TROY — It was, White Plains forward Sequoia Layne said, like a “real showdown on both sides.”
But, she added, it felt like Webster-Schroeder, the Tigers’ opponent Saturday night in the Class AA public school basketball championship, had the edge.
If White Plains hit a bucket, the Warriors responded.
If the Tigers hit another one, sometimes the Warriors would respond with two.
And many of those scores followed offensive rebounds that helped keep the game out of reach for the Tigers.
“Once we started scoring, they were scoring back. We played catch-up the whole game,” senior Aliya McIver said.
White Plains, which entered the game without winning a national women’s basketball title, still hasn’t.
Despite a fourth-quarter run that saw him shoot twice within four points of the Webster-Schroeder Section 5, the Warriors cruised to a 49-41 victory.
They were helped in part by the poor shooting of the Tigers.
Normally strong from both the inside and the outside, White Plains managed just 19 of 84 shots, going a dismal 16 of 61 from two-pointers and just three of 23 from three-pointers.
White Plains, which won the Section 1 AA crown as the No. 3 seed, finished its season 23-4.
Webster-Schroeder, now 25-1, will continue playing, qualifying for next weekend’s State Federation tournament, which includes private schools and New York public schools.
game player
The Warriors will be looking for big things in this tournament from 6-foot junior Mariah Watkins.
The Tigers had little response for Watkins, who hit inside and out (she had two of her team’s six 3-pointers) and was big on the boards.
The game’s MVP ended with 18 points, 12 rebounds, five assists and two blocks.
She hit five late shots and also had a key offensive rebound with just over 51 seconds left and her team by eight to help seal the win.
By the numbers
While seven players have scored for the Panthers, only Layne has entered double digits. She had 11 points and 14 rebounds. The latter included 10 offensive caroms.
Two of those offensive boards came in late and led her to the line, where she hit one of two shots to cut Webster-Schroeder’s lead to 41-36 with 2:26 to play, but White Plains never came close.
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He had come in the four on an inside hoop drive by Inevia Plata around the middle of the quarter after Layne grabbed a defensive backboard. it’s 37-33.
But, as he has for most of the game, Webster-Schroeder had a quick response with Addison Morgan entering the White Plains players to go down with an offensive rebound which she immediately handed in for a two-point bucket for make it a six point game. at 39-33 with 4:35 to go.
but Plata, who had seven points and seven rebounds, cut the deficit again to 39-35 with 3:22 remaining.
But with less than three minutes remaining, Morgan and two White Plains players took off after a loose ball rolled under the White Plains defensive basket. Somehow the ball seemed to spring up to Morgan, who caught it and dropped it into the hoop.
McIver, who will play next year for Division I Rider, also had seven points.
But she was noticed elsewhere, collecting 11 rebounds and registering seven assists.
She also had 11 rebounds and seven assists.
Several of his helpers were beauties.
Included were a few hard, long lasers just under the bucket and a backhand rebound pass to Layne in the paint. at the start of the second trimester.
Anneliese Reggio also helped keep White Plains in the game. She had five offensive rebounds, seven points, two assists and a steal.
Capri DeMara got five points and India Newman and Isabella McGuire each got a bucket.
Morgan was the second Warrior to enter the doubles with 14 points, and Bria Watkins had nine points, seven rebounds and three assists.
They said it
‘I think the nerves have been with us for too long’, White Plains coach Benj Carter, lamenting at the time White Plains missed many open shots he normally sinks, was ‘a bit overwhelmed’ by several 50-50 balls and left a few Webster-Schroeder players open to shoot.
“You can’t go wrong with good teams,” Carter said.
“We weren’t boxing. They were getting a second chance. It cost us in the end,” said McIver, who predicted she will be remembered most for how Tiger players this season. year had chemistry with each other and had gelled.
Watkins pointed out that the Warriors’ defensive effort made the difference.
Of being number one among AA teams, she added, “It’s so satisfying. Every athlete’s goal is to make states. To win the championship is to honor.”
Nancy Haggerty covers cross country, track and field, field hockey, skiing, ice hockey, basketball, women’s lacrosse and other sporting events for The Journal News/lohud. Follow her on Twitter at @HaggertyNancy.
