Yencha, Holy Redeemer roll over Sem in key girls basketball battle
KINGSTON — In a critical girls basketball showdown, Wyoming Seminary had the better overall record, a higher ranking and a burst of momentum right at the start.
Sam Yencha and Holy Redeemer quickly snatched it all away.
Yencha scored a game-high 14 points — all in the first half Monday — and Redeemer’s defense held the Blue Knights without a basket for more than 12 minutes as the Royals rolled over Sem, 52-21 at Wyoming Seminary while solidifying their hold on first place in the WVC Division 2.
“It took us awhile to get in the flow of things,” Yencha said. “We were confident. We just went inside-out with our game. Defensively, we really locked up.”
It turned Sem upside-down.
The Blue Knights came in with a 10-3 overall mark and percentage points ahead of Redeemer for third place in the District 2 Class 3A power rankings while looking to take over first place in the league.
They couldn’t have started much better, as Ally Vezendy swished two straight 3-point field goals to take an early 6-0 lead and, with standout guard Alex Wesneski out of the lineup while trying to make the USA U21 field hockey team, held a 9-5 advantage near the midway mark of the first quarter.
“This is a really good team,” Holy Redeemer coach John Jezorwski said of Sem, “coached really well. We’re kind of slow starters some of the time. Give them credit for coming together without one of their best players. They came out on fire.
“We know our girls respond.”
The Royals responded all right, with a 40-3 run that lasted from around the midway mark of the opening quarter to 20 seconds before the end of the third — when Vezendy made Sem’s first basket of the second half. By then, Redeemer had built a 45-12 lead.
“At the six-minute mark, we started getting the shots we want to get instead of shots they’re giving to us,” said Jezorwski, whose Royals matched Sem at 10-4 overall, passed the Blue Knights for third place in the District 2 standings and improved to 6-0 at the top of the WVC Division 2. “When we’re moving the ball, we’re really good.”
Yencha started the rally, hitting a bucket and two free throws to get Redeemer even in the first quarter and Aleia Atherton’s basket lifted the Royals into an 11-9 lead by quarter’s end.
“She kind of does everything for us,” Jezorwski said. “She’s the shooter, she’s the rebounder. And she leads. She’s just one of those special kids you get, that come along once in a lifetime.”
The Redeemer defense showed lots of life from there, allowing just one basket in each of the second and third quarters as the Royals built leads of 35-12 by halftime and 47-14 entering the final period. Sem hit just 17 percent of its shots, converting five of its 28 attempts from the field, before backups took over for most of the fourth quarter.
A hustling Yencha finished with nine rebounds and two blocked shots on the night and scored nine points at the start of the run that lifted Redeemer into a 25-11 lead.
“They were doubling me in the paint, a box-and-one,” said Yencha, a senior who began her career as a center and is now a guard. “I have my jump shots to rely on. I feel I have an advantage, with my post backround. I like when my teammates get involved, too, when they step up. We need them. But I don’t mind stepping up and scoring.”
Liv Moore stepped up with nine points and seven rebounds for the Royals, while Atherton and Karissa Spade each added six points.
Vezendy wound up with 16 of Sem’s 21 points, as the Blue Knights fell into fourth place in the District 2 power rankings and dropped to 5-2 in league play, 1 1/2-games behind Redeemer in Division 2.
“I thought we played a nice game,” Jezorwski said. “Once we settled in, we picked up.”
Holy Redeemer 52, Wyoming Sem 21
HOLY REDEEMER (52) — Alesha Pekarovsky 2 0-0 4, Sam Yencha 4 6-7 14, Liv Moore 3 3-5 9, Aubrey Curley 1 0-0 3, Karissa Spade 3 0-0 6, Aleia Atherton 2 2-2 6, Jillian DelBalso 2 0-0 4, Mia Ashton 2 0-0 4, Faith Sekol 1 0-0 2, Lynzie Skoronski 0 0-0 0, Jenna Santuk 0 0-0 0, Avya Lisowski 0 0-0 0. Totals 20 11-14 52.
WYOMING SEM (21) — Maddie Olshemski 0 0-0 0, Margaret Mihalick 0 0-0 0, Ava Bufalino 0 0-2 0, Kate Getz 1 1-2 3, Ally Vezendy 5 4-6 14, Abby McDonald 0 0-0 0, Rita Duelt 0 0-0 0, Grace Aiello 1 0-0 2, Catherine Ziegler 0 0-0 0, Marai Castellanos 0 0-0 0, Tlange Yang 0 0-0 0, Bekah Kornfeld 0 0-0 0, Jenny Yao 0 0-0 0. Totals 7 5-10 21.
Holy Redeemer`11`24`12`5 — 52
Wyoming Sem`9`3`2`7 — 21
Three-point goals — HR 1 (Curley); SEM 2 (Vezendy 2).
