heart used a zone defense to frustrate the Lions for much of the first three quarters and led by as many as 5 early in the fourth.
Sophomore Mia Washington made a pair of free throws to cut it to a one-possession game, and junior Katie O’Keefe tied the game at 31 with a layup-and-1 less than 30 seconds later.
From there, it became back-and-forth as Pope John found success driving the lane, “just by passing the ball and continuing to be open for each other attacking the gaps,” Washington said.
Sisterly love
Coach Peter Torres joined Pope John this season after a stint at Randolph, where sisters Sydney and Madison Jenisch led the school to last year’s North 2, Group 3 sectional crown.
Addison (14.8 points, 7.6 rebounds) and Kaity (9.1 points, 6.3 rebounds) lead the Lions in rebounding and rank 1-3 in scoring.
“I guess I've been blessed with sisters,” Torres said with a smile. “The Jenisches are great kids, and they willed that team to the Group 3 final last year. And the Platts are obviously a big part of this, and they’re so young.
“The future for us is so bright right now, it’s crazy.”
Game balls
► O’Keefe (12 points) and Washington (10) had the top scoring totals for Pope John on Monday.
► Kaity Platt tallied 4 points, 10 rebounds, 3 steals and 2 assists, while Addison added 6 points and 7 boards.
► IHA point guard Selena Cieszko (9 points, 5 assists, 3 steals) was outstanding, and junior Sofia Valente (11 points, 4 assists) made a go-ahead 3 that put her team ahead, 38-37, with 2:49 to go.
They said it
“We just started finishing. … The girls, you could tell on their faces. They had a look of determination to get to the rim and go hard.” —Torres on the fourth-quarter offensive outburst
“Addy’s a once-in-a-lifetime player. She had a couple of silly fouls, which cost her time in the game, but again, in crunch time. I always expect Addy to come through.” —Torres on Addison Platt, who has more than 800 career points in two varsity seasons
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NJ girls basketball: Pope John ends IHA reign in North Non-Public A
