By DAVE O’SULLIVAN
Staff Writer
On X @GDsullysays
PENNSAUKEN — Bishop Eustace Prep girls basketball coach Sal Racobaldo says the Crusaders are at their best when Angelina Pena — a 6-foot junior forward — is stepping out and hitting long-range jump shots.
Pena and her teammates got off to a slow start in Monday’s game against Egg Harbor Township, but in the second quarter Pena drained a pair of 3-pointers as part of a 10-0 run that gave Eustace a commanding 25-12 lead. The Crusaders were never really threatened after that, as they cruised to a 54-42 win — their second in a row in what has been an inconsistent season so far.
There was some inconsistency in the Martin Luther King Jr. Day showdown with EHT, but the Crusaders are working through it with a brand new lineup that features Haddonfield High transfer point guard Acadia Walters, who finished with 14 points to go along with Pena’s game-high 18. A new lineup and playing a tough schedule had Eustace sitting at just 8-6 coming into the game, but Walters said she thinks this team is starting to figure things out.
“As a team, we really just got together and were able to click, find the right passes,” Walters said of the Crusaders’ second-quarter surge, during which they outscored EHT 17-6. “We like to play fast and we like to get up and pressure people and force turnovers, and I felt like we did a really good job with that. They had a really good big (in sophomore Elaina Kraybill) and we knew we had to help out and make sure we got rebounds, and then looked to get out in transition. We like to move the ball in transition, and (in the second quarter) we did a much better job with our ball movement in transition and we were able to find wide-open layups.”
The Eagles (12-4, 5-1 Cape-Atlantic League American) got to within 15-12 early in the second quarter on a 3-pointer by Kaitlyn Wiggins, but Pena nailed a jumper and then hit a three of her own to push Eustace’s lead to 20-12. After a steal and layup by Carli Fox, Pena drained another long-range shot to make it 25-12. Bishop Eustace (9-6, 0-2 Olympic National) went into halftime with a commanding 27-12 lead.
“We’re a lot more dangerous (when she’s hitting shots). She’s a great player all around, but when she comes out and shoots the ball that well it really opens things up,” Walters said. “It’s our job to find her because we trust her to knock down those types of shots.”
Pena outscored the entire EHT team by herself in the first half, as she netted 14 points to the Eagles’ 12.
“I push Ang to fill the stat sheet. I know she’s going to score, but our offense is predicated on her doing those kinds of things,” Racobaldo said. “(Her shooting threes) opens everything up, and she understands that.”
EHT loves to play an up-tempo style under new coach Cameron Bell, a longtime EHT boys hoops coach whose teams routinely scored in the 70s and 80s during his highly successful run. But Racobaldo said that style was just what the doctor ordered for his squad to start building some momentum. They’ll take on state power St. John Vianney on Saturday at the South vs. The Shore showcase event at Riverwinds in Deptford.
“Watching them on film, we knew they were going to try to play fast, but that’s right up our alley, really. We like to press and do the same types of things, it was just going to be who was going to step up and make plays, and we did,” he said. “We’re young, and (my players) tend to do things they shouldn’t do. But once they settle down and start moving the ball around, they start to see things differently. They are a really talented group, and every time we move the ball we get layups. So I was just telling them, listen, settle down, you’re going to make mistakes, just stick to the plan. And they did. Every time we pressed we created something on offense.”
Eustace showed its versatility and depth, as nine players made it onto the stat sheet in one form or another. Alexa Racobaldo finished with eight rebounds and four blocked shots, Pena added seven rebounds and four assists, Fox had 11 points and six steals, Jillian Guzzardo finished with two points, three assists and a pair of steals and Abria Hason hit a 3-pointer and added a couple rebounds and a steal. In all, Eustace had 18 steals and 31 rebounds, winning by 12 points despite going to the free-throw line just three times the entire game.
“We’re a young team and we have some transfers, so I feel like the more games we play the more we’re finding each other and we’re seeing those connections on the court. The more we build on that, the more competitive we’ll be. Against more competitive teams, I feel like the more we learn to play together the better we’ll be. We have a lot more to give,” said Walters, a junior who surpassed 1,000 career points earlier this season. “We just want to keep working on our defense and our ball movement, making sure we see that extra pass to the cutter. We have two really good bigs in Ang and Lex (Racobaldo), and making sure when they get open we see it and find them. I feel like for these next few games we have a lot of momentum building and we want to keep that going. We’re all really confident in each other and we’ve played a very competitive schedule. Obviously, that’s been tough but that’s forcing us to play together.”
WHAT’S NEXT: Bishop Eustace takes on St. John Vianney on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. at Riverwinds in Deptford in the South vs. The Shore showcase event. Egg Harbor Township hosts OLMA on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m.
