Notre Dame of Fairfield's Aizhanique Mayo (2) lays up the ball to score during girls basketball action against Kolbe Cathedral in Fairfield, Conn., on Tuesday Feb. 23, 2021.
Christian Abraham / Hearst Connecticut Media
FAIRFIELD — The No. 1 ranked Notre Dame-Fairfield girls basketball team has not lost in state since 2019, but it seems to save its best games for its best opponents.
Tuesday, the No. 10 team in the GameTimeCT Girls Basketball Poll, Kolbe Cathedral, came to town hoping for a shot at taking down No. 1.
It was not happening.
Notre Dame busted out to a big lead early courtesy of a 21-0 first-quarter run and never looked back, rolling over Kolbe 78-46.
Notre Dame’s Mac Stone Folmar on NDs big win over Kolbe #ctgb pic.twitter.com/zygDG5mATI
— Scott Ericson (@EricsonSports) February 24, 2021
The last time Notre Dame faced a ranked opponent was last season’s SWC championship game when it won the title in a 70-40 romp over then No. 2 Newtown.
“I always felt that when I played at UConn, we played our best basketball when we played the best teams and that is what good teams do,” Notre Dame coach Maria Conlon said. “What I am trying to get them away from is playing down to competition. It’s not hype to get up for a team we are projected to beat by 40, but those are the games where we can get better at different things.”
Notre Dame was running a half-court trap and creating turnover after turnover all night.
On offense the Lancers moved the ball well all game, finding the open player and routinely getting quality shots.
Nique Mayo with the floater in the third for Notre Dame #ctgb pic.twitter.com/BajepAFRlY
— Scott Ericson (@EricsonSports) February 24, 2021
Notre Dame had five players in double figures.
Sarah Macary led the way with 21 points getting open in the paint all night; Aizhanique Mayo scored 18 despite being face-guarded most of the game; Kayla Tilus scored 12 on four 3-pointers and Mac Stone-Folmar and Taylor Gibbs both had 10 for the unselfish Lancers.
Kolbe’s game plan was to face guard the all-state junior Mayo, but with the players around Mayo stepping up, there was not much Kolbe could do.
“When every kid gets going like that, it’s a problem,” Cougars coach Devon Parker said. “If all the kids on the team are going to hit shots like that while we are keeping Mayo in check, we can’t beat them. That was the team people were expecting to see and haven’t seen all year. That was an awesome display offensively. Every kid stepped up for them. What are you going to do? They are really the perfect team if they play that way.”
Mayo only had one field goal in the first quarter but Notre Dame still lead 21-7 after one.
In her return to Notre Dame after transferring in the offseason, Ciara Brown paced Kolbe with 15 points.
The offense was clicking, but it was the defense making the difference for the Lancers
Mayo with the dish to Gibbs. ND leads Kolbe early 11-2 #ctgb pic.twitter.com/5rH0vWRx8k
— Scott Ericson (@EricsonSports) February 23, 2021
“When our defense is like this, we are unbeatable,” senior captain Stone-Folmar said. “I thought we played really well and stepped up on the defensive side. Coach always says defense will win us games. We always look for the open person and we have a lot of weapons.”
PLAYER OF THE GAME
Sarah Macray, Notre Dame-Fairfield: The junior transfer from Naugatuck benefitted from the Lancers ball movement, getting open in the paint and scoring layup after layup. Defensively, Macray helped control the paint all night for the Lancers.
QUOTABLE
“We have the five starters and coming off the bench we have a bunch of players who can go around and do anything on offense,” Macray said. “I was just reading the defense. We have a lot of open players who can all shoot so I was looking for good opportunities to get open inside. I love this team, we are very unselfish.”
NOTRE DAME 78, KOLBE CATHEDRAL 46
KOLBE 7 12 13 14—46
NOTRE DAME 21 17 26 13—78
KOLBE CATHEDRAL (5-1)
Samiyah Freelove 2 1-2 6; Mateja Moyer 2 0-0 4; Ciara Brown 7 0-5 15; Mishell Pringle 2 3-6 7; Janiah Perez 1 0-0 2; Alyssa Felix 0 1-6 1; Robin Selitte 5 1-2 11. Totals: 19 6-22 46
NOTRE DAME-FAIRFIELD (5-0)
Taylor Gibbs 4 2-3 10; Sarah Macary 8 5-5 21; Kayla Tilus 4 0-0 12; Aizhanique Mayo 7 1-2 18; Mac Stone-Folmar 3 2-2 10; Tatiana Bell 2 1-1 5; Paige Fourtin 0 0-2 0; Amalia Garzon 0 0-0 0; Madison Gibbs 1 0-0 2. Totals: 29 11-15 78
3-point field goals: KC—Freelove, Brown. NDF—Mayo 3, Tilus 4, Stone-Folmar 2
Fouled out: None
