WEST HEMPSTEAD, NY – As New York City begins to rebound from COVID-19, the Girls Catholic High School Association season officially began on Friday afternoon with a Spring HS Tournament at the Island Garden facility. The day began with Christ the King versus Nazareth. A match-up of two traditional powerhouses.

With guns blazing, Naz took an early lead but in the second half, the Lady Royals surged ahead paced by the stellar play of 5’10 Julianna Laguna ‘22 in a 58 – 46 win. “Julianna has great potential,” said Christ the King head coach Bob Mackey. “I can’t wait to see her play at Army.”

Sparked by the piercing offense of 5’8” Reyna Scott ’22 and Emily Flovil ’21, the Naz Kingsman took a five-point lead into the second quarter. The tide turned at the top of the second quarter as Laguna began to assert herself and take charge. Limiting Naz to a mere 2 points in the second quarter along with buckets from Laguna, 5’8” Amanda Smith ‘24 and 5’7” Sharon Brown ‘21, the Lady Royals now had a 22 – 17 halftime advantage.

The Kingman raised the temperature in the third quarter, pressuring Laguna at the point along with offensive firepower from 5’5” Vanessa McManus ‘24 and 5’6” Dorien Williams ‘22. CTK countered with scoring from 6’1” Saniyah Glenn ‘22, Brown and Laguna.

Naz ratcheted up the physicality of the game as Scott tried to get under Laguna skin as she brought the ball up court. However, the senior point guard withstood the onslaught and she and her teammates came away with a 12-point victory.

“427 days since we last played a game,” said Coach Mackey. “It’s really nice to be back on the floor. I really don’t care about the outcome, but it was nice to see the girls get to play. Both teams.”

Brown and Glenn led Christ the King with 14 points each with Laguna contributing 13 points. The high girl for Nazareth was Scott with a game high 15 points.