St. Francis (Ga.) tops St. Mary’s (Canada) to reach CresCom Bank Holiday Invitational final
Fresh off a Georgia Class A-Private state championship, the St. Francis Knights are close to adding another title.
With a 62-56 come-from-behind win over St. Mary’s (Canada) at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center on Monday night, St. Francis has advanced to the championship game of the CresCom Bank Holiday Invitational.
“We played hard and we never gave up,” said St. Francis coach Aisha Kennedy, whose team is nationally ranked (No. 6) in the MaxPreps.com Xcellent 25 Poll. “We hustled, stuck to our game plan, executed and came out with a victory.”
St. Mary’s has been relying on its 3-point shooting throughout the tournament, but the Knights limited the Crusaders to 6-of-24 (25 percent) from behind the arc on Monday.
Also, St. Francis received double-digit scoring from all five starters. Nichel Tampa led the way with 14 points, Jala Jordan chipped in 13, and Taja Cummings, Kasiyahn Kushkituah and Maya Dodson all scored 11.
“We’ve been kind of doing that all year, so that was very good to have them back to where they were before we got here,” Kennedy said. “That’s our strength, we’re able to score in so many different areas and so many places.”
St. Mary’s was led by Mackenzie Trpcic, who had 16 points and seven rebounds, and Taylor Randall and Julia Hanaka 13 points each. The Crusaders will meet Myrtle Beach in the third-place game on Tuesday at 12:30 p.m.
Meanwhile, the Knights are one step away from some more hardware. St. Francis takes on Lake Highland Prep (Fla.) in the championship Tuesday at 2:15 p.m.
“They’re a very good team. We’ll have to defend [Alabama signee Jordan Lewis] very well,” Kennedy said. “They have very, very good guards but I think we have guards that can match up with them and the athleticism to match up with them. So, we have to stick to our strength which is penetration, and going inside to our big girls.”
▪ ST. FRANCIS (62): Nichel Tampa 14, Taja Cummings 11, Kasiyahn Kushkituah 11, Jala Jordan 13, Maya Dodson 11, Ellie Howell 2.
▪ ST. MARY’S (56): Mackenzie Trpcic 16, Kyrsten Mullen 3, Taylor Randall 13, Halle Bovell 7, Julia Hanaka 13, Hanna Hall 4.
▪ Halftime: St. Francis 31-30. 3-pointers: St. Francis 4 (Tampa 2, Cummings 1, Jordan 1), St. Mary’s 6 (Trpcic 2, Hanaka 2, Randall 1, Bovell 1). Team fouls: St. Francis 8, St. Mary’s 12. Fouled out: None. Technical Fouls: None.
▪ Records: St. Francis 11-0, St. Mary’s 38-2.
Max McKinnon: 843-626-0302, @mmckinnonTSN
This story was originally published December 21, 2015 at 11:25 PM with the headline "St. Francis (Ga.) tops St. Mary’s (Canada) to reach CresCom Bank Holiday Invitational final."