02/28/05
Small wonder lifts Eagles girls
Point guard Henderson scores 14 of 24 points in fourth quarter as Downsville beats SK, 51-43, for crown
HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS BASKETBALL — SECTION
| | | Star photo by Julie Lewis
South Kortright’s Karyn Tucker, bottom, and Downsville’s Linnea Mattson scramble for possession as Jessica Laing of the Rams bends down to get her hands on the ball during the Section Four Class D championship Saturday at the Broome County Arena. |
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FOUR CLASS D CHAMPIONSHIP
By Rob Centorani
Contributing Writer
BINGHAMTON — The first 15 quarters of head-to-head basketball decided little between the Downsville and South Kortright girls basketball teams.
The 16th quarter, though, left the Eagles atop Section Four Class D.
Alexa Henderson scored 14 of her game-high 24 points in the final eight minutes Saturday as Downsville prevailed, 51-43, in the sectional final at the Broome County Arena.
[an error occurred while processing this directive]The victory — the Eagles’ third and most lopsided in four games against SK this winter — gave Downsville its first sectional title in 26 years.
"This is a really big win and we’re all really psyched," said Henderson, a 5-foot-4 junior point guard. "Last year, we came here and lost to Afton. We really wanted it this year."
The top-seeded Eagles (22-2) advanced to a Class D state quarterfinal against Section Three champion Copenhagen (18-6), which needed double-overtime Saturday to beat New York Mills, 69-67. Downsville moved up to second in the Class D state rankings. Copenhagen is ranked sixth.
The quarterfinal likely will be played this Saturday at Delhi Tech or Oneonta State.
Delaware League champion Downsville closed the game on a 16-6 run to shake the second-seeded Rams (19-4). Up to that point, SK had outscored the Eagles head-to-head, 193-191, on the season.
Henderson scored 10 points through the first three quarters, including a three-pointer from the baseline with 17 seconds left in the period to give Downsville a 33-30 lead. But even she had trouble explaining her 14-point fourth quarter, which came on 4-for-5 shooting from the floor.
"I don’t know," she said with a smile, "they were just going in."
SK coach Harry Nissen said he’d seen this before from Henderson, who averaged 19 points in the Eagles-Rams series this winter.
"She’s always been able to, at least when we’ve played against her, do something special," said Nissen. "She’s multi-dimensional. She can shoot, but she can beat you off the dribble, too. It seems like she’ll drive through two or three kids, so you have to respect the dribble. In the four games we’ve played against her, she’s been able to do that. She’s been a money player."
Perhaps the most remarkable parts of Henderson’s fourth-quarter display were the variety and degree of difficulty of her shots. She hit two threes off the dribble, a driving layup in traffic and put back one of her own misses in the quarter.
"She’ll step up when we need it," first-year Downsville coach Christine Baldauf said of Henderson, a Daily Star First-Team All-Star last season.
South Kortright took its final lead, at 37-35 with 6:30 left, when Emily White converted a layup off a pass from Jordan Nichols.
On Downsville’s next possession, Henderson had the ball between the foul line and the top of the key. She looked toward the basket before dribbling behind the three-point line, squaring her shoulders and swishing a three from the top of the circle. That gave the Eagles the lead for keeps, at 38-37 with 6:00 left.
Henderson then hit a driving layup, beating three Rams defenders to the basket, with 4:45 left to make it 40-37. She was fouled on a drive with 3:46 left and made a free throw for a four-point Downsville lead.
SK standout Jessica Laing, who was held to a season-low eight points, hit two free throws with 2:39 to play to cut the Rams’ deficit to 41-39.
But with shot clock running down on Downsville’s next possession, Henderson came up short on a floater in the lane, grabbed the carom and made the putback with 2:05 to play.
When Henderson made the last of her three three-pointers, a shot from the key off the dribble, Downsville led, 46-39, with 1:25 left.
White scored in the lane for SK with 1:12 left to make it five-point game, setting up the clinching sequence for Downsville. Henderson went to line with 1:01 left for a one-and-one. She made the first free throw, but missed the second. Teammate Linnea Mattson (12 points) rebounded the miss and scored for a 49-41 lead.
"It comes down to the little things," Nissen said. "They miss it, but then Mattson rebounds and puts it back in and it gets up to eight points."
For Downsville, containing Laing on defense and not settling for perimeter shots on offense played big roles in the victory. Laing averaged more than 23 points against Downsville this season. She entered the game second among area girls in scoring.
But the Eagles played a 2-3 zone throughout that paid special attention to the athletic Laing, who finished 2 of 11 from the field. Many of Laing’s attempts were from well beyond the three-point line.
"We tried to go out on her in the 2-3 zone so she couldn’t get any shots from out far, because she usually makes them from out there," Henderson said.
Downsville showed patience against SK’s soft man-to-man defense. The Rams appeared to want to make the Eagles beat them from the outside, but Downsville wouldn’t settle for jumpers.
"That’s what we worked on in practice," Baldauf said. "Yeah, you can get a 15-foot jumper, but if you work the ball around, you can get a better shot. That was our focus all week."
Courtney Hoyt scored 12 points for Downsville, using her speed to key the Eagles’ fastbreak.
Kassie Tiller had 11 points to lead the Rams, who opened the second half with a 9-0 run to take a 26-22 lead.
Notes: Downsville’s last sectional title came in 1979, a 59-37 victory over SK. It was the last of three straight Class D titles won by the Eagles. ... Downsville’s other victories over SK this season were 64-62 in overtime at Downsville on Feb. 1 and 45-41 in the Delaware League Mountain Division tiebreaker Feb. 8 at Delhi Tech.
DOWNSVILLE 51, SOUTH KORTRIGHT 43
1-DOWNSVILLE (22-2): Linnea Mattson 5-12 2-3 12, Alexa Henderson 8-15 5-10 24, Mary Wall 0-1 0-0 0, Courtney Hoyt 5-13 2-5 12, Crystal D’Addezio 0-0 0-0 0, Brittany D’Addezio 0-2 0-0 0, Charity Emerich 1-2 0-0 3. TOTALS: 19-44 9-18 51.
Three-point field goals: SK 3 (Laing, Tiller 2); D 4 (Henderson 3, Emerich).
