Impellizeri, St. Anthony's come up short

It looked like it was going to be another victory on the ledger against an upper-echelon opponent for the St. Anthony's girls basketball team. The Friars scored 19 points in the first quarter and played like the team that has piled up 14 consecutive wins.

The offense hit a lull in the middle quarters and the usually staunch Friars defense couldn't stop the South Shore tandem of Jasmine Odom and Fannisha Price.

St. Anthony's had its 14-game winning streak come to an end with a 57-50 loss to South Shore (Brooklyn) Saturday night in the sixth annual PSAL John F. Kennedy Challenge at InTech high school in the Bronx.

Micki Impellizeri had 13 points and seven rebounds, Symone Kelly had 11 points and six rebounds, and Kerrin Maurer scored 10 points for St. Anthony's (14-2).

St. Anthony's scored just seven points in the second quarter and 11 in the third and trailed 42-37 after three.

"They really got up on us and we forced things," Impellizeri said. "We made some bad passes. Our shots weren't falling."

The Friars couldn't stop Odom, who scored 19 of her 21 points in the second half, including 13 in the final quarter.

SEE PHOTOSSouth Shore 57, St. Anthony's 50

After Maurer gave the Friars a 47-46 lead with 3:44 left in the game, Odom hit a three-pointer. Kelly scored on a layup to put the Friars back on top at 51-49 with 2:54 left before Odom scored four consecutive points.

"She was really quick," Impellizeri said. "We couldn't stay in front of her."

Said St. Anthony's coach Ken Parham: "We couldn't guard her. We had no one on our team who could stop her."

Price, who scored 14 of her 18 in the first half, appeared to have the ball in her hands after the shot clock expired, but the officials huddled and counted her basket giving South Shore (14-3), one of the top teams in the PSAL, a 55-49 lead with 1:41 left.

"We stopped competing," Parham said. "You can't play less than 100 percent. South Shore played hard and they have some good players. When you win 14 in a row, you might get complacent. It's a good lesson."

The score was tied at 32 early in the third quarter before Odom scored the last six points in transition during an 8-0 run to give South Shore a 40-32 lead with 4:16 left and that was the biggest deficit for the Friars.

St. Anthony's got six consecutive points from Kelly, and Johanna Impellizeri scored on a fast-break layup off a Rebecca Musgrove steal to cap an 8-0 run and give the Friars a 45-44 lead with 4:26 left.

"It was a reality check for us," Micki Impellizeri said. "We're upset, but we'll learn from it and use it to get better."