Fontbonne seniors celebrate with a win against Poly

In their last December meeting at Poly Prep, Fontbonne lost a close 53-50 game as a result of late fourth-quarter Blue Devil surge. Hosting Poly for their senior night, the Bonnies were prepared for a different result at their last home game of the regular season.

Before the game, Fontbonne Athletic Director Linda Strong was the master of ceremonies who introduced the six graduating seniors and their families. For each senior, Strong read aloud a love letter of appreciation and congratulations that was written by the parents of each player. Additionally, Strong cited the special accomplishment of senior Noelle Polanco, who will be graduating as Fontbonne’s all-time leading scorer.

Going into the Poly game, Polanco stood at 1,673 points with a goal of reaching 1,700 points by game’s end. In the first quarter the score was tied 11-11. Midway through the second quarter, Polanco had to come out of the game due to early foul trouble that subsequently affected her scoring total.

With Polanco out of the game, Lucy Kuhlmann seamlessly filled in to lead the Bonnies on a 19-9 run to go ahead 30-20 by the half. Led by the junior Kuhlmann’s 16 points at the point and senior Rebecca DiLeo (seven points) at forward, the Bonnies held on to the lead for the rest of the game.

Besides outscoring Poly in the second quarter, Fontbonne also owned the period defensively as Polanco’s sophomore sister Maryann (four blocks) blocked a memorable Poly scoring attempt that led to an end-to-end Fontbonne score. After blocking the shot, the younger Polanco recovered the ball at the baseline and quickly sent it downcourt to a teammate who fed the ball back to the hustling forward for a stinging layup.

In the third quarter, Poly’s top scoring point guard Smith (21 points) pushed the Blue Devils to outscore Fontbonne 18-14 to cut the Bonnies’ lead to 44-38. In the final quarter, the senior Polanco caught fire with two consecutive three-point baskets as part of her 14 fourth quarter points to give the Bonnies a 66-54 Senior Night win.

Although Polanco was the game’s high scorer with 26 points, she fell just one point short of the anticipated goal of 1,700 points, with a new current total of 1,699 points scored.