Aquinas girls advance to state final; Wayne, World of Inquiry boys fall in semifinals

The Aquinas girls basketball team will play for a state championship on Sunday after the Irish knock off Section IX’s Warwick 67-39.

Aquinas marches on to Class AA final

AQ will take on Section XIII’s Baldwin in the program’s first NYS title appearance since 2011. Baldwin beat Section II’s Catholic Central in the semifinal round, 62-55, on Saturday. Aquinas lost to Catholic Central in last year’s Class A semifinal.

“Kids are excited, but I think they’re pretty grounded in the fact that we have a great opportunity ahead of us and a big challenge ahead of us,” said head coach Mark Loria.

Senior Molly O’Toole led the way with 19 points while AJ Orr added 17 on eight-of-10 shooting from the field, 11 boards and eight assists. Loren Green also reached double-digit scoring with 12 points.

The Li’l Irish led 44-16 at halftime.

“Obviously we wanted to start fast because the last three games were kind of playing catch up,” Loria said. “So it was really important for us to establish our tempo. I think getting in the press early, it definitely helps us and it benefits us and it speeds us up a little bit. So, that was good.”

Watch our entire interview with head coach Mark Loria here. To hear more about Aquinas’s season, go here.

Sunday’s final is set for 10 am at Hudson Valley Community College and can be streamed at NFHSnetwork.com

Boys fall in semifinals

Meanwhile, in the Class A and B boys semifinals taking place in Binghamton, Wayne and World of Inquiry each dropped their respective games. In Class A, Wayne took on Section II’s Glens Falls, the same team the Eagles lost to in last season’s state final. Wayne dropped the game 75-55 after being outscored 41-28 in the second half. Glens Falls will play Section XI’s Mount Sinai on Sunday. To hear more about Wayne’s season, check out our Scholar Athlete of the Week feature on Cam Blankenberg, who led the Eagles with 29 points on Saturday, here.

World of Inquiry fell to Marcellus, last year’s Class B runner-up, 65-55. Kanaz Linder scored a game-high 23 points for the Griffins while Junayde Richardson poured in a 14-point double-double. Marcellus will play Section I’s Woodlands on Sunday. To hear more about the Griffins’ season, check out our Scholar Athlete of the Week feature on Jaedon Adams-Griffin and Linder.

State title appearances

Aquinas joins Hornell girls (Class B) and Honeoye boys (Class C) as the only Section V basketball teams to make a state final appearance this season. The Red Raiders will take on Cold Spring Harbor on Saturday night, tip is scheduled for 6 pm, while the Bulldogs take on Berne-Knox-Westerlo at 7:45 pm. Both games can be streamed at NFHSnetwork.com.