Class B girls’ semifinals

Lady Dawgs done in by Dukes and wiles of the whistle

Furious Lady Bulldog run in the fourth comes up just short

By RICHARD A. ROSS

LAKE HUNTINGTON, NY — It is often a razor’s edge margin that divides two great teams in tournament play. Being sharp at this time of year is about having everything working, especially defense.

Great defense stops great offense and a team’s ability to disrupt an opponent’s offensive execution can be a huge factor in its ability to cut a path to a big tournament win.

Unveiling the gleaming edge of a nearly flawless three-two match-up zone, Marlboro held the upper hand for three quarters against Sullivan West in the Class B semifinal, which pitted the number-two seeded Lady Bulldogs against the three-seeded Lady Iron Dukes.

But a tremendous fourth quarter come-from-behind effort by the Bulldogs nearly resulted in what might have been one of the most dramatic wins of this year’s tourney. Alas for the Bulldogs, it was not to be.

A snow cancellation the night before nixed the game originally slated for Sullivan County Community College and moved it to the Bulldogs’ familiar turf in front of an enthusiastic crowd made up of many Dawgs’ fans and many Duke devotees.

It was the first home loss sustained by Sullivan West and, needless to say, for the Ladies of the Lake, it couldn’t have come at a worse time.

A 14-day hiatus had to be a factor for Sullivan West, which came out looking rusty and skittish against Marlboro’s defensive array. Coach Ron Bernhardt suspected that Marlboro might deploy this type of defense, something he had seen the Dukes implement briefly at Goshen this season, but Marlboro’s execution of the three-two against his team was nothing akin to what he had witnessed in his scouting.

Early Bulldog turnovers abounded, and the Dawgs trailed 10-7 at the end of the first quarter and 26-10 at the half.

Bernhardt encouraged his team with suggestions for ways to reverse the game’s polarity. But the Bulldogs were still only able to reduce that 10-point halftime deficit to nine with more than three-and-a-half minutes gone by in the third quarter. Ultimately, they entered the final frame down by a daunting 11 at 32-21.

While Marlboro held sway for three quarters, basketball is a four-quarter venture. Awakening from their torpor and sensing the imminence of not getting to the finals, the Lady Dawgs showed what they were made of.

One of Sullivan West’s best weapons all year has been its own brand of stifling defense. Deployed to near perfection against defending champs John S. Burke, that defense neutralized the potentially lethal Eagles twice.

Marshaling their ability to play stellar man-to-man defense with sliding help, Sullivan West strangled Marlboro’s previous fluid attack and held the Lady Dukes, including golden girl Marion Casey, without a bucket for the entire fourth quarter.

Casey, who ended up with 21 points on the night, is a 1,000-point scorer. Limited to a three-pointer in the opening frame, she buried a trio of treys in the second quarter and accounted for 15 of Marlboro’s 26 first-half points. Along with teammate Kanita Boone, who is bound for Division One Central Connecticut, they represent an awesome one-two punch. But in the fourth quarter, the two gunners and the rest of the Dukes were silenced.

Amping up their defense, getting shot clock violations and forcing turnovers, the Dawgs chipped away at the 32-21 deficit and rode April Ackermann’s seven points and Kate Fanning’s pair of timely threes, along with free throws by Donna Kelly and Rachel Houghtaling, to take a 37-36 lead with 1:13 to go.

Looking harried and on the verge of cracking, Marlboro appeared to be ready for the taking but for one thing: both teams were in the bonus, which meant free throws for the team that could draw those crucial fouls.

In the interstices of the action during timeouts, both Sullivan West coach Ron Bernhardt and Marlboro coach Joannah O’Donnell cautioned their players about the liability of committing fouls. But fouls were committed nonetheless.

Sullivan West got to the line for nine shots in the fourth quarter. They made six of them.

But Marlboro got to the stripe as well.

The Lady Dukes benefited from some questionable calls down the stretch as one of the officials whistled Sullivan West repeatedly in the game’s waning minutes, sending Casey to the line to sink the shots that would ultimately wrest Sullivan West’s come-from-behind win and turn it into an agonizing defeat.

Marlboro got to the line for 12 shots in the final frame and made seven of those from the stripe. Casey hit six of them.

While it is a time-honored taboo to comment on a game’s officiating, and something that is unquestionably off limits for coaches to call into question, sportswriters will occasionally hazard a comment about officiating when they feel the situation warrants it.

In this writer’s view, when it comes to games of this magnitude, you’ve got to let the kids play. Fouls are fouls and when they occur, they have to be called. But to whistle fouls that amount to the whispering brush of a jersey in the game’s defining moments is to enter an element into the game that diminishes its greatness. It is also a cardinal sin not to call fouls when they are committed. Replays of the game tape show that with Sullivan West leading by one as the game wound down, a rebound that was grabbed by Lander and Ackermann came loose when Lander was spun and hit. There was no whistle, but when Casey got the ball and drove into a standing Ackermann, Casey got the call that netted Marlboro the go-ahead points.

Give Marlboro credit. They played a tremendous game. And though Casey was extraordinary, you also have to credit O’Donnell’s game strategy. After the game, she talked about the brilliance of her team’s match-up zone defense.

“I’ve been hiding it over the past couple of weeks because I knew teams were scouting us,” she said. “Our zone has been our bread and butter all year, and it’s so effective when we do it right.” O’Donnell described herself as “a scouting freak,” and said that she had scouted Sullivan West all year. “I had the greatest respect for them. You don’t get ranked the state’s sixth best team in class B for no reason. I told my girls we’d have to play our best game to beat them.”

O’Donnell had great praise for Boone who, despite scoring only 10 points, a number far below her usual flurry, provided a great presence on the floor that siphoned defensive energy from the Bulldogs.

Boone also closed quickly on shooters and blocked shots in the game’s most critical moments. Great play down low by senior center Angela Simmons unhinged Sullivan West’s ability to get Ackermann the shots that she wanted inside and created havoc with Sarah Lander’s ability to drive baseline to the basket. Lander had a season-low five points.

With the Bulldogs down by one and 41 seconds to go, the Dawgs came up the floor and Lander got a good look at the basket, though Dawgs were late in getting her the ball. That allowed Duke defenders to close in and partially block what might have been a game-winning basket.

Marlboro got that key rebound and one of those mysterious fouls sent Casey to the line to add one point to Marlboro’s lead. Sullivan West failed on its last shot attempt, which sent Marlboro to the finals at SUNY New Paltz on March 5 to play top-seeded Highland who defeated Burke in the other semifinal by the score of 42-34. Ackermann led Sullivan West (17-3) with 16 points. Fanning had 13. It was the last game for the dedicated seniors, who gave everything they had in an effort to achieve the team’s ultimate goal of a sectional championship. Sullivan West did win the league title this year and improved from last year’s second-place finish and its 15-7 record.

Marlboro turned its 2004-05 record of 9-11 around dramatically and headed into the finals sporting an impressive mark of 18-3. Last year, Sullivan West defeated the Lady Dukes 41-33 in the quarterfinals.

Bernhardt and his team were devastated by the defeat.

“This is a tough loss. These girls deserved better,” said Bernhardt. “I thought we had the karma this year but it turned out to be Marlboro’s.” While his kids remained in the locker room consoling one another, Bernhardt lauded their praise, especially his seniors Ackermann and Fanning. “They’re remarkable kids. I’ve never had better. No matter what, they carried us through. I may never have the likes of them again.

“Marlboro outplayed us in the first half, but we did the better job in the second half,” Bernhardt said.

“What can you say,” said the coach obviously overwhelmed by the last minute loss. “It’s over.

Class B girls finals

Lady Huskies get off the mat and roll to school’s first-ever b-ball title

NEW PALTZ, NY — Number-one seeded Highland came from behind in the fourth quarter to shock number four-seeded Burke 42-34 in the semifinal leading to the Huskies match up in the final with Marlboro on March 5. The Lady Dukes unveiled the same defense they used against Sullivan West, shutting Highland out in the first quarter. But the Huskies roared back behind the great shooting of Christy Porter (14 points). Ashley Hanhurst (12 points), and Alexandra Rozzi (11 points) to defeat Marlboro.

Huskies’ coach Jim Delmar figured out a way to break down Marlboro’s defense and his team pulled out ahead in the third quarter and withstood a late Marlboro run before scoring a late flurry from Hanhurst and Porter to ice the win. Highland (20-2) advanced to play Nanuet from Section 1 in the first round of the state tournament. For more details on the Sullivan West-Marlboro game or the Highland-Marlboro final and albums of pictures, visit riverreportersports.com.