Cruz’s late spark helps Lady Knights survive against Hornets in Granato’s coaching debut

LAURINBURG — With 6:27 remaining in Wednesday’s opener for the St. Andrews Knights women’s basketball team against the Morris Hornets in nonconference action, both teams were knotted up at 53-53. Coming out of a timeout called by Vinnie Granato, making his St. Andrews head coaching debut, freshman guard Emily Cruz quickly changed that.

Cruz scored the following seven points to give the Lady Knights a 58-53 lead and had a key block, rebound, and layup with just over three minutes left to help extend the lead to 65-58. The effort helped St. Andrews come away with a 73-65 win — the program’s first in a season opener since 2016.

Cruz hadn’t scored prior to her 7-0 run in the fourth quarter, finishing the night with nine points. She accredited her turnaround to her teammates.

“They saw that I was struggling the whole game, and they were just right there, had my back,” Cruz said. “I was just fired up. I was like, Okay, finally, I’m getting to go. I was just in a rhythm.”

The offensive burst late in the game stemmed from Cruz’s winning mentality.

“(My goal) for every single game is literally just to win,” Cruz said. “It’s something Coach (Granato) and I talked about when he recruited me, and I knew this team had some struggles with that. So every time I’m on the court, I’m just helping them to win, no matter how.”

“It’s why I told her and her family why I want her here,” Granato said about Cruz. “As a freshman, she’s got some really skillful, solid things about her. I like that she knows that. We know that. We trust her, even though she’s a freshman. She’s game-ready like all our players are. And that’s what I really like about her and the rest of the team.”

The game wasn’t won because of just Cruz though; it was a combined team effort. Despite being outrebounded 42-27 and committing 20 turnovers, St. Andrews (1-0) shot better from the field than Morris (0-2) — 26 of 60 (43.3%) compared to 23 of 62 (37.1%) — had nine steals, and forced 25 turnovers.

“They’ve been through so much,” Granato said on his team. “I didn’t use my timeouts correctly. Players were getting banged up a little bit here and there. But they fought through it against the coaching, against Morris College’s onslaught. But they got through it. That just shows how strong they are physically, but also mentally, to get after it. You just want to compete. That’s all I want to do. I don’t care where you’re at, where you’re from; just think you can compete. And that’s what our ladies did today.

“I think everyone had a handprint on this game. I think everyone did it from the players who played, players who supported us on the bench; I think everyone had a really good impact.”

St. Andrews started the game down 7-4 after a layup from Morris guard Jayce Williams. From there, however, the Lady Knights charged on an 11-0 run that included two 3s from guard Ashley Starks to 15-7, before a free throw from forward Dazejah Lanham and a trey by Williams made it 15-11 at the end of the first quarter.

“Players gave us energy on the court, also on the bench. I really like that,” Granato said on how his team fought back from the early deficit. “I think that’s really good that we had that to start. Even when things (don’t) go our way, we’ve got to continue that sustained energy, which every coach wants. But, we have to continue to get better, to have that type of competitive edge going forward.”

The Lady Knights extended their lead to 19-12 on forward Samantha Tougher’s 3-ball, but the Hornets made it a one-point game on a Williams 3 and a layup and free throw by forward Jada Teasley with 6:20 left till halftime. Morris retook the lead at 22-21 on a layup made by forward Kamiah Fulton and added to it with another layup from Teasley. St. Andrews guard Hailey Crozier tied it back at 24-24 on a 3-pointer, but the Hornets closed the half outscoring the Lady Knights 7-4 to go up 31-27 at the break.

Granato told his players to “ just stay competitive” in the locker room at halftime.

“They knew (we were) in for a dogfight,” Granato said. “It’s going to go up and down. We’ve got to get after it. We knew Morris College would make some slight adjustments. We talked a little bit about that. But honestly, just making sure we’re fresh, we got our health, we’re feeling good, and we just stay competitive, stay positive.”

St. Andrews opened up the second half with an 11-2 spurt to take a 38-33 lead halfway through the period. With 1:06 remaining in the third, forward Madison Larrimore knocked down a pair of free throws to give the Lady Knights a 47-40 advantage, and after guard Damani Wilson cashed home a 3, Tougher responded with a layup before Fulton hit one of her own to make it 49-45 after three.

A Wilson free throw and a Williams jumper to begin the fourth quarter tightened the St. Andrews lead to 49-48, but Larrimore and Starks hit back-to-back layups to push it to 53-48. Wilson hit a shot from downtown, and Fulton made one at the rim to even the score at 53-53 before Cruz’s run to help seal the St. Andrews win.

Guard A.J. Price led the Lady Knights with 24 points. Starks had 21 points, seven rebounds, five assists, and three steals; Crozier had eight points; and Tougher had seven points, three rebounds, and three steals.

For Morris, Williams had a team-high 22 points, 10 rebounds, and four assists; Fulton had 11 points and nine boards off the bench; Wilson had 10 points and three steals; and Teasley had nine points and four rebounds.

St. Andrews will look to make it two in a row when they host Columbia International in their first Appalachian Athletic Conference matchup on Nov. 8.