With the end of the winter break and start of second semester last week, the St. Pius sports teams were back in action. Boys’ basketball entered the Atlanta Journal-Constitution AAA poll at No. 8 following three wins last week. The girls’ basketball team continues to sit in the No. 3 spot in the AJC AAA poll while swimming and diving climbed to No. 3 in the scoreatl.com A-AAAAA boys’ state poll and No. 4 in the girls’ rankings.
Boys' basketball upped its record to 12-4 overall and 5-1 in Region 6-AAA play, giving the Golden Lions a half-game lead atop the region standings. St. Pius knocked off then-No. 10 Woodward in overtime 50-45 on Tuesday. Will Maguire led the way with 11 points as the Golden Lions held the War Eagles scoreless the last 3:53 of regulation to tie the game at 40 and opened the extra period with the first six points to vault out to a 46-40 lead.
Later in the week, St. Pius defeated McNair 60-44. Maguire had 15 points in the win while Daniel Crochet chipped in 13. The Golden Lions overcame on early six-point deficit on Saturday evening at Decatur, defeating the Bulldogs 62-48 for its fourth straight win. Maguire led all scorers with 24 points, and Nick Harris added 20 in the victory. St. Pius travels to Blessed Trinity at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday night and hosts Cedar Grove on Friday night at 7:30 p.m.
Girls' basketball took three wins last week over region opponents. The lady cagers opened with a 43-16 win over Woodward Tuesday night as Asia Durr poured in 23 points and collected 10 rebounds in the win. The Golden Lions (13-3, 6-0) defeated McNair 59-14 behind 21 points from Jasmine Carter. Durr chipped in 20 points while Laura Redmond added 10 in the win. Saturday night, St. Pius used 20 points from Durr along with 16 and 8 from Carter and Mackenzie Garrison, respectively, to claim sole possession of first place in the region, knocking off then-No. 9 Decatur 50-37. The Golden Lions used a 15-2 run to open a 45-33 lead at the end of the third quarter.
St. Pius has now won 36 consecutive regular season region games, having last lost to Carver in Atlanta on Jan. 22, 2010. That was also the last time the Golden Lions have dropped a regular season game to a team in its own classification. St. Pius travels to Blessed Trinity on Tuesday night at 6 p.m. and will return home Friday night against Cedar Grove at 6 p.m.
Swimming and diving defeated Lovett 253-101. The Golden Lions will travel to Chamblee on Tuesday of this week.
Wrestling dropped a 40-35 decision at Westminster and will take on Blessed Trinity and Marist at Blessed Trinity on Wednesday before participating in a tournament at Holy Innocents’ this weekend.