By DAVE O’SULLIVAN
Staff Writer
On X @Gdsullysays
ABSECON — Holy Spirit senior guard Sabrina Little came into Wednesday night’s game against rival Atlantic City needing 10 points to become her school’s all-time leading scorer in girls basketball.
The Vikings made it a point to deny Little the record, and did just that, holding her to eight points, but all that defensive attention on Little opening things up for the rest of the team. Kieran Brewster led the way with 21 points, including a quartet of 3-pointers in the third quarter, and Megan Kane and Lauren Cella combined for 16 more points as the host Spartans pulled away in the second half for a 50-33 victory in our Bunting Family Pharmacy Marquee Matchup.
Little’s next chance to break the school’s scoring record will come on Monday at her home town of Egg Harbor Township.
Holy Spirit’s new coach, Scott Meile, said the Spartans certainly wanted to get Little the record during a home game, but the most important thing was getting the victory and bouncing back from a tough overtime loss to Mainland Regional earlier in the week.
“I wouldn’t say it’s mixed emotions, we just wanted to win the game. We worked really hard. We didn’t play well on Monday night and it was important for us to get back into the winning flow,” he said. “We wanted to get it for her tonight, we were all looking forward to it, but we’re going to have more games here down the stretch where she’ll have plenty of opportunities to get it.”
Little was held to four points in the first half but hit a couple of free throws in the third quarter and with 2:06 remaining she scored on a driving layup to get to within four points of the record of 1,389 points, set by Jen Daniels in 2001. Little, who averages better than 14 points per game throughout her career and has scored as many as 32 in a game this season, hit a couple more free throws with 1:45 to go to get within one point of Daniels.
“Sab always does a great job, and so does the rest of our team. It was a really good win and we needed it, too. That was a tough one (against Mainland),” said Brewster. “She always does a good job of holding her composure and she’s a great player overall. She knows how to handle these types of situations.”
The game was tied at 19 at halftime, but the third quarter belonged to Holy Spirit (15-7, 6-6 Cape-Atlantic League American) as the Spartans outscored the Vikings 19-8 to take a commanding 38-27 lead into the fourth quarter. The lead reached as high as 40-27 early in the fourth on a layup by Kane, but the real damage was done by Brewster in the third quarter. She nailed a three to start the second half and give Spirit a 22-19 lead, then, after Atlantic City’s Julia Merigliano answered with a 3-pointer of her own, Brewster sank another one to give the Spartans the lead for good at 25-22. Her third triple of the quarter pushed the lead to 29-24, and she hit another one with five seconds left in the frame off an inbounds pass to give Spirit an 11-point lead heading into the fourth quarter.
“In girls basketball, if you hit a couple threes in a row the momentum is going to shift,” Meile said. “Kieran has been steady all year. Sometimes she’s the leading scorer or the second scorer, and sometimes there are games where she’s bumped down the list a little bit, but we’re lucky, we have a great group of seniors.”
“I definitely did feel different (in the third quarter),” Brewster said. “You can just tell when you’re getting hot, and I feel like your teammates can tell, too, so they know to get you the ball. That’s pretty much how it went. Every basketball player knows in their head if they hit the first two, then you’re like, ‘OK, I’ve got this.’”
While facing double- and sometimes triple-team defense, Little did her best to find the open teammate, and that created a lot of scoring opportunities. Lauren Cella finished with nine points, Kane added seven and Taylor Murphy, Ava Catona and Ava Buccafurni also got onto the stat sheet as seven different Spartans scored. Taison Parker led Atlantic City (7-16, 2-10 CAL American) with 10 points while Eileen and Bridget Roach combined for 16 more.
“That’s every game for us, everyone tries to take (Little) away, and tonight, especially, she did a fantastic job of keeping her composure and getting the ball spread around to Kieran, who shot the ball well,” Meile said. “When our kids shoot the ball well we’re tough to beat because we have five girls who can score the ball. Kane has been playing phenomenal for us, rebounding the ball, driving the ball. And that’s another thing, our biggest girl is a threat to get to the basket now all the time. That’s tough to defend.”
Added Brewster, “we’re playing better as a team and today proved that when we play together as a team and move the ball around, everybody gets a touch on the ball and everybody scores — that’s when we play our best. I think today proved that. You just have to step up to the challenge, and all of our girls know how to do that.”
WHAT’S NEXT: Holy Spirit travels to Egg Harbor Township on Monday at 5:30 p.m. Atlantic City’s regular-season schedule is complete and the Vikings await their seeding in the upcoming Cape-Atlantic League Tournament.
