The Cabrini’s women’s basketball team will make their eighth appearance in the CSAC championship game. On Wednesday, Feb. 20, the Cavaliers beat Keystone College, 72-62. The team’s record is now 23-3.
Brittany Sandone led the team with 15 points with Colleen Stewart and Annie Rivituso closely behind with 14 points, while Amber Keys had 11 points.
At the end of the first half, Cabrini only had a three-point lead, 37-34. After the break, the team took a larger lead as the score went to 43-34.
“We’ve played really well all season and Keystone came in and gave us a really really good test tonight and our girls rose to the occasion,” head coach Kate Pearson said, “and were looking forward to hosting the championship on Saturday and hopefully finish strong and go into the NCAA tournament.”
The Cavaliers kept the lead throughout the game, although there were a few times that Keystone was close to taking it from Cabrini. The Cavaliers retaliated each reach for the lead with points every time.
“The team showed up today,” junior Colleen Stewart said. “We were really looking forward to playing Keystone again because last time we played them we didn’t feel like we played our best and we were looking forward to coming out and really taking advantage, which we didn’t do as much as we wanted but in the second half we brought a lot of energy and we were playing really well as a team which really helped us through the stretch.”
Team captains, Stewart and Laura Caron, are both excited for their team as they head into the championship on Saturday. There are a few things to still improve on and make sure they crack down on.
“We’re definitely looking forward to play Gwynedd on Saturday,” Caron said. “They are are biggest rival, and we’re just looking forward to playing in the championship. We haven’t gotten there in the past three to four years, and nobody on this team has experienced it yet, except for me. I went there my freshmen year, so we’re excited for that.
“We’re looking forward to that we’re ready to play and tonight’s defense was there at times, it wasn’t always there but we did it enough and it worked for us.”
Cabrini will be hosting the defending CSAC champions Gwynedd-Mercy College on Saturday at 6 p.m.