Sydney Taylor of St. Anthony's shoots a contested jumper during the New York CHSAA Class AA girls basketball state semifinals against Christ the King at Holy Cross High School in Bayside on Friday. Photo Credit: James Escher

By Roger Rubin Newsday

Looking down the St. Anthony’s bench at the end of Friday night’s state Catholic Class AA girls basketball semifinals, there were mostly disappointed faces. That comes with losing. However, the Friars have nothing to be ashamed about after suffering a 55-40 defeat against formidable Christ the King at Holy Cross High in Queens.

St. Anthony’s (17-9) got dealt a tough hand in the Royals. Christ the King (24-4), the team to beat in New York State, hasn’t lost an in-state game and has Florida-bound Nina Richards and Minnesota-bound Klarke Sconier and junior Natalija Marshall, who is being pursued by UConn, Duke and Stanford.

But for a long while, the Friars played their own hand well. They were giving up size at virtually every position and thus lived mostly on the three-point line, making a quartet of them in the first half. And they were very much in striking distance, trailing just 27-22 when Aisha Smith opened the second half by driving for a layup.

Things got away from St. Anthony’s quickly, though, in the third quarter, which Friars coach Hugh Flaherty called “a backbreaker.”

The Royals took advantage of a few Friars turnovers for a 13-0 run that broke the game open. They led the Friars 40-22 on Saniyah Glenn’s layup. Smith’s basket was the only one for St. Anthony’s in the quarter, which ended with St. Anthony’s down 48-28

“In the third quarter, we made too many turnovers and it fed their run and it got away from us. We made three on three straight possessions,” St. Anthony’s coach Hugh Flaherty said. “The game should have been closer, though. We missed some chippies in the first half. It might have been a one-point game if we hadn’t.”

Christ the King meets Scanlan, a 58-48 winner over Tonawanda Cardinal O’Hara, in Saturday night’s 7 p.m. title game at Fordham University. The Royals, now on a 20-game winning streak, beat the Crusaders for the city title last week. 

Sydney Taylor scored 18 and Smith and Toni Kinard each scored seven for St. Anthony’s. Marshall had 21 points and Glenn, a freshman, had 15 points to pace the Royals.

St. Anthony’s had a last run in it during the fourth quarter. Taylor had six points in an 8-2 run and capped it with a pair of free throws to make it 52-38 with 2:36 to play. The Friars, however, couldn’t make a further dent.

“We did well for a while with the 1-2-2 press, trying to keep the ball out of [Marshall’s] hands,” Flaherty said. “But they are an excellent team — really good. Having three or four Division I players helps.”

Sydney Taylor of St. Anthony's drives to the net for two points during the CHSAA Class AA girls basketball final against St. Mary's at Hofstra on Tuesday. Photo Credit: James Escher

The stage was all too familiar for the St. Anthony’s duo of Sydney Taylor and Ashia Smith.

When the final buzzer sounded, so was the result.

Taylor delivered 15 points and five rebounds and Smith tacked on 14 points, five steals and three assists as No. 1 St. Anthony’s defeated No. 2 St. Mary’s, 57-37, in the CHSAA girls basketball Class AA final at Hofstra Tuesday night, locking up their fourth consecutive league title.

Call it a four-peat for the Friars.

“It means a lot to me to win four straight,” said Taylor, who was also named the league’s Class AA Player of the Year moments after receiving the championship plaque. “I’m always going to remember that and the people I played with. It feels great. I definitely wanted to show everybody what we’re all about.”

Smith said the Friars’ mindset entering the night propelled them from the get-go.

“We all came out here focused and with very high energy and intensity,” said Smith, who earned the game’s MVP honors. “We were all very motivated.”

St. Anthony’s coach Hugh Flaherty credited his seniors for continuing to meet the championship expectations they set for themselves in this dominant run that began back in 2016.

“They’ve been through the process and they really want this,” Flaherty said. “They run hard constantly in practice. And they really share the ball.”

St. Anthony’s (16-8) advances to the state semifinals on March 8. As the Friars await their next opponent, Smith certainly wasn’t short on confidence.

“If we play hard nobody should be able to stop us,” Smith said.

The Friars got off to a blazing start in the opening quarter with quality ball movement and applied consistent swarming defense once the Gaels passed midcourt. Back-to-back threes by Taylor gave St. Anthony’s an early 10-2 advantage at the 3:59 mark. She sidestepped and finished in the lane with 1:17 left to finish off an 18-4 quarter.

A layup by Smith about midway through the second gave the Friars their largest lead of the half at 24-7 before St. Mary’s responded with an 11-5 run to cut the deficit to 29-18 at the break.

The Friars widened the gap to 42-27 in the third, outscoring the Gaels 13-9 in the period prior to closing out strong in the fourth.

“Whatever the next challenge is, these girls are prepared to step up,” Flaherty said. “They don’t know how to back down.”

St. Anthony's Sydney Taylor  Photo Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke

By Kenny DeJohn Newsday

There’s no good way to defend Sydney Taylor. With the arsenal at her disposal, the senior girls basketball player for St. Anthony’s can beat a defender more ways than one.

Give her space on the perimeter, and she’ll pull up from 25 feet. Guard her up close, and she'll cross by and drive to the basket.

“She’s like a freight train coming,” Friars coach Hugh Flaherty said. “In her sophomore year, I could see that she had enough and was really working hard. She’s a scorer.”

Taylor reached a career milestone on Feb. 14, scoring her 1,000th point in a 68-55 win over St. John the Baptist in which she had 23 points. She had 33 points and made six of her first seven shots from three-point range in a 70-56 win over St. Mary’s the day before.

For her efforts, she is Newsday’s Athlete of the Week.

“It was toward the end of the game,” Taylor said of the memorable basket. “There was maybe a minute left. At the end of the game, all my teammates gave me a hug and I got a ball.”

At 5-10, Taylor doesn’t necessarily have the height of a post player, but she’s so strong that she can physically dominate opponents down low.

That’s one of the first things Flaherty noticed about her as a sophomore and something he constantly reminds her of now.

Last year, she would take the three rather than go to the basket,” Flaherty said. “Now she understands I like the three the old-fashioned way. Get to the basket and get fouled.”

Taylor said she honed her three-point shot in the backyard playing with her father, and it’s easy to see why she leans on the jumper at times. With range from seemingly anywhere inside halfcourt, Taylor is always a threat to pull up.

The clinic she put on against St. Mary’s is just one example.

“I was in a zone,” Taylor said. “I think I finished 8 for 10 [from three-point range] for that game.”

Taylor will take her basketball career to the next level at UMass, a place she expects to contribute on the perimeter while playing against Atlantic-10 rivals like Davidson, Fordham, Rhode Island and others.

“I’m definitely going to expect a lot harder than high school basketball,” she said. “But I’m ready for it. I’m ready and can’t wait to try and help the team out.”

Atlantic-10 teams could soon learn that there isn’t a weakness to exploit in Taylor’s repertoire. Come too close, and she’ll drive to the hoop. Back away too far, and she’ll make you pay from deep.

Take your pick.

Come watch the Friars play for the CHSAA Championship on March 26th at 5:45 at Hoffstra University