In the past, playing in a conference has been a foreign concept for the Borgia basketball Lady Knights.
But Borgia (3-2, 2-1) is diving right into the Archdiocesan Athletic Association Large Division and played two more league games this week.
On Tuesday, Borgia earned an Archdiocesan Athletic Association Large Division home win over Rosati-Kain, 56-38.
On Thursday, the Lady Knights lost in AAA Large Division action to Duchesne, 51-43.
Borgia is the fourth seed in next week’s Sullivan Tournament and will open play Monday against Washington at 4 p.m.
That tournament will conclude the 2012 portion of the season for the Lady Knights.
“That will be a tough tournament,” Borgia Head Coach Stacia Parsell said.
Rosati-Kain
After being able to push the ball inside for two games, the Lady Knights had to go back to the drawing board.
Rosati Kain (2-4, 0-1) came in with 6-3 Oluwashayo Oginni as a dominant force inside the paint. But Borgia was able to find other ways to score.
“It was a great team effort,” Parsell said. “Katie Lindemann was held down in scoring because of the size inside. Rosati-Kain has a 6-3 post player.”
Borgia’s scoring leader was Janie Arand with 24 points, eight rebounds, four assists and four steals.
“Janie Arand picked up the scoring,” Parsell said. “We were able to keep pressure on them and maintain the tempo.”
Baylee Godat was next with eight points, two steals and an assist.
“Baylee Godat hit a couple of big threes for us,” Parsell said. “There were positive contributions from everyone.”
Emily Grahl closed with seven points, eight assists, three steals and two rebounds.
“Emily Grahl had another great night distributing the ball,” said Parsell.
Lindemann still managed to score seven points with nine rebounds, two steals and an assist.
Madison Wehking scored five points with an assist, a blocked shot and a steal.
Alexis Sine scored three points. Morgan Spradling netted two points with two rebounds, two steals and an assist.
Molly Arand added an assist and a steal. Cassandra Halsted added a steal.
Oginni scored 18 points with seven rebounds (six offensive), two blocked shots and one assist.
Katy Kessler scored six points with nine rebounds. Emily Secrist added five points, Chelsea Borders scored three and Danielle Goodman, Rosie Sandt and Rachel Schreier netted two points apiece.
Duchesne
Parsell indicated that while Rosati-Kain tried to take Lindemann out of the scoring equation, Duchesne planned to remove both Lindemann and Janie Arand.
“Their goal was to take Janie and Katie out of the game with a triangle and two defense,” said Parsell. “We haven’t figured out how to deal with that yet.”
Duchesne also came out and took a huge early lead.
“They came in ready to play and started the game with a much quicker tempo than we were ready to play,” Parsell said. “After the first quarter, it was pretty even.”
Borgia never caught up. Duchesne held a 28-16 lead at the intermission and a 39-26 lead after three.
“We won the fourth quarter (17-12), but by that point it was out of hand.
Borgia did have some positives. Grahl and Halsted led the team in scoring with 12 points apiece.
“Cassandra is a kid who is starting to play at this level,” Parsell said. “She has been coming off the bench. She did a fantastic job and was 100 percent at the free-throw line. She played physical and fast.”
Godat and Molly Arand scored seven points apiece.
“Molly is another sophomore who has been coming off the bench,” Parsell said. “She’s making a push to become a valuable part of the team.”
Janie Arand was next with four points and Spradling scored one.
Parsell said the Lady Pioneers had balanced scoring.
“The next time we see them, we will have to play there,” Parsell said. “We will have to work to improve each game.”
