For The Dialog
NEWARK – Top-seeded Ursuline put on a dominating opening half of basketball as they cruised past eighth-seeded Sussex Tech, 55-27, in the quarterfinal round of the DIAA girls basketball tournament March 4 at the Bob Carpenter Center.
The Raiders attacked early and often as coach John Noonan likes to show teams what they represent.
“Let them know that, ‘Hey we’re Ursuline and we are comfortable here. This is where we belong. This where we want to be.'” Noonan said.
Maggie Connolly nailed a deep three-point shot, and Alisha Lewis scored on a fast-break layup and hit a step-back three to give the Raiders a quick 13-3 lead. The Raiders then went on a 12-point run, keyed by a pair of three-pointers by Connolly and one by Lewis to grab a 30-4 lead.
The Raiders’ press and uptempo style forced 17 first-half Ravens turnovers.
“The key was to keep the tempo up,” Connolly said. “We knew coming in we wanted to play fast. That’s a big thing for us, playing faster. That’s they way we play.”
The Raiders (21-1) got scoring from 12 players but were lead by Connolly, who had 17, while Lewis had 12. They will meet the fourth seed, Sanford, on Wednesday night at the Bob Carpenter Center at 8. The teams met Feb. 16 at Ursuline, with the Raiders winning, 50-40. Tickets are $8 and are available at http://statechamps.com/diaa. They are good for both semifinal-round games.
The Ravens finished 15-6.
