The CYO St. Kilian Stars played the opening round of the eighth-grade girls White Division basketball playoffs on Sunday in the new St. Kilian's gymnasium and came away with a well-played 36-27 victory over St. Raymond's of East Rockaway. What was notable about the match this year was that St. Raymond's eliminated St. Kilian's last year in the quarterfinals of the 1999 playoffs by six points. St. Raymond's went on to win the championship of the Gold Division last season.

This year's game was relatively close all the way up until the fourth quarter. St. Kilian was trailing at the end of the first quarter 9-6, but a strong St. Kilian second quarter, which saw the Stars outscore St. Raymond's 10-5, put them into a 16-14 lead at half-time. The third quarter was evenly played score-wise, but St. Kilian got away from its team oriented offensive and defensive schemes. At the end of the third quarter St. Raymond's trailed by one point, 22-21. The fourth quarter was all St. Kilian's as the Stars press and transition got back on track. Also, the St. Kilian girls began passing the ball again unselfishly, which resulted in their outscoring St. Raymond's 14-6 to clinch the victory.

The Stars balanced attack was led by Lauren Cohen with 10 points, Lisa Buono had six points, with Krista Daniello and Kate Hogan each scoring five points. Chrissy Tinney, who did an outstanding job rebounding, had four points. Jess Patane, Diana Beltrani, and Jess Cohen all contributed two points each. Meg Fanning played her usual strong defensive game and contributed to the scoring with some nice assists, as did Kate Hogan. Daniello, Beltrani, Patane and Jess Cohen all contributed to the great rebounding effort up front.