Francis Lewis Beats Cardozo's Lady Judges 71-13

The Cardozo Lady Judges basketball team suffered a disheartening loss to Francis Lewis 71-13 on Wednesday night at home.

Despite the loss, the Lady Judges showed subtle signs of improvement from their last meeting with the Patriots.

After losing to Francis Lewis by a final score of 80-12 on December 15, the Lady Judges hoped to put up a better fight this time and, in small ways, they did just that.

“I think our defense was not bad at all in the first half,” said Lady Judges coach Vinny O’Donoghue. “It turned into a track meet and we didn’t stand a chance. They’re rated number three in the whole city and we probably should be in the B league.”

The Patriots opened the game with an 11-0 run before Jackie Barillas scored the first bucket of the game for the Lady Judges.

The smart play of sophomore Gabriella Valdez fueled the Lady Judges in their only competitive quarter of the game. Valdez had four of Cardozo’s eight points in the first quarter, but the Patriots still led by 11.

“We fell through at the most important point at the game,” Valdes said. “Our defense wasn’t good tonight and we had to do a better job on defense if we’re going to win.”

Valdez provided all of the Lady Judges’ points in the second quarter, including a tough three pointer, but the Lady Judges ran out of gas too early in the quarter to capitalize.

Francis Lewis started the third quarter on a 15-0 run before O’Donoghue called a timeout. Still, the Lady Judges wouldn’t score again and, by the end of the third quarter, the score was 56-13.

It was more of the same in the fourth and the Patriots finished the game on a 34-0 run, improving their record to 11-1. The Lady Judges fell to 3-9. Valdes led the Lady Judges with nine points, all in the first half.

“We’re just starting to come together and we have some new players,” Valdes said. “Once every gets on the same page, we’ll do much better.”