High school girls basketball: No. 1 Long Island Lutheran, No. 3 Archbishop Mitty to meet in Nike TOC finals

MESA, Ariz. — No. 1 Long Island Lutheran (Brookville, N.Y.) and No. 3 Archbishop Mitty (San Jose, Calif.) will meet Thursday in the Nike TOC title game at 7 p.m. (Pacific) on ESPNU.

The top-ranked Crusaders were paced by 20 points from Syla Swords, 15 from Savannah Swords and 12 from Kayleigh Heckel to race past No. 8 Bishop McNamara (Forestville, Md.) 67-40 in the first semifinal of the evening on Wednesday. 

The Monarchs received a balanced effort from Morgan Cheli, McKenna Woliczko and Elana Weisman, who each poured in 20 points in the 69-55 victory over Crestwood Prep (Toronto, Canada) in the other semifinal matchup.

In the first game, LuHi used its relentless defense to pressure MaxPreps All-American guard Madisen McDaniel to force the ball out of her hands. The Crusaders opened up an 18-9 edge in the first period before Bishop McNamara closed the period with a 5-0 run.

LuHi stormed out in the second quarter, outscoring the Mustangs 20-5 to take a 38-19 lead into intermission. The Swords sisters combined for 24 points at the half.

Meanwhile, McDaniel, who was brilliant the day before in a 61-56 win over No. 2 Montverde Academy (Montverde, Fla.), was held to six of her 10 points in the first half.

Long Island Lutheran continued to extend their advantage in the third quarter with an old-fashioned 3-point play from Kate Koval, followed by triples from Savannah and Syla Swords. The fourth quarter was played under a running clock.

In the nightcap, Mitty built early leads of 14-5 and 19-10 in the first quarter and led by 10 at halftime.

But the Canadian squad, led by Duke commit and social media dunking star Toby Fournier, clawed back in the third period. She led Crestwood with 29.

Crestwood cut the Mitty lead to 41-38 on a pair of Fournier free throws before her 3-pointer tied the game at 41 near the end of the third quarter.

That's as close as they'd come as the Monarchs answered with five straight points to end the quarter on a Weisman three-ball and a nifty Cheli-to-Woliczko drive and dish on a fast break. Mitty would continue the run to start the fourth as Weisman finished an and-one, Woliczko scored down low, Belle Bramer scored and UConn commit Cheli again found Woliczko for a bucket to boost the lead to 55-43 with five to play.

Long Island Lutheran beat Ontario Christian and Hebron Christian in the first two rounds while Archbishop Mitty took care of Miami Country Day and Xavier College Prep.