By BILLY HEYEN
CANANDAIGUA, N.Y. — When the final buzzer sounded Wednesday night, Brockport’s reserves ran to center court to meet Ella Fadale. Surrounding their point guard, the Blue Devils jumped up and down for nearly 10 seconds.
The first to break from the huddle was Fadale, who in the leaping had her mask slide down onto her chin. She pushed it back onto her face moments later, but first, Fadale clapped, and she smiled.
“Having this opportunity to play sectionals, having this opportunity to make it to the finals,” Fadale said, “It’s just a great feeling. You just get into the game and your emotions take over.”
FINAL: @bcsdbluedevils 45, Canandaigua 38.
Brockport to the Class A sectional final. @ella_fadale led with 21. @PickinSplinters pic.twitter.com/sPNxNpmg1i
— Billy Heyen (@BillyHeyen) March 11, 2021
Three-seed Brockport earned a spot in the Section V Class A final with a 45-38 win at two-seed Canandaigua. Fadale led the Blue Devils all night long, finishing with 21 points as the only Brockport player in double figures.
The victory means Brockport will face off against undefeated top-seed Pittsford Mendon on Friday night at the Vikings’ home gym. That didn’t stop the Blue Devils from celebrating Wednesday night almost as if they’d already won the whole thing.
“For our seniors, it is elation that all the hard work that we’ve done will get us an opportunity to play in the sectional final,” Brockport head coach Justin Laureano said.
MORE: Bishop Kearney girls reach 11th consecutive final
Brockport had already lost to Canandaigua twice during the regular season. The more recent loss came on the road March 2, when the Braves claimed the league title in a tight win.
That night, Fadale got off to a slow start. She wasn’t going to let that happen again with Brockport’s season hanging in the balance.
The Blue Devils opened the scoring on a Fadale 3 that came after GG Allen banked an inbound pass back to herself off a Canandaigua player’s back. Allen tracked the ball down and kicked out to Fadale for 3.
“(Allen’s) a smart player,” Fadale said. “She knows little techniques to get the ball where it needs to go, and it fell for us.”
GG Allen works the inbound off the back play to an @ella_fadale 3 to open scoring for @bcsdbluedevils. @PickinSplinters pic.twitter.com/vQivnubkdc
— Billy Heyen (@BillyHeyen) March 11, 2021
Fadale soon hit another 3 from the same spot, then showed patience inside to beat the first-quarter buzzer for two more.
The Brockport junior scored another five points in the second to go into halftime with 13. That included a floater followed by a top of the key 3-pointer. Fadale added defense to her early output, too, en route to three blocks and two steals on the night.
“I knew we had to be on our A-game as soon as we walked into the gym,” Fadale said. “There’s no time for slow starts.”
This was called a jump ball — quite the defensive play by @ella_fadale . @bcsdbluedevils @PickinSplinters pic.twitter.com/d0M27dQO76
— Billy Heyen (@BillyHeyen) March 11, 2021
The Blue Devils led basically start to finish by changing up their strategy from the first two meetings with the Braves. Normally, Brockport is a fast-paced team, Laureano said, but they made a concerted effort to slow things down Wednesday.
That, in part, helped neutralize a Canandaigua press that gave the Blue Devils headaches earlier in March. It also meant Laureano could stick with his starting five the entire game, not using a single substitution in the entire 32 minutes.
Brockport’s bench was engaged, too, through all Canandaigua’s attempts at comeback runs. The Blue Devils chanted one word, over and over: “Port, Port, Port,” the second syllable of Brockport.
“Everybody on the bench contributed to our victory tonight,” Laureano said.
Fadale scored another six points in the third quarter to go with a couple of jumpers from Allen to keep Brockport in control with a 10-point lead after three.
Four straight from GG Allen has @BCSDBlueDevils up 31-25 in the third. @PickinSplinters pic.twitter.com/DmNTNlwHis
— Billy Heyen (@BillyHeyen) March 11, 2021
Canandaigua would get as close as five, but Brockport didn’t allow a point for the game’s final 1:54. The Blue Devils essentially ran the clock out with the ball in Fadale’s hands, and she split on two trips to the line to close out the win.
The celebrations showed what Wednesday’s win meant to a Brockport program that hasn’t won a sectional title, in Laureano’s words, since “a long time ago.” The Blue Devils won’t have even two full days to prepare for four-time defending champions Pittsford Mendon, but that was a worry for the morning.
As Brockport’s players left Canandaigua’s gym Wednesday night, Laureano had one final message for his team:
“I’m so proud of you.”
Scoring totals
Brockport: Ella Fadale (21), Ava Velletri (9), GG Allen (6), Emily Vergari (5), Emma Laureano (4)
Canandaigua: Kyleigh Chapman (9), Abbey Herod (8), Mya Herman (6), Kayla Taylor (6), Macy Bacon (5), Kate Stocker (4)
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