Basketball

Takeaway

Burke wrests win from Sullivan West to quash chance for division title repeat

By RICHARD A. ROSS

LAKE HUNTINGTON, NY — Sullivan West’s dreams of rapture were wrested from them by raptors, as the Lady Eagles of Burke wrangled a painful 34-24 win on February 17.

Coming in with hopes of mirroring last year’s magical defeat of Burke on their home floor, which produced a tie for the Division IV crown, Sullivan West’s embattled warriors envisioned a euphoric ending to this year’s regular season, one that would conclude with a dramatic road win against O’Neill.

In that rhapsodic finale, Sullivan West would once again end up as division co-champions, this time with both of its rivals.

But the elusive dream became a nightmare as the Lady Bulldogs squandered a rare opportunity to catch the diminished Lady Eagles, made even more vulnerable by the absence of senior Kaitlyn Fitzgibbons, currently sidelined by academic issues.

With both teams at a 10-year low point due to lost personnel, this game, like the previous encounter down in Burke, was painful to watch. For Burke coach Bob Turner and Sullivan West coach Ron Bernhardt, whose teams in bygone years have clashed in epic struggles, this low-scoring saga of missed shots, turnovers and inconsistent play was an accurate barometer of the present reality.

“I thought both teams really struggled with continuity and execution,” Turner would say following the game. Missing Fitzgibbons and some early foul trouble led to lapses of disorder that allowed Sullivan West to awaken from an early Burke 9-0 run not only to get back in the game, but to come within a hair’s breadth several times of overtaking its nemesis.

How close was this?

Burke led by only one point, following baskets by Westies Lindsey Bauer and Katrina Graby, to start the third quarter, but Sullivan West couldn’t close the deal.

“Offensively, we just couldn’t finish,” Bernhardt later observed.

Burke’s tall tree Mary Rose Meany controlled the opening tip against Katrina Graby. Sullivan West’s Lindsey Murphy gave the Bulldogs their only lead of the night as she canned an early bucket.

Burke tore off a 9-0 run, getting seven points from junior forward Stephanie Naru. Burke led 9-2 at the end of the first quarter.

Alternating between a 1-3-1, run and jump and a full-court press, Burke harried Sullivan West whose drought continued early in the second quarter by dint of missed close-in shots and turnover woes. By the half, they had committed 10 turnovers to Burke’s six.

The home crowd awakened as Lindsey Murphy buried a three pointer to close the margin to 11-7. In the ensuing give-and-take, Burke got points from Sage Owens and a three pointer from sophomore Amanda Lynch. Katrina Graby muscled through for a bucket at the end of the frame as Burke took a 16-11 lead into halftime.

Bauer and Graby made it 16-15 to start the third but failed to capitalize on a Meany travel and squandered two potential go-ahead trips up the floor. Naru dished to Meany down low and Burke went ahead by three. In a sequence of hectic play, fouls were committed, free throws were missed and players traveled.

At 3:33, Stephanie Ortiz pushed Burke’s lead to five and Meany followed with her second block of the game, a resounding rejection of Ella McDonald. Misses included a Lynch three and an absentee call of a foul on a Murphy three pointer. Graby hit one of two from the stripe. But the turning point came when a Murphy pass was stolen by Ortiz who scored and hit a free throw. Burke led 23-16 at the end of the quarter, having won the battle of wits.

Burke scored first in the fourth, but Cindy Szeflinski hit two from the stripe for Sullivan West. Graby cut the lead to five but was called for a foul on Lynch, who hit one of two from the stripe. Graby fouled out at 3:21. Sullivan West managed to score only eight in the fourth quarter to go along with five in the third.

“I thought our defense did a good job on Murphy,” Turner said. “She’s a great three-point shooter and you can’t give her an open look. We wanted to pressure their guards and make their scorers bring up the ball. The idea was to make them work extra hard and to take them out of positions where they like to score.”

Burke’s tactics were no mystery to Bernhardt, who felt his team played well defensively. “We played man to man with about three minutes to go but we mixed it up prior to that. Ultimately, we stopped supporting each other. They neutralized Murphy and when Graby fouled out, that was key,” said Bernhardt, who added that the call at that juncture dashed his team’s final chance to recoup.

“This was one of the toughest games to watch in years. We had two trips down the floor with chances to go ahead. This is the weakest Burke team we’ve seen in years, but we’ve both lost key people,” said Bernhardt.

“I told my team that since our sets were not working to just take it to the basket and try to draw fouls, but we made some bad decisions,” he added, reckoning this loss as one of three recent ones that included disappointing defeats to Tuxedo and Middletown.

“We don’t have that one player or the confidence. We’re at the other end of that train where we haven’t been in years,” he concluded.

Sullivan West 11-7 (4-3 OCIAA) traveled to O’Neill and ends up at home against Cornwall. The Lady Bulldogs are assured of a lower seed in the coming Class B sectionals, a place that will likely call for a long bus ride. There may be as many as nine teams in this year.

Burke, 10-8, (7-1 OCIAA) defeated Liberty but lost to Middletown. If Sullivan West beat O’Neill, then the Lady Eagles would be in sole possession of the title.

Naru led Burke with nine points. The Lady Eagles were 11 of 21 from the stripe. Graby had nine for Sullivan West, who shot seven for 11 from the line. Sullivan West had 18 turnovers; Burke had 10.

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