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Loughlin falls to second place after loss to Christ the King

February 20, 2015 By Rob Abruzzese Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Kiana Clark was disappointed that her team failed to rally in the second half against Christ the King. Eagle photo by Rob Abruzzese
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The Bishop Loughlin Lions came up short against Christ the King in a battle for first place in the Catholic High School Athletic League Brooklyn/Queens division as they lost 69-56 in Queens on Wednesday night.

The Lions trailed by nine points at halftime, but the team — known for its second-half play — never turned it on late. With the loss, Loughlin (8-2) fell to second place in the CHSAA, and Christ the King (9-1) took the top spot.

“We didn’t play hard enough,” said Loughlin senior Kiana Clark. “We gave up once we saw that they got the lead, and that was that. I guess because we beat them the first time we felt like we had it, but we can’t play like that.”

Things looked bad from the start for Loughlin. It trailed 10-6 after the first when Lynette Taitt was the only one to score a field goal. It improved slightly in the second quarter, but Christ the King managed to extend the lead to nine by halftime after Kaela Kinder and Sydney Zambrotta started to get hot.

The last time these two teams faced each other, Loughlin scored 46 points in the second half and won by seven after going into the fourth quarter down by 10. However, that second-half intensity never appeared in Queens on Wednesday.

The third quarter was rough, and the Lions only dug themselves into a deeper hole. They did play better in the fourth, as Milicia Reid and Taitt got hot and combined to score 21 points. However, Christ the King’s Kinder and Zambrotta continued to play great and never let Loughlin get to within eight points.
Reid led Loughlin with 18 points, Taitt had 12 and Clark had nine. Those numbers were overshadowed by Christ the King’s Kinder, who led the game with 24 points, or Zambrotta, who had 19.

After the game, Loughlin head coach Chez Williams brushed off the significance of falling out of first place.

“I would have loved to have won this game, but we didn’t play well enough,” Williams said. “First place, second place, it doesn’t matter. It’s a brand new season in the playoffs. We’re going to have to play hard in order to win and there are obviously things that we have to work out, but we’ll take care of that in practice.”

Williams added that he needs to see more consistency out of his team, but with a team that only has three seniors, consistency is hard to achieve.

“We need the girls to play hard, play with energy and effort for the whole game. They’re young, but I’ve seen it from them. We’re 19-5 (overall) this season and not 5-19 so we have seen it. They just need to get back there and try to be consistent.”

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