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Lill Northrup sparks Webster Schroeder quarterfinal comeback over Mercy

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Lill Northrup scored 10 points in Webster Schroeder’s sectional quarterfinal win. (Photo: KEITH KIJOWSKI)

By BILLY HEYEN

WEBSTER, N.Y. — At 6:38 p.m., Webster Schroeder’s Lill Northrup lay sprawled in a corner of the Warriors’ home court. The senior point guard had just taken a blow to the right eye while picking up her second early foul. Temporarily, Northrup couldn’t see out of that eye.

“I was rolling around,” Northrup said. “I knew right away, I look like a fool probably. But I could not see anything, and that’s never happened before.”

By 7:58 p.m., Northrup had returned to the same corner for a final time. She was on the ground again, but this time locked in an embrace with Julia Perales. A lot can change in 80 minutes.

“When I got hit in the face, I’m sitting over (on the sideline), and I’m hearing the game go on,” Northrup said. “I’m like, there’s no way, I can’t end the season like this.”

Fourth-seeded Webster Schroeder mounted a massive second-half run to defeat fifth-seeded Mercy on Monday night, 55-52. The Warriors put together a 19-0 spurt across the third and fourth quarters to recover from a double-digit deficit and claim a lead they wouldn’t relinquish. 

The victory pushed Webster Schroeder into a Class AA Section V semifinal matchup with top-seeded Bishop Kearney, which knocked off eight-seed Victor on Monday. The Lady Kings beat Schroeder earlier this season, 63-33.

“We’re super excited to be able to play BK again,” Northrup said. “Everyone talks about Bishop Kearney. They are a great team, but they’re definitely not unbeatable.”

Mariah Watkins (No. 20) led Webster Schroeder with 20 points against Mercy. (Photo: KEITH KIJOWSKI)

Northrup’s a four-year varsity player for head coach Mike Grasta and the Warriors. After Monday’s game, Grasta called her “the spark that lit the fire.” 

A year ago, Northrup averaged double-figure scoring on a Warriors team that went out in the sectional quarterfinal. This season, her numbers have dropped as Mariah Watkins has taken on more of a central offensive role, but Schroeder hasn’t questioned Northrup’s importance to the team.

So when Northrup went down — and stayed on the ground for a handful of minutes while being attended to by a trainer, Grasta and eventually her mother — Anya Watkins was “so nervous for her.”

“I’ve been playing with her since third grade,” Anya Watkins said. “She’s my best friend. We work together all the time. I was nervous, but I knew that couldn’t affect our game. We had to keep going. We had to do it for her.”

Northrup joined Schroeder’s trainer on the sideline, but the show had to go on. Her backcourt mate Perales came through in the short term with two quick 3s.

It was mostly Mercy’s game in the first half, though, especially with Northrup out. The Monarchs gained an eight-point lead on the Warriors while the Schroeder point guard iced her eye and jogged on the sideline. 

Libby McDonough, coming off a 29-point game, did much of the damage. She scored 16 in the first half on a combination of 3-pointers and driving buckets.

Northrup returned early in the second quarter and prevented the Monarchs from pulling past a 10-point advantage at the half. That was due in part to two tough hoops for Northrup herself — first a post bucket against the 6-foot-5 Katie Whitaker, then a floater off glass at the halftime buzzer.

“It used to be a lot about, we’re done, this is it, 10 points,” Northrup said. “For the past definitely two years, we have worked so much on our mindset. We’re down by 10, our mindset right now is like, no big deal.”

Despite that halftime momentum, the Warriors still trailed 43-31 with 1:45 left in the third quarter. Then the game flipped on its head.

Olivia Reschke hit a 3 to start the run. Schroeder extended its defense to nearly full-court pressure and started forcing turnovers. Mariah Watkins hit two foul shots, then found Northrup over the top for two more before the point guard made two freebies of her own.

Then Reschke nailed another 3, Mariah Watkins hit two foul shots, Reschke drained a third triple, and Anya Watkins scored on the offensive glass. 

What was once a 43-31 Mercy lead had turned into a 50-43 Schroeder advantage with about three minutes left.

“We just didn’t want our season to end,” Anya Watkins said. “It was already shortened to begin with. We just want to keep going as far as we can.”

Mercy had a bit more fight left in it, pulling as close as two on a McDonough 3 inside a minute to play. But Schroeder had the defensive answers it needed on both McDonough and the Furman commit Whitaker, Mercy’s two leading scorers who combined for nine points after halftime.

Anya Watkins fronted Whitaker for most of the contest, and it was frequently Mariah Watkins flying in from behind on the entry pass. Perales spent lots of time down the stretch on McDonough to keep her in check, too.

“It was definitely really hard,” Anya Watkins said. “(Whitaker’s) a really good post player.”

Schroeder forced one final turnover with 15 seconds to play, and one more Mariah Watkins free throw provided the final margin. Then the horn sounded and celebrations that had seemed so unlikely earlier in the evening commenced.

Northrup hugged Perales. The Warriors’ bench rushed out to meet Anya and Mariah Watkins for embraces near halfcourt, where Northrup and Perales eventually joined them in a big team huddle. A couple of Schroeder coaches threw their right fists in the air.

Then most of the Warriors dispersed back to their team room. Northrup waited behind for an interview, which let her teammates prepare the loudest screams of the night for when their senior point guard joined them. She’d ensured another day of basketball.

“We just wanted to go to practice tomorrow,” Northrup said. “We weren’t ready for it to be over yet.”

Scoring totals

Webster Schroeder: Mariah Watkins (20), Anya Watkins (10), Lill Northrup (10), Olivia Reschke (9), Julia Perales (6)

Mercy: Libby McDonough (19), Katie Whitaker (10), Caroline Murphy (10), Holly Bagley (10), Mia Valvo (2), Audrey Hintz (1)

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