Before it could try to claim a second consecutive Section III Class B championship, the Bishop Ludden girls basketball team had to first prove it was the best in its own neighborhood.
And it did – barely.
Only when Westhill’s Morgan Elmer saw her potential game-winning 3-pointer bounce off the rim as time ran out did the top-seeded Gaelic Knights escape with a 67-65 victory over the no. 5 seed Warriors in Saturday’s sectional Class B semifinals at Onondaga Community College’s Allyn Hall.
Once down by 16 in the third quarter, Westhill charged back, pushed by the 1,000-point scoring duo of Mackenzie Martin and Katelyn Karleski, and had moved within one, 64-63, with 20 seconds left.
Danielle Rauch hit two free throws. Karleski answered with a basket to make it 66-65, and Rauch was fouled again with 10 seconds to play, and this time missed her first attempt.
Though Rauch sank the second, Westhill, down by two, had a chance to tie or win. Martin drove to the basket, drawing the Gaelic Knights’ defenders, and then passed it to Elmer, open on the right wing beyond the 3-point arc.
As Elmer shot, said Rauch,”I was a little nervous there”, while head coach Nicole McManus praised the play call the Warriors made as “textbook” because it created a wide-open shot that, had it fallen, would have put Westhill in the sectional final.
It did not fall, though, and the Gaelic Knights had survived against the team it considers its biggest rival in yet another classic battle between the two neighbors.
Part of the reason Westhill was able to push Ludden to overtime on Jan. 16 was that it got Rauch into foul trouble and held her without a field goal until overtime, even though the Gaelic Knights went on to win 61-54.
Here, Rauch had her first field in the game’s opening minute, and 12 points by halftime, using her vast all-around skills on both ends to spark Ludden as it never trailed.
When Westhill closed within three, 19-16, early in the second quarter, the Gaelic Knights countered with a 10-2 run, beginning to establish its inside game thanks to Aurora Deshaies, whose back-to-back baskets to close the half made it 38-26 going to the break.
Amid those early struggles, Karleski hit a breakaway layup that pushed her past 1,000 career points, getting a standing ovation from the Westhill fans, who would have far more reason to cheer down the stretch.
Ludden’s lead reached 47-31 just past the midway point of the third quarter, but even then the Gaelic Knights didn’t feel comfortable.
“We knew there would be a storm coming,” said McManus. “We were waiting for it, and knew we had to weather it.”
Those suspicions proved correct. A 19-7 run that stretched into the fourth quarter brought Westhill back, and even Rauch’s long 3-pointer didn’t discourage the Warriors, who saw Martin score 14 of her 24 points in the fourth quarter.
Karleski, who finished with 22 points, and Martin both hit 3-pointers in the last 90 seconds to trim the margin to one, and even with Rauch working her total to 21 points, nothing was safe until Elmer’s possible game-winner slid off the rim.
Deshaies finished with 18 points as Lauren Petrie got seven points, with Karleigh Leo, Katie Costello and Amarah Streiff earning six points apiece. Elmer had nine points for the Warriors as Jenna Larrabee got seven points.
On Friday at 4 p.m. at the Carrier Dome, Ludden will go for back-to-back sectional titles against no. 3 seed South Jefferson, who beat Bishop Grimes 53-45 in the other semifinal game. The Spartans have not won a sectional title since 2012.
