For the first time in a decade, Neumann Goretti girls’ basketball is the Philadelphia Catholic League champion after beating Archbishop Carroll, 50-43, at the Palestra on Sunday.
Coach Andrea Peterson said “it means the world” to her.
“Told us we couldn’t do it. … But I know what I have inside my locker room. This is a team-ran program,” Peterson said.
Throughout the season, the mantra in the players huddle always came from senior Amya Scott.
She’d remind her teammates to “have fun.” Senior Carryn Easley said that was “the most important thing” for the Saints, who haven’t won a PCL crown since 2015.
“It’s all positivity in our home,” junior Kamora Berry said. “We never just bow our heads. We never have our shoulders hunched. We all sit up, even if we’re down, we all come together as a family.”
A three-pointer from Berry opened the scoring for the Saints, but Easley carried them throughout the first half with 12 points. The efforts of Berry and Easley gave Neumann Goretti an early nine-point lead. The Saints held a 23-14 halftime lead.
» READ MORE: Shayla Smith leads Audenried past Imhotep to capture third straight girls’ Public League title
Carroll was making its second straight PCL title appearance after losing in double overtime to Archbishop Wood last year.
And similar to last year, it was another hard fought battle for the Patriots, who struggled with shooting in the first half of the defensive battle, but came out hot in the second. Led by the Eberz sisters, the Patriots erased a nine-point lead in the fourth quarter to briefly take a one-point lead, before Easley shifted the momentum in favor of the Saints.
“I knew we needed a bucket,” Easley said. “It was just like taking the gaps and get to my spot that I wanted, and not let them control what I was doing.”
Kayla and Alexis Eberz led Carroll in scoring, with freshman Kayla netting a game-high 21 points, and junior Alexis adding 15 points.
For the Saints, the scoring was dispersed throughout the team, but the two seniors, Easley and Scott, paced Neumann Goretti with 16 points and 13 points, respectively.
“We all like to see each other eat,” Easley said. “So it felt good seeing everybody score, no matter if I scored, she scored, she scored, somebody else scored. I just like seeing everybody score.”