By Larry Moko
The first-place St. Thomas More Knights narrowly avoided a semifinal upset in girls' high school basketball action Wednesday.
The Knights fell behind 10-2 and trailed for most of the game until back-to-back baskets by Isabella Moro vaulted them into the lead to stay with 97 seconds remaining on the clock. Milania Bozzo added an insurance free throw with 1.9 seconds left as More prevailed, 47-45, over the fourth-place Bishop Tonnos Titans.
More will play the Cathedral Gaels for the Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic senior championship on Nov. 6. Third-place Cathedral punched its ticket with a 37-34 semifinal victory over the second-place St. John Henry Newman Cardinals.
A three-point play by Bridget Dinning gave Tonnos a 43-36 lead early in the fourth quarter. However, Moro drained eight of her game-high 19 points down the stretch to spark the comeback.
Even when the Knights gained a 46-45 advantage, the Titans threatened. Tonnos, though, failed to connect on an open layup and twice made steals but couldn't turn those turnovers into points.
"We had the steals," Tonnos coach Len Mocchia said. "We just fumbled it away or didn't get the shots off that we wanted."
The Tonnos coach pointed out that his team (8-5) has a lot of Grade 10s and 11s who were in a high school playoff atmosphere for the first time.
"These are the games you want to be in," he said. "We chipped away all year. We lost to them by 21 points the first time and then by 10. We had the lead late in this game but just let it go. Hopefully, we'll learn from it and come back stronger."
Other top scorers for More were Savannah Gallea (eight) and Caitlin Connolly (six).
Dinning was the leading scorer for Tonnos with 18 points, while Lauren Moccia and Avery Hedley chipped in with eight and six points, respectively.
"They came at us hard," More coach Ralph Bozzo said. "But we dug deep and did those little things that matter at the end of the game to kind of hold them off.
"We were expecting it would be a much tougher game than when we played them during the season."
The More coach praised the performance of Grade 12 standout Moro.
"She is our rock," Bozzo said. "While we have a lot of good pieces out there, she is our leader. The team really does as well as she does."
The Knights only lost once in 12 starts during the regular schedule.
Said Moro: "Near the end we trusted each other. We got the right screens and found our drives. We got the clear lanes, executed and tried to be as composed as we could."
Bozzo said the margin of victory could have been wider if it wasn't for the defensive effort of Lauren Moccia shutting down Knights' centre Gallea.
"They did a great job of defending her in the post," the More coach said. "We tried to get the ball down low but we were unsuccessful. We then tried to pull her out of the key so we could run some high screens."
In addition to an 11-1 league record, the Knights made it to the championship game of the More Hoops tournament before bowing to London's Mother Teresa Spartans.
"We're good at putting pressure on the ball," Moro said when asked about the Knights strengths. "We like to press a lot. That helps get us get good shots. And, offensively, we're good at finding the open man."
More and the three-time defending champion Gaels split their games during the regular schedule. More won 62-57 before Cathedral responded with a 53-45 decision.
Photos by Richard Andoga
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