Neumann-Goretti is flashy and for real

It's the shoes.

That's the first thing you notice about the Neumann-Goretti girls' basketball team during warm-ups.

They are orange Nikes. And quite a few of the players have socks that match.

Then there's the height. That's the second thing you can't miss. The Saints have six players 5-foot-11 or taller, with 6-5 Christina Aborowa and 6-9 Felicia Aiyeotan providing the exclamation point.

Plenty of teams wear flashy sneakers. Fewer have the kind of height the Saints possess.

But it is the way Goretti combines flash and physicality that makes them so unique. That distinctiveness was on display Friday night, in a rematch of last year's Philadelphia Catholic League championship, as the Saints overcame a slow start to beat Archbishop Wood, 59-33.

Beyond the height and the loud footwear, once the contest starts, it is hard not to be impressed with the pace at which Neumann-Goretti (13-0, 5-0) plays the game.

And for the first half in a clash of league elites, Wood (10-3, 4-1) kept up, largely due to the play of senior Aubree Brown and junior Bailey Greenberg.

Neumann-Goretti went into the locker room only up three points, after trailing by as many as eight in the first quarter.

"We responded well," senior Sianni Martin said. "At halftime we knew what we were doing wrong - we were leaving them open and they can hit those shots - but we got out in the second half and were aggressive on defense."

So aggressive and effective on the defensive end, in fact, that the Vikings only scored 12 second-half points.

This dominance is not new to Neumann-Goretti. The boys' program has long been a powerhouse, but the girls' ascent has been quite recent.

It was just three seasons ago that the Saints were an afterthought in the Catholic League. They finished the 2012-2013 season 14-12, losing in the quarterfinals of the league playoffs, unable to overcome perennial favorites like Wood, Archbishop Carroll, and Cardinal O'Hara.

Enter Ciani Cryor.

Fiercely passionate, the senior point guard transferred from Prep Charter before her junior year and quickly became the emotional leader. She also happens to be a dynamite scorer with great court vision.

Headed to Georgia Tech next fall, Cryor is one of five Division I recruits on the Saints' roster, with more expected to commit.

There's a reason the Saints were named the top-ranked team in the entire nation by USA Today this past Tuesday.

"It is crazy. It is a dream come true," Cryor said. "We were at No. 2 but we didn't want to be at No. 2, we wanted to be No. 1. Now we are there, we just have to keep it."

The shoes are loud. The height, impressive. Now the Saints have the national ranking to match.

Neumann-Goretti 13 11 15 20 - 59

Archbishop Wood 16 5 9 3 - 33

NG: Kamiah Smalls 16, Ciani Cryor 10, AJ Timbers 9, Alisha Kebbe 8, Sianni Martin 7, Felicia Aiyeotan 4, Christina Aborowa 3, Jada Russell 2.

AW: Aubree Brown 13, Bailey Greenberg 11, Karly Brown 6, Cassie Sebold 2, Claire Bassetti 1.