The St. Kilian Stars ran their record to 9-2 last Tuesday night with a dominating 47-16 win over St. Cyril of Deer Park.

The Stars got off to their usual quick start and led after the first quarter 13-4. St. Cyril played a better second quarter, but St. Kilian was still the stronger team and the half ended with St. Kilian in the lead 27-12. The Stars stormed out in the second half and really put the game away with a 16-2 third quarter. The St. Kilian girls then did a great job of moving the ball around the perimeter in the fourth quarter to run out the remainder of the game.

Guard Kate Hogan led the Stars offense with eight points and six assists. Tri-captain Diana Beitrani played an outstanding game, scoring 10 points and pulling down a remarkable 15 rebounds to lead her team to the easy victory. The St. Kilian scoring was very balanced. Krista Daniello had nine points on four from seven shooting from the field and 1 for 2 from the free throw line. Lisa Buono also had eight points from three for five shooting and an excellent 2 for 2 from line. Meg Fanning and Jessica Patane scored four points each, while Jessica Cohen and Caitlin Magri each contributed two points.

Buono and Fanning, the other two guards, each had four assists. All three guards did an outstanding job getting the ball inside with some sharp entry passes. Daniello and Patane did a great job helping on the boards with seven rebounds each. Jess Cohen contributed four rebounds, and Magri had five.

Coach Joe Fanning was very impressed with his team's passing and rebounding. "All the girls were very unselfish with some extraordinary passing. The dominant rebounding was the key to this victory. The girls up front, led by Diana Beltrani's superb performance, owned the boards, especially on defense," he said.

The Stars then traveled to Sayville Sunday evening to face the team from St. Lawrence, who were also 9-2. The St. Kilian girls had to win this game to ensure that they advanced to the playoffs. Only three teams from their 13-team division are scheduled to go.

What was the most evident as soon as St. Lawrence took the court was that they were the tallest team St. Kilian had faced all year. A number of their players were a few inches taller than the tallest Star. At one point in the game all five girls on the court for St. Lawrence were taller than anyone of the Stars on the court.

The St. Lawrence height advantage did not faze the Stars front court. Diana Beltrani and Krista Daniello were fabulous off the boards pulling down 16 and 17 rebounds respectively. These two outstanding athletes also led the team's scoring. Beltrani had eight points, while Daniello had seven. Jessica Patane, Kate Hogan, and Christina Tinney each contributed two points to round out the Stars scoring.

The entire team worked extremely hard throughout the game. The scoring was extremely close at all times, with each team never more than three points apart. The Stars were ahead 4-1 at the end of the first quarter, but surrendered the lead in the second and trailed 9-6 at half-time. The Stars came out hotter offensively in the second half. At the end of the third quarter, they only trailed 15-13. The Stars outscored their opponents 6-4 in the final quarter, and it ended tied 19 each.

Both teams then went back and forth in an extremely exciting two-minute running time overtime without scoring until the final 20 seconds. At that point, the Stars had possession of the ball on an out of bounds play under the St. Lawrence basket. On the ensuing out of bounds play after a time-out, Meg Fanning hit an open Beltrani about eight feet from the basket to the left of the lane. Beltrani squared up and drilled the shot to take the lead for St. Kilian's. St. Lawrence was then able to bring the ball down court, and with just three seconds to go, a St. Kilian foul put a St. Lawrence forward on the free throw line in a one and one situation. The St. Lawrence girl hit the first free throw and with a possibility to tie, missed the second without hitting the back board and rim. Beltrani's throw in found Hogan, who dribbled to the side running out the clock for the exciting St. Kilian victory.

Jessica Patane, Christina Tinney and Jessica Cohen also did a great job off the boards with 6, 7 and 2 rebounds respectively. The guards helped negate the St. Lawrence height advantage by also crashing the defensive board and making some fine passes. Hogan contributed two rebounds and three assists. Fanning had two rebounds and two assists, while Buono had one rebound and one assist. The Stars recorded 11 blocked shots in their defensive gem of a game. Daniello led with four blocks, Patane and Tinney had three, Beltrani had two, while Hogan and Cohen each had 1. All of these against much bigger players. Lauren Cohen came down and cheered her team to the victory while still recovering from a bone break in one of her feet.

The Stars ended their season with a record of 10-2 and area competing for second place in the division. Coach Fanning expressed pride in his team. "These girls worked very hard all season. They came together as a team and in the end were victorious playing as a team," he said. Each and every one of them should be as proud of their effort as I and their parents are. No matter what happens in the playoffs this year, after being 3-9 last year, the season had been a tremendous success.