H.S. Girls Basketball: Eden falls short in OT; Frontier, Lake Shore done in quarters
By Michael J. Petro
Facing a new wave of players every few minutes and an unrelenting full court pressure from East Aurora, time expired on Eden’s dream season.
The Raiders finished just a game short of their season-long goal of playing at Erie Community College for the Class B-1 final, but not before forcing an overtime, then nearly coming all the way down court in the final seconds of the extra session for a game-winning shot.
Top-seeded Eden finally succumbed to East Aurora’s impressive show of depth and stick-to-itiveness in losing 75-74 on Feb. 27 at West Seneca East High School.
The Raiders ended one of the finest seasons in the program’s history, winning 17 of 19 games and losing only in the regular season opener and the season’s finale. Both losses were by just one point.
“I tried to tell the girls after the game that it was a tremendous season,” said Eden fourth-year head coach Marisa Fallacaro, who came to the Raiders’ program after previously coaching for three seasons at Cheektowaga. “I know they’ve given me the best season that I’ve ever had as a coach. I never coached a group like this. This breaks my heart because I just want to keep being with them.”
Eden actually led for the majority of the game but had to fight an uphill battle down the stretch, trailing for the final 2:37 of the fourth quarter, then just about the entire overtime. Senior Bettina Jakubiec sent the game into overtime at 69 apiece with a last second basket from in-close after a heads-up play to catch an errant shot then quickly put it back up.
However, foul trouble and turnovers plagued the Raiders all game long and became huge deciding factors in the overtime. In the extra session, fifth-seeded East Aurora continued to defend Eden very well but made only 3 of 10 free throws, so the Raiders’ deficit never got higher than three points.
After Jenna Phillips made a driving lay up to pull Eden to within one point with seven seconds left, she fouled an East Aurora player two seconds later to stop the clock and extend the game. Phillips became the fourth Eden player on the 10-person roster to foul out, joining sophomore Cailtin Sickau, junior Cassie Smythe and Jakubiec on the bench.
East Aurora missed both of the ensuing free throws and the Raiders hustled all the way down court and got in position for a makeable field goal in the final seconds but tried one too many passes and never got off a possible winning shot.
“Our girls were confident because they have played against that type of pressure before, but we still wound up with a ton of turnovers,” said Fallacaro, whose team had just handled the full-court press exceedingly well in defeating Depew 58-39 in a quarterfinal on Feb. 25. “We didn’t handle it as well as I thought we would.”
To be exact, Eden turned the ball over 32 times against a ferocious trapping press, while all 10 East Aurora players, who came in and out of the game as part of hockey-like line changes, reached the score sheet.
“I would have felt more comfortable if we forced 40 turnovers,” said a slightly bewildered Chris Koselny, head coach of East Aurora, whose perennially-strong team may have been seeded lower in the tournament but certainly held an experience advantage over Eden. East Aurora started the season at 1-8 but since has gone 6-3, losing all three at the buzzer.
“We know we’re a small team so we have to force turnovers,” he added. “We play a difficult schedule and lose games to great teams during the season for a reason and that showed tonight.”
The Raiders were led by twin sisters and three-year varsity starters, Hailee and Hannah Herc, who poured in 23 and 17 points, respectively. Both continued to be forces under the basket, but were limited somewhat on both ends of the floor as they dealt with foul trouble the entire game. Hannah had three fouls by the second quarter, but went only to the bench for a few minutes, and Hailee picked up her third early in the second half. The two played with four fouls throughout most of the final quarter and overtime.
“They actually were throwing fresh legs at us every two and a half minutes, so I give credit to our girls who had to play almost the entire game against that,” Fallacaro said. “Hannah, Hailee and Jenna basically didn’t come out of the game at all.”
East Aurora held an early 10-4 lead but Eden tied the game at 11 apiece by the end of the first quarter then only gave up the advantage once — by one point — and was tied once over the next two quarters. However, the Raiders were never able to build the lead past nine points despite periods in the game in which their offense looked like it might take over and they were able to match East Aurora’s defensive intensity and create just as many turnovers.
Trailing 53-47 a minute into the fourth, East Aurora went on to knock down four 3-pointers by as many players in the final quarter. The last 5:39 of regulation included four lead changes and five tied scores. Smythe also hit both of her three pointers in the fourth quarter, the second to bring Eden to within 66-65 with 34 seconds left to play.
East Aurora hit one of two free throws before Hannah Herc tied the game at 67 apiece with 20 seconds to play, then connected on two of its next four shots from the charity stripe before Jakubiec (14 points) sent the game into overtime.
Eden held only one advantage in the overtime, 71-70, on a Hannah Herc jumper, but never took the lead again after East Aurora’s Ashley Friess connected on the biggest shot of the extra session, a three-pointer with three minutes to play. The Raiders also shot poorly from the free throw line in the overtime, missing five of six opportunities.
Even in the loss, Eden continued to impress its foes as it has done all season long.
“I give Eden a lot of credit and they are quite the formidable opponent,” Koselny said. “Any team that finishes the regular season at 17-1, they’re doing something right over there. I tip my hat to Marisa and their players.”
In the quarterfinal win, Eden had not let itself get flustered up against full-court, man-to-man pressure. The Raiders jumped out to a commanding 20-6 lead and ran its offensive without too much disruption.
With Hannah Herc picking up her third foul in the third quarter then Phillips getting her fourth shortly afterward, Hailee Herc picked up the slack, finishing with a game-high 21 points and 19 rebounds. Hannah Herc settled in over the final two quarters, recording 12 of her 13 points and 12 rebounds in the second half. Phillips was still able to finish with 14 points but with her unable to play tight defense in the second half, Eden received some needed physical guard play from Sickau. In addition, Smythe contributed eight points.
Frontier was unable to hold a three-point lead after three quarters and lost at No. 3 Williamsville North 64-57 in a Class AA quarterfinal. Frontier went cold from the floor down the stretch, making only two of 11 shots in the final quarter.
In a valiant losing effort, Frontier senior Jaimie Warren poured in a game-high and season-best 30 points. Frontier head coach Ed Lewis had emphasized that his team would need all five of his talented starters to contribute. He got 10 points from senior Kelsey Osborne, eight from freshman Natalie Galus and seven from junior Katie Russi, but it was not enough in the end.
The Falcons had advanced with an opening round 59-41 victory over No. 11 Lancaster two days earlier. Frontier finishes 12-8 overall.
Lake Shore suffered a tough dose of reality against one of Class A-1’s top teams. After a youthful No. 11-seeded Eagles team pulled a 44-41 upset of Hutch Tech in a pre-quarterfinal, they were dropped 52-18 in the next round by second-seeded Grand Island on Feb. 25. Playing in her final game, three-year starter Brittany Mazzu led Lake Shore with seven points. The Eagles finished 4-16 overall.
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