A 16-point deficit was down to two, more than a minute remained, and the Bishop Ludden girls basketball team was on the precipice of the most remarkable and storied comeback in program history, one that would propel the Gaelic Knights to the state Class B final four in Troy.
At that very moment, though, the magic ran out, and instead Binghamton Seton Catholic scored the game’s final seven points to prevail, 70-61, in an exhilarating Class B regional final Saturday at Onondaga Community College’s Allyn Hall.
For everything else that took place, the game would end up defined by two wondrous star turns in the second half – first by Seton Catholic’s Lexus Levy to build the Saints’ margin, and then by Ludden’s Danielle Rauch to nearly erase it.
There was no secret in Seton Catholic’s strategy to neutralize Ross, and for a half it worked. Rauch was held to a single free throw in the first quarter and only had five points by halftime.
And it wasn’t like the Saints allowed Rauch’s teammates to help much, either. Three other starters – Meg Sierotnik, Laura Patulski and Aurora Deshaies – were saddled with two fouls apiece by the early part of the second quarter, as was Katie Costello.
Taking advantage of all this, Seton Catholic built a 29-21 halftime lead, and the Gaelic Knights were lucky it wasn’t more, since the Saints constantly used its team speed to turn Ludden turnovers into fast breaks, but often missed on close-range opportunities.
So at the start of the third quarter, Seton Catholic turned to Levy – and she put on a stunning barrage.
In the span of less than two minutes, Levy picked up 13 points, including three 3-pointers. She added two more 3-pointers in the fourth quarter and finished with 30 points overall, more than the entire Bishop Grimes squad managed against Ludden six days earlier in the Section III final on that same OCC floor.
Even though the Gaelic Knights did what it could to keep up, it still found itself trailing 56-40 early in the fourth quarter. Then Rauch nearly produced a miracle.
Unleashed and going at full speed, Rauch hit on six baskets, two of them 3-pointers, in a span of less than four minutes. Her work fired up Ludden’s defense, who got a series of stops that led to more chances on the other end.
Five free throws, four of them by Patulski, completed a 21-7 burst, and when the last of them swished with 1:12 left, Ludden only trailed 63-61. One more stop, and a chance to tie or even grab the lead beckoned.
Refusing to panic, though, Seton Catholic calmly worked the ball around. With Levy covered, it went inside to Marina Maerkl, who sank a lay-up with 51 seconds to play to make it 65-61. After getting the ball back, the Saints saw Levy miss two free throws, but Ava McCann rebounded it, was fouled, and the Saints made five more free throws in the closing seconds to ice it.
This was a double shot of payback for Seton Catholic, who fell 69-61 to Ludden a season ago and lost in this same regional round to Westhill in 2016. The work of forward Julia Hauer, who had 17 points, gave Levy lots of support as, on the Gaelic Knights’ side, Patulski finished with 13 points and Deshaies 10 points to support Rauch.
‘Though its season ended one win short of the state final four in Troy, Ludden returns Rauch, Deshaies, Patulski, Costello and Karleigh Leo for 2017-18, while seniors like Sierotnik, Ally Weigand and Taj Huddleston graduate.
