The Our Lady of the Snows Bantam girls’ basketball team rallied to defeat St. Francis DeSales of Belle Harbor, 32-29, before a packed crowd at Corpus Christi gym in Woodside. The win put the OLS 6th-graders into the Diocesan final against neighborin
Nicole Weinman led Snows with 12 points, including a long three-pointer at the buzzer to sound the end of the third quarter. Weinman's trey brought Snows within one point of DeSales, 25-24. Weinman also sank 5-of-11 free throws in the game.
With under two minutes to go in the game and the scored tied at 27, the Snows girls were finally able to grab the lead with just more than a minute to play and held on for the 32-29 win.
Christine Wrynn had another outstanding game, scoring 8 points, including 2-of-4 from the charity stripe. Tina Khiani scored 7 points in addition to her defense and rebounding. Adara Simonelli led Snows’ efforts to break DeSales’ press and added 3 points. Nicole Kaouris scored 2 points to round out the OLS scoring. Jessica Wrynn, Michelle Gasperetti and Kaitlin Frangella also contributed in this exciting team victory.
When the OLS Bantam girls, coached by Mike McGovern and Al Weinman, took the court at Christ the King High School to face their neighbors and rival St. Gregory’s, they became the first Our Lady of the Snows girls’ basketball team to ever make an appearance in the Diocesan finals.
The championship game started well for Snows, as Adara Simonelli and Kaitlin Frangella combined to sink the team’s first four free throws. However, baskets by St. Greg’s Erin O’Mahoney, Theresa Quinn and Emily Harms propelled the Bellerose girls to a 10-8 halftime lead. Tina Khiani and Nicole Weinman combined to shoot 3-of-6 from the foul line in the third quarter to bring OLS within four of the lead.
OLS trailed 19-15 heading into the fourth quarter in this very hard-fought and exciting contest. However, the Snows’ girls usual excellent free throw shooting was absent in the period. The team combined to sink only 1-of-12 fourth-quarter free throws, as the St. Gregory’s defense thwarted every OLS attempt to rally. St. Gregory’s finally prevailed 23-17 to take the Bantam Championship. Khiani led OLS scorers with 6 points, while Simonelli scored 5. Gasperetti and Frangella added 2 points each for OLS. Christine and Jessica Wrynn also contributed in the OLS team effort.
Later that evening, coach Bob Fauth’s Junior division girls also made an appearance in the Diocesan finals vs. St. Robert’s.
St. Robert’s jumped out to an early lead and maintained it throughout the game. OLS managed to creep within one point at 50-49, but their Bayside opponents again pulled away and held on for an exciting 59-54 victory.
