Fontbonne JV finishes season at finals against rival Kearney

“No one expected us to get this far,” said five year JV Head Coach Anthony Bartholomeo after Fontbonne’s 43-34 March 1 loss to Bishop Kearney for the JV Championship. However, after losing two key players to the Varsity by mid season, the JV team made adjustments and went on for a strong second half run to play rival Kearney for the Brooklyn-Queens Championship.

The JV Bonnies finished in a tie for third place this season with a record of 10-4 behind first place Monsignor McClancy and second place St. Edmund Prep. Coincidentally, this season’s JV champion Kearney team also finished third with an identical 10-4 record until a tie-breaker loss to Fontbonne dealt the Tigers a fourth place playoff seed.

The JV’s season opener started off with a heartbreaker, as the Bonnies lost on a three-point buzzer beater, 36-35 to St. Edmund Prep. Playing hard to maintain third place throughout the season, two of Fontbonne’s remaining three season losses would come in overtime in highly contested games.

Despite losing two talented freshmen players called up to the Varsity, Meaghan Glynn early in the season and Emily Lind at mid season, “Our girls never gave up,” maintained Coach Bartholomeo.

With a redesigned JV, Bartholomeo credited the play of his backcourt — guards Erin Kennedy and Meaghan McKenna — and post play of center Farrah El-Choum for the team’s successful second half run.

After defeating Bishop Kearney in a tiebreaker to earn the third seed for the Brooklyn-Queens playoffs, the Bonnies went on to beat St. Joseph’s 53-23 in the first round.

Advancing to the semi-finals, the Bonnies met this season’s nemesis, the Eagles of St. Edmund’s, who quickly took control of the game in the first quarter for a 14-3 lead. Playing her usual steady game, Erin Kennedy (16 points) led the Bonnies to an 18-16 comeback lead at the half.

With the lead trading sides throughout the second half, the Eagles tied up the game 36-36 with 10 seconds left. In one last attempt for the win, Erin Kennedy brought the ball down court and took a long three-point shot that bounced of the backboard. Fortunately, Emily Manti’s perfect position under the basket allowed her to grab the rebound for the put back to give the Bonnies the 38-36 win to advance to the finals.

It would be a different story once the Bonnies reached the championship game against rival Kearney. After the previous tie-breaking win over Kearney for the third playoff seed, the Bonnies proved to be no match for the Tigers as the reenergized team from Bensonhurst took a commanding 22-10 lead at the half and went on to claim the JV Championship by the score of 43-34.

Reiterating that “no one expected us to get past the semi-finals,” Coach Bartholomeo credited his team for sticking with each other this season to re-invent themselves with just nine players that simply “never gave up.”