Holy Names took down Eastside Catholic girls basketball 66-48 in its final game before holiday tournaments begin next week.

In the competitive Metro League, No. 6 Holy Names (5-1, 4-1) is tied with Cleveland for fifth, and unranked Eastside Catholic (2-3, 2-2) slid to middle of the pack.

Early push

A 9-0 run at the beginning of the second quarter pushed Holy Names out of Eastside Catholic’s reach. By the end of the quarter, Holy Names led by a 13 point margin that Eastside Catholic was only able to partially make up.

Sophomore guard Rachel Francisco had the play of the night when she made a three point buzzer shot from half court at the end of the second quarter. Francisco hit two of her three three-pointers in the second period, and finished with 14 points.

“Rachel has stepped up,” said wing Janessa Willie. “We’ve helped her grow as a player and grow on Varsity, and she’s become a very big part of our team offensively.”

Spreading the ball around

Holy Names played a strong defensive game and used its height in centers Tayah Carlise and Lindsey Cleary. The 6-foot-2 Carlise and 5-foot-11 Cleary had five and seven rebounds, respectively.

“My post players, Taya and Lindsey, they were fighting down there when they were not getting calls, but working on being strong and going up hard,” Willie said.

Carlise and Cleary helped distribute the ball to offensive weapons, including Francisco, Willie, and point guard Camariah King.

Willie led with 15 points. With her strong dribbling abilities, King has been leading the Holy Names offense, and added 14 points, nine of which were in the fourth quarter.

“It’s tough to battle those teams that are wider and girthier,” said coach Greg Farr. “We have strong guards, so if you can play outside and put ball pressure on the guards. If they get in the scenes, we still have bigs to protect us.”