By Dean Russin

Sports Editor

One season ago, Stephanie Shellman and Bob Conway were barely blips on the high school girls basketball radar.

Shellman barely broke a sweat as a junior varsity call-up for the postseason during her sophomore year at Downsville. Meanwhile, Conway was sweating bullets, perched on the proverbial hot seat after his Bainbridge-Guilford girls took the brunt of a 30-point semifinal loss to Elmira Notre Dame in a 2006 Section Four Class C semifinal.

Star photo by Julie Lewis GIRLS PLAYER OF THE YEAR Junior guard Stephanie Shellman is the first Downsville girl to win The Daily Star’s Player of the Year basketball honor in the 24-year history of the award.

One season later, The Daily Star is raising their arms, sure that Shellman and Conway are worthy of its highest honors in girls basketball.

Downsville earned its first Player of the Year honor in the 24-year history of The Daily Star award through Shellman, a 5-foot-4 spitfire of a guard who led the Eagles to the Delaware League championship and an appearance in the Section Four Class D final this past winter.

The Star’s Coach of the Year award may someday be named after Conway, honored for a record fifth time following a 19-3 season that ended with a near upset of END in the Section Four Class C championship game March 3 at the Broome County Arena. In his 25th season of coaching, Conway broke a tie with former Stamford coach Tom Sherwood, who won his fourth award in 2000. Conway shared the Daily Star honor with Sherwood in 1994. Conway also won it in 2003 and 1999 with B-G, and in 1986 with Mount Upton.

COACH OF THE YEAR

Bob Conway

Nearly a month later, that 54-50 loss to the Crusaders _ who won the Class C state championship again, by the way _ still seems to chew away at Conway like an intestinal parasite at an all-you-can-eat buffet.

"I thought my kids outplayed them in the sectional final," Conway said. "They went out there and played their hearts out, but we didn’t win. We would have had an opportunity to possibly win a state championship."

What Conway said next, though, is the stuff a Coach of the Year is made of.

"You take that into the future as the coach and point that out to the next team that might reach that level," Conway continued. "There is not a tomorrow. You don’t get that chance often."

The Bobcats certainly seemed to have little chance against END, at least before the 2007 sectional championship started. B-G’s starting five _ Jennifer Patten, Mariah Schaeffer, Nicole Conway, Marcie Day and Samantha Spalholz _ returned to face the Crusaders in the final, one season after absorbing a 65-35 sectional semifinal thumping that ended their 2005-06 campaign at 18-5.

Conway had a plan this time, though, and his two-time defending Midstate Athletic Conference champion Bobcats executed it to near perfection.

"We went in with a 1-3 zone with man-to-man on (Mallory) Lawes," Conway said of the Crusaders’ top scorer, who finished with a game-high 20 points in the 2006 semifinal. "Except for some early points, she only had that three-point play at the end of the game."

B-G held Lawes to eight shots _ 10 fewer than she took in the 2006 semifinal _ and nine points, but her three-point play proved pivotal as it gave END the lead for good at 52-50 with 1 minute, 23 seconds left. Although END scored the last five points en route to victory, B-G proved that no Conway-coached team should be taken lightly.

"I honestly think the END game showed the growth of the players," Conway said. "When we played them a year ago and lost in the semis, they destroyed us, but they mentally destroyed us. The growth mentally to be able to handle that pressure showed the maturity of the players.

"As far as were we satisfied to be in that game?" continued Conway, whose team avenged its two regular-season losses to Unatego with a 49-44 victory over the Spartans in the MAC title game. "I don’t think any coach is satisfied in a game his team could have won and didn’t."

PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Stephanie Shellman

Although Downsville fell, 62-53, to eventual Class D state semifinalist Odessa-Montour in the Section Four final, Shellman seemed pleased with her performance this past season. That included a 21-point effort against the Indians, who seemed poised to blowout the Eagles in the early stages of the sectional championship game March 3 at the Arena.

After scoring three points in the first half, Shellman hit six field goals in the third quarter to help pull Downsville within 47-45 entering the final period. Back-to-back Shellman baskets in a 16-second span tied the score at 51 with a little more than 5 minutes to play before O-M closed with an 11-2 run for the win.

Although the Eagles ultimately ran out of steam, Shellman showed just how deep the program runs at Downsville.

"She’s the one a lot of schools would have had on varsity in ninth grade," said Downsville coach Christine Baldauf, who won the Star’s Coach of the Year award in 2005 after leading the Eagles to an appearance in the Class D state semifinals. "Other schools didn’t have the talent pool that we had, so it was an advantage for us for her to play for two years at the JV level."

Shellman shed her JV threads for good this season with 17.2 points, 5.3 steals, 4.2 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game, but it wasn’t until the 2007 sectional tournament that she realized her varsity value.

"It kind of took a little time," said Shellman, who also had six rebounds and four steals in the sectional final. "Afton was a close game (in sectionals) and somebody had to take the last shot. I had to do it because I was the leading scorer on the team."

Shellman’s shot led to a 57-all tie against Afton, and Kate Hume followed with the decisive free throw as Downsville successfully staved off a monster rally by the Crimson Knights from 20 points down in a sectional quarterfinal. Shellman finished with a game-high 23 points, then followed with 14 more as the Eagles completed a three-game sweep of DL crossover finalist Davenport with a 50-44 semifinal win.

"All the other games before that, we’d been winning by a lot, so you couldn’t tell who the go-to person was," Shellman said. "The Afton game was pretty frustrating. We were up 20 points, then all of a sudden, we were losing. I kept thinking we can’t lose this game, so we had to keep trying our best."

If Shellman had a credo, that would be it.

Shellman followed a Second Team All-State selection for her 40-goal, 10-assist season in girls soccer with a Fifth Team All-State spot in basketball. She’s also the school’s top girls cross-country runner and is seeking her first state berth in outdoor track and field this spring.

"I want to make it to states again before I leave (Downsville)," said Shellman, part of the Eagles’ undefeated Class D state champion girls soccer team two seasons back. "I haven’t made it to states in track or basketball yet, so one of those would be nice."

As far as basketball goes, Shellman seems to be on the right track. And although she’s already had a whiff of a sectional championship, she seems more focused on personal growth.

Literally.

"I’m pretty excited for next year," Shellman said. "The only thing that really hurts us is our height."

She then joked: "I’m 5-foot-4, but my goal is 5-6."

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Dean Russin can be reached at drussin@thedailystar.com or 607-432-1000, ext. 215.