Girls Basketball: SWR falls to Manhasset in overtime during Long Island championship game
A historic season by Shoreham-Wading River came to an end Saturday afternoon as the Wildcats lost in overtime to Manhasset, 58-51, in the Class A Long Island championship game at Farmingdale State College.
With nine seconds left on the clock, Shoreham-Wading River (24-2) was ahead 45-44. One more defensive stand would send the Wildcats to the New York State Class A semifinals. In a season that was dominated by their aggressive, suffocating defense, it was only fitting that the defense had a chance to seal the deal.
Manhasset (24-1) rushed the ball down the court and let a shot fly. The ball hit the rim and took an odd bounce right into the hands of Manhasset’s Caitlin Barrett, who brought down the offensive rebound. As the final seconds ticked off, Barrett missed the shot. SWR started to jump in excitement thinking the game was over, but then consecutive whistles halted the celebration. A foul had been called with just 0.2 seconds left on the game clock.
PHOTOS BY ROBERT O’ROURK
“It was a foul call that I just don’t agree with,” SWR head coach Adam Lievre said. “If she hammered her, then she hammered her, but my angle, it was a touch foul if anything. That’s just part of the game I guess.”
Barrett ended up hitting one of two free throws to send the game into overtime. At that point, the momentum had changed. Manhasset had clawed back into the game in the final minute by forcing untimely turnovers and scoring 6 unanswered points to end regulation. The Indians dominated the extra period and left the court victorious.
“I think it was one of the best team efforts we ever had,” senior guard Sophie Costello said. “Manhasset was one of the hardest teams we will ever play. The fact that it was so close and went to overtime proved that we were supposed to be there playing for the championship.”
Costello had a phenomenal game. She led the team with 18 points and 7 steals in her final game as a Wildcat. She came up with clutch defensive stops when her team needed them most and even took a momentum-changing offensive charge in the second quarter when SWR was struggling.
“This season was very special to me,” Costello said, holding back tears. “I’ve been coached by Coach Adam (Lievre) since I was in fifth grade. To see it end is really sad but to leave with a county championship shows how special it was. We went 24-2 and had a ton of fun.”
PHOTOS BY ROBERT O’ROURK
The Wildcats hit the court in elite form as they jumped out to a 10-2 lead. But late in the second quarter, fouls started becoming an issue. Costello and Annie Sheehan had 2 fouls each and shortly thereafter Juliana Mahan got into foul trouble as well. That ended up completely changing the rhythm of the game. Turnovers started to come in bunches and the Wildcats only managed to score 2 points in the quarter. By the end of the game, Costello, Sheehan and Mahan had all fouled out.
“With Jules fouling out at the end, that really hurt us,” Lievre said. “She was just starting to get going.”
Mahan scored 6 points in limited play but tallied 4 points in the fourth quarter including a big bucket to extend the lead to 6 with a minute to play before fouling out on the following defensive possession.
Seniors GraceAnn Leonard (11 points), Colleen Ohrtman (10 points) and Sheehan (6 points) left it all on the court as they battled through the biggest game of their lives.
The ball just didn’t bounce the right way for the Wildcats in the championship. But that doesn’t take away from what they accomplished this season – a spotless 20-0 record in regular season play and the first girls basketball Suffolk County championship in school history.
“Tonight will sting,” said Lievre, who announced he will be retiring as head coach to spend more time with his children. “For four months, this was the best season I have ever been a part of. These girls just came to play every day. Whether it was practice or games, my philosophy has always been to play hard and have fun and I think we accomplished that.”
