Twelve months later, the Jamesville-DeWitt girls basketball team again stood at the brink of history, poised to grab the first state championship in the program’s history.
And once more, despite an all-out effort, the Red Rams’ dreams were dashed at the final hurdle.
After a resounding 56-33 rout of Albertus Magnus in Friday’s state semifinal at Troy’s Hudson Valley Community College, the Red Rams faced Williamsville South in Saturday night’s title game, nearly erasing a double-digit fourth-quarter deficit before the Billies, taking advantage of J-D’s multiple mistakes, prevailed 48-39.
Williamsville South, the Section VI champions from the Buffalo suburbs, had survived a tough semifinal with Long Island champion North Shore to win, 73-69. Like J-D, the Billies had never won a state title before.
The tensions of a title game, combined with fierce defense on both sides, created a tight first half. Trailing 10-9 in the opening period, the Rams got back-to-back baskets from Alyssa Robens and Julia Kelner, the latter of which just beat the horn, to take a 13-10 lead.
But a rash of mistakes limited J-D to just two field goals in the second quarter. Combined, the two sides gave it away 19 times, but while the Rams contained Will South with its pressure, the Billies’ half-court trap was hurting J-D just as much.
Going into halftime, the Rams trailed by just one, 19-18, but it nearly got away in the third quarter. Five consecutive turnovers (it would have 21 overall) led to Will South going on a 13-2 run, and J-D trailed, 32-20, its dreams slipping away.
Yet the Rams nearly made it all the way back. Meg Hair’s 3-pointer began the comeback, and Carly O’Hern hit back-to-back 3-pointers early in the fourth quarter to cut the margin to 35-31.
After the Billies restored the margin to 41-34, Hair hit a pair of free throws, and following full-court pressure and a steal, Vaughan’s 3-pointer made it 41-39 with two minutes left.
The game’s biggest sequence followed. J-D appeared to make a stop on the defensive end, but Brianna Neeley, a force for Will South all night, stole it back, sank the basket and was fouled with 1:21 left.
Neeley made the ensuing foul shot, the Rams turned it over once more and Neeley punctuated her 22-point effort (and state tournament MVP honors) with a jumper with 54.2 seconds left that made it 46-39. J-D did not score again.
O’Hern led J-D with 11 points, most of them in the second half. All of Robens’ eight points came in the first half as Kelner and Hair managed six points apiece and Vaughan had five points.
When it was over, Robens and Maddy Frank, the Rams’ lone two seniors, could not hide the tears, having traversed so far in a high school career that included four consecutive Section III titles, two regional crowns and two trips to the state title game.
For the rest of the Rams, from O’Hern, Hair and Angela Bussone to Vaughan, Kelner, MaryKate Scheftic, Jamie Boeheim, Bess Murad, Julia Fairbanks and Maddie Behan, the fact that they all return in 2015-16 gives them even more motivation to get back to Troy and, finally, get the happy ending they want so much.
