Consolation pride

Most athletes wouldn’t be too happy after a 69-48 loss in a Catholic League quarterfinal game.

But Neumann-Goretti’s Shonte Skinner was smiling so much after her team fell to Cardinal O’Hara on Monday night, you’d think she saw the scoreboard in reverse.

For Skinner and her teammates, the trip to the playoffs alone was a victory. It was the first time in 19 years that the program made the cut.

Skinner, 18, a Division I basketball prospect, scored a game-high 27 points, making the night even more memorable for her.

"It’s my last year and I have no regrets," the senior said. "This year our goal was just making the playoffs. The loss hurt, but we made it and it feels good."

Had the Saints defeated the O’Hara Lions, it would have gone down as one of the biggest upsets in Catholic League history.

The Delaware County squad is 22-2 overall and ranked 21st in the nation by USA Today. O’Hara also went undefeated in Catholic League play, which included two double-digit regular-season wins over Neumann-Goretti.

In the final game of last season, the Saints – then known as the Lambs – came within one point of defeating O’Hara and making it to the playoffs.

Neumann-Goretti fell behind early in Monday’s away game. O’Hara jumped out to an 8-0 lead before Skinner hit two free throws to give the Saints their first points of the game. The 5-foot-9 forward also scored her team’s first field goal nearly seven minutes into the contest.

Trailing 15-6 after one quarter, Neumann-Goretti simply needed to settle down, Skinner said.

"A lot of us were nervous in the first half," she said. "We got the bugs out of our stomach and played better in the second quarter and second half."

Skinner’s two free throws early in the second quarter trimmed the Lions’ lead to seven points, but that would be the closest the Saints would get.

DESPITE THE SCORE,Skinner never lost hope. She just used the deficit to rally her team.

Even when the Saints opened the fourth quarter trailing 52-27, the player wouldn’t be discouraged. When she wasn’t looking for open three-pointers, she was trying to get to the foul line. Skinner tallied 12 of her 27 points in the final eight minutes.

"You’ve got to keep playing if you’re down by 20 or down by one," she said. "You’ve got to leave it on the floor."

The athlete transferred to Goretti in her junior year from Martin Luther King High, where she played two years of Public League basketball. She said she had wanted to attend Goretti from the start, but finances were an obstacle.

When Skinner finally made the move last season, she played a big role in transforming the struggling Lambs into a 16-win squad. For the first time in more than two decades, the program finished with a winning record. Skinner led the offense with 19.1 points per game and earned a Second Team All-Catholic nod.

After helping the squad to a 19-8 record this year with an average of 16 points and 5.5 rebounds, Skinner earned a second straight All-Catholic selection, giving her a final chance to compete among the Catholic League’s best in next month’s all-star game.

The honor student also will play one more time for Neumann-Goretti coach Chip Reitano in the April 3 All-Star Labor Classic, which benefits United Cerebral Palsy. The event features the area’s top high-school athletes.

But Skinner’s biggest reward could come in the form of a Division I basketball scholarship. Now that the Catholic League season has come to a close, she will start making official college visits – which she hopes will help her decide on Towson State, Lafayette, George Washington or North Carolina’s High Point University.

"I have no clue where I want to go," Skinner said.