Friday, March 22, 2019: Christ the King advances both teams to finals

   Leading off today: Christ the King and Long Island Lutheran will play for the boys Class AA championship in the Federation basketball tournament on Saturday.

   Christ the King advanced by beating West Genesee 59-53 in Glens Falls.

   Ryan Myers five 3-pointers and 19 points for the Royals helped offset a 23-point effort by West Genesee's Lucas Sutherland. Sophomore center Moussa Cisse blocked 10 shots and finished with 12 points.

   Long Island Lutheran coasted past South Shore 77-53 in the other semifinal as Andre Curbelo put up 31 points.

   Curbelo scored 23 of his 31 points in the second half.

   After opening an 18-8 lead midway through the second quarter, LuHi never led by fewer than six points the rest of the way.

   Girls Class AA: Christ the King and Ossining will play for the large-school championship after grinding out wins in their respective semifinals.

   Christ the King eliminated Long Island Lutheran 57-42 to earn a return trip to the final, with senior Klarke Sconiers scoring 19 points and Khadija Demry connecting for 14.

Demry had a strong offensive outing as well with 14 points to pace the Royals.    Demry also carried a significant portion of the defensive load by helping limit Celeste Taylor to four points on 2-for-19 shooting.

   Christ the King got off the perimeter game and began moving to the inside with Sconiers and junior Natalija Marshall in the second quarter. Sconiers' nine points in the second helped the Royals take a 26-20 lead into halftime.

   The lead reached 15 in the second half before LuHi made a run, but Christ the King closed the contest on a 14-2 run.

   In the other semi, Ossining dug out of a 12-point deficit in the second half and downed South Shore 81-76 in overtime.

   The Pride's Aubrey Griffin lived at the free-throw line, making 17 of 27 attempts on her way to 39 points. Ossining junior Julia Iorio chipped in with 18 points and Jaida Strippoli added 12.

   The final will be a rematch of Christ the King's 41-point rout of Ossining in a regular-season game that Griffin and Strippoli sat out with injuries.

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   Girls Class A: Pittsford Mendon outscored James Madison 16-4 in the fourth quarter to secure a 49-43 victory in the first semifinal.

   Senior Alana Fursman led the Vikings with 18 points.

   Down 16-6 after a quarter, Mendon finally got within one with 3:24 remaining in the game.

   "Ellie Mooney took three charges and those were game-changers, probably more than any scoring plays. Lexi Green also had a huge steal and layup for us," coach Todd Julien said.

   Down 46-43, James Madison had one more chance with under 20 seconds to play, but Fursman grabbed the game-

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sealing rebound while being leveled by a Golden Knights player, resulting in a flagrant foul being called to end the PSAL champions' last hope.

   The opening day of the tournament began with Staten Island Academy downing Cardinal Spellman 70-60 with the help of a 16-0 run in the third quarter.

   "This may sound terrible, but I never doubted us," point guard Emily LaPointe said after finishing with 21 points and 14 rebounds. "We're a team that plays with a chip on its shoulder. I knew we would stick together."

   Down 10 midway through the third quarter, LaPointe got SIA started with a bucket. Sophia DeMauro and Francesca Marchese followed with back-to-back 3-pointers, followed by a layup from LaPointe to tie the game.

   Girls Class B: Irvington routed a shorthanded Holy Trinity 62-37 in the first round and will play Brooklyn Law & Technology in Sunday's final

   The Bulldogs broke it open in the second half, outscoring Holy Trinity 19-2 in the third quarter. Senior Mia Mascone scored nine of her game-high 17 points in the quarter to lead the surge.

   Sophomore Grace Thybulle finished with 13 points and 21 rebounds in the win. Senior Abby Conklin scored all 15 of her points from behind the arc.

   Holy Trinity dressed just eight players, including six freshmen. The Titans were missing all four of their seniors, including leading scorer Natalie Stark, who were on a long-scheduled class trip.