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No. 2 Seton Keough dominates top-ranked St. Frances; Bussie posts double-double.
St. Frances' Sophy Ngobeni (right) and Seton Keough's Asha Bussie battle for a rebound during Monday's huge IAAM A Conference match. The No. 2 Gators posted a 62-40 victory over top-ranked St. Frances.
by Derek Toney
The chorus "The champ is here," from the rap song by Jadakiss was played as St. Frances Academy's girls' basketball took the court for pre-game warmups Monday evening for its match with No. 2 Seton Keough. But it was the Gators who scored the knockout.
Seton Keough left little doubt it's the area's No. 1 team, routing the top-ranked Panthers, 62-40, in an IAAM A Conference showdown in east Baltimore.
Junior center Asha Bussie led the Gators (15-2, 7-0) with 15 points and 12 rebounds, and senior point guard B.J. Williams added 13. Sophomore guard Shatyra Hawkes led all scorers with 18 for St. Frances (11-2).
Seton Keough led by as many as 25 points in the second half as west Baltimore school gained its first victory over the Panthers since 2000. The Gators were a little surprised with the decisive outcome.
"We knew it was going to be tough," said Seton Keough coach Jackie Boswell. "This is our best game to this point. But it's not the best game we're going to play this season."
"We just wanted to come out and play our game," said Bussie. "If that's what it came out to be, then that's it. We wanted to play our game."
The six foot, four inch Bussie eclipsed the 1,000-point career scoring barrier in the second quarter. The milestone was part of Bussie's run of nine straight points as the Gators opened up a 13-point halftime advantage.
"We wanted to make sure Asha and Ayana [Lee] touched the ball as many times inside," said Boswell. "They needed to touch the ball everytime in our offense, forced them [St. Frances] to double-team us or take the chance one-on-one with those two kids. If they double-teamed us, kick it out to our shooters."
The Gators worked their inside-out game successfully with Arika Ullman (12 points), Tierra Ellis and Amber Singletary (seven) on the perimeter and Williams pentrating. Seton Keough said its fourth-place finish at the Sandra Meadow Classic in Duncanville, Texas during the holiday break helped set the stage for Monday's statement performance.
"We talked about going down to Texas and being successful, not necessarily with wins, coming out being a better team," said Boswell. "I think we proved that being here tonight. If we play that hard and we play that together and unselfish, we're going to be tough to beat down the stretch."
Bussie's rebound and basket gave the Gators the lead for good at 16-14, then followed with a 10-foot jumper and a score in the paint off an assist from Williams (seven assists). A three-pointer by Ullman gave Seton Keough a 33-20 lead at the break.
The Gators continued their attack against the five-time defending A Conference champs, opening the third quarter with a 13-2 run extending the lead to 46-22 as Bussie and Ullman each scored four points. It was 48-23 after two free throws by Lee.
The only highlight for St. Frances was the return of Kandice Green, who missed last week with a high ankle sprain, but the Seton Hall University-bound forward went scoreless. St. Frances coach Jerome Shelton said Seton Keough played with a championship attitude.
"I thought for the first time this year that we showed a lack of poise and cohesiveness," said Shelton. "We started playing a game in a game and that hurt us. They did things on the effort-side that really contributed to that. They got second shots, they forced turnovers and got easy baskets."
Boswell said the Gators, who lost three times to the Panthers last season, were anxious for the showdown. Though the A Conference tournament crown is the ultimate goal, Seton Keough believe it's turned a huge corner.
"I feel like a lot of times we were playing the name instead of the players," said Boswell. "Now, we've finally proved that we can play the players and not the name."
Seton Keough 62, St. Frances 40
Seton Keough: Bussie 15, Williams 13, Ullman 12, Lee 9, Wright 2, Read 3, Singletary 8. Totals 23 11-18 62.
St. Frances: Hawkes 18, Benn 2, Harmon 2, Ngobeni 9, Bristow 7, Newman 2. Totals 17 6-12 40. Halftime: Seton Keough 33, St. Frances 20
Seton Keough 8 25 15 14-62
St. Frances 10 10 5 15-40
The chorus "The champ is here," from the rap song by Jadakiss was played as St. Frances Academy's girls' basketball took the court for pre-game warmups Monday evening for its match with No. 2 Seton Keough. But it was the Gators who scored the knockout.
Seton Keough left little doubt it's the area's No. 1 team, routing the top-ranked Panthers, 62-40, in an IAAM A Conference showdown in east Baltimore.
Junior center Asha Bussie led the Gators (15-2, 7-0) with 15 points and 12 rebounds, and senior point guard B.J. Williams added 13. Sophomore guard Shatyra Hawkes led all scorers with 18 for St. Frances (11-2).
Seton Keough led by as many as 25 points in the second half as west Baltimore school gained its first victory over the Panthers since 2000. The Gators were a little surprised with the decisive outcome.
"We knew it was going to be tough," said Seton Keough coach Jackie Boswell. "This is our best game to this point. But it's not the best game we're going to play this season."
"We just wanted to come out and play our game," said Bussie. "If that's what it came out to be, then that's it. We wanted to play our game."
The six foot, four inch Bussie eclipsed the 1,000-point career scoring barrier in the second quarter. The milestone was part of Bussie's run of nine straight points as the Gators opened up a 13-point halftime advantage.
"We wanted to make sure Asha and Ayana [Lee] touched the ball as many times inside," said Boswell. "They needed to touch the ball everytime in our offense, forced them [St. Frances] to double-team us or take the chance one-on-one with those two kids. If they double-teamed us, kick it out to our shooters."
The Gators worked their inside-out game successfully with Arika Ullman (12 points), Tierra Ellis and Amber Singletary (seven) on the perimeter and Williams pentrating. Seton Keough said its fourth-place finish at the Sandra Meadow Classic in Duncanville, Texas during the holiday break helped set the stage for Monday's statement performance.
"We talked about going down to Texas and being successful, not necessarily with wins, coming out being a better team," said Boswell. "I think we proved that being here tonight. If we play that hard and we play that together and unselfish, we're going to be tough to beat down the stretch."
Bussie's rebound and basket gave the Gators the lead for good at 16-14, then followed with a 10-foot jumper and a score in the paint off an assist from Williams (seven assists). A three-pointer by Ullman gave Seton Keough a 33-20 lead at the break.
The Gators continued their attack against the five-time defending A Conference champs, opening the third quarter with a 13-2 run extending the lead to 46-22 as Bussie and Ullman each scored four points. It was 48-23 after two free throws by Lee.
The only highlight for St. Frances was the return of Kandice Green, who missed last week with a high ankle sprain, but the Seton Hall University-bound forward went scoreless. St. Frances coach Jerome Shelton said Seton Keough played with a championship attitude.
"I thought for the first time this year that we showed a lack of poise and cohesiveness," said Shelton. "We started playing a game in a game and that hurt us. They did things on the effort-side that really contributed to that. They got second shots, they forced turnovers and got easy baskets."
Boswell said the Gators, who lost three times to the Panthers last season, were anxious for the showdown. Though the A Conference tournament crown is the ultimate goal, Seton Keough believe it's turned a huge corner.
"I feel like a lot of times we were playing the name instead of the players," said Boswell. "Now, we've finally proved that we can play the players and not the name."
Seton Keough 62, St. Frances 40
Seton Keough: Bussie 15, Williams 13, Ullman 12, Lee 9, Wright 2, Read 3, Singletary 8. Totals 23 11-18 62.
St. Frances: Hawkes 18, Benn 2, Harmon 2, Ngobeni 9, Bristow 7, Newman 2. Totals 17 6-12 40. Halftime: Seton Keough 33, St. Frances 20
Seton Keough 8 25 15 14-62
St. Frances 10 10 5 15-40
Seton Keough coach Jackie Boswell gives Asha Bussie a hug after the junior center scored her 1,000 career point. Bussie finished with 15 points and 12 rebounds in Monday's win over St. Frances.
