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Highland Girls Rout Seton, 56-31, Capture Fifth Straight DAC Hoops Title
It seems Donald O’Meara could insert his baby daughter into the Highland lineup and still win a Delaney Athletic Conference championship.
That’s the level of dominance the Hawks girls basketball team has reached in O’Meara’s five seasons as coach.
Just days after the Hawks wrapped up their fifth-consecutive regular season DAC title, they won their fifth-consecutive DAC tournament title Saturday with a 56-31 win over Seton School. Highland won the tournament even with one of its best players out of the lineup for much of the title game.
DAC Player of the Year Toni Cataldi picked up her second foul with three minutes, 41 seconds left in the first quarter and her third foul at the 3:05 mark in the second quarter. As a result, she spent the entire third quarter on the bench and played less than 12 minutes in the game, finishing with 10 points.
“When you have Toni Cataldi in foul trouble and on the bench, and then Ella Miller goes down at half court with an ankle injury, you do start to get a little worried about what could happen,” O’Meara said while holding his daughter after the game. “But the bench picked up big time. Caitlin Howard and Shondi Josephs did a great job, really stepped up.”
Equally important, Miller, a starting guard, spent only three minutes on the bench because of her ankle injury suffered in the third quarter and she finished with 11 points and four assists. Plus, starting guards Weslie Bowers and Shendi Josephs stepped up to combine for 24 points in Cataldi’s absence.
“That’s the good thing about our group. I never know who is going to step up,” O’Meara said. “It’s not just one individual we have to rely on.”
Bowers finished with 13 points and eight rebounds, while Josephs ended with 11 points, eight rebounds, six steals, two blocks and one assist.
“If one of our best players comes out, somebody else has to pick it up,” said Josephs, who stepped into a starting role when three Hawk starters graduated after last season. “I think I have to because the best three [players] left and somebody has to take up for them.”
Josephs and the 2008-09 Hawks now have their sights set on winning a state championship, which no Highland team has done under O’Meara. The Hawks have finished second to Walsingham Academy in each of the last three Virginia Independent Schools Division II state title games, losing 42-37 last season, 61-48 in 2006-07 and 60-35 in 2005-06...
See the Wednesday print edition of the Fauquier Times-Democrat for the complete story.
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