McClancy’s Finnerty soars over Fontbonne on senior night

Just a week after Fontbonne’s senior night, the Bonnies traveled to East Elmhurst to play the Crusaders of Monsignor McClancy on their senior night. The teams last met in February 2020. That game also took place on the Crusaders’ senior night and sophomore Hannah Finnerty scored 21 points to lead McClancy to a 55-35 win. Now as the Crusaders’ lone senior, it was Finnerty’s night to shine again just after she signed a letter of intent to play for Sienna College on a full scholarship.

Before the game, McClancy coach Dewey Hopkins introduced Finnerty to a packed gym of Crusader supporters and extolled her athletic and academic achievements. Hopkins highlighted Finnerty’s illustrious four-year varsity career, which included being chosen as an All-League Star by the Tablet. In addition to playing soccer and running track, Finnerty has a 96 academic average and is a member of the National Honor Society.

The 6-foot-1 Finnerty opened the game with one of her long 3-point baskets to give the Crusaders a 19-11 first-quarter lead. In the second quarter, Anniya Telford, Fontbonne’s high scorer (21 points), scored 10 consecutive points, but the Crusaders had a 38-21 lead at halftime. 

In the second half, Finnerty showcased her agility and versatility as a guard on offense and a forward on defense. In addition to her own scoring, she rebounded and dished out assists to co-captains Danialla Velez and Olivia Sands for scoring opportunities to put the game out of reach of the Bonnies by the end of the third quarter with a score of 64-30. 

In the fourth quarter, the crowd applauded when Finnerty was pulled from the game after a triple-double – 16 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists along with six steals. Kaitlyn McDonald took over for her at guard and immediately impressed both benches when she shot three 3-point baskets to close out the contest for the final score of 70-36.

“You can come back any time to help me coach this team after college,” Hopkins told Finnerty. “Besides being a good player, you’ve always put your team first and always helped your teammates.”  

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.