By STEVE BRICKLER
HOPEWELL, N.Y. — Senior Reece Beaver hit a short jumper from the baseline with 2.2 seconds left in regulation to send Southwestern of Section VI to the state semifinals with a win over Hornell, 63-61 in the Class B Far West Regional at Finger Lakes Community College on Saturday. The late heroics capped off a 42-point effort by Beaver on the afternoon.
It was a tale of two halves as Hornell was firmly in control in the first half, leading by as much as 19, only to see Southwestern storm their way back into the game with a big third quarter.
“They came out hot like we knew they would in the third quarter,” said Hornell Coach Jim Dagon. “I thought we did a great job in the first half, some offensive rebounds bounced their way, some shots didn’t fall for us, that’s just how it goes sometimes.”
After conceding the first basket of the game to Beaver, Hornell went on a 12-2 run to jump out to an 8 point lead. Selena Maldonado, Raegen Evingham and Kadience Gollintz each contributed 4 points to the cause in the early going. Beaver interrupted the run with a triple but the Red Raiders scored the last 9 points of the quarter on a slick back door cut by Payton Bentley for an and one three-point play and a pair of triples, one each by Lillian Hoyt and Evingham.
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It was more of the same in the second quarter as Maldonado was able to drive into the lane and from there had the option to kick the ball behind the arc, find an open teammate down low or take it herself to the goal. With multiple options and multiple players able to knock down their shots, Hornell built a 40-21 advantage. Evingham added 9 more second quarter points, finishing the half with 16 of her 20 points on the game. Mia Nasca contributed 5 points off the bench in the second stanza as the Red Raiders went to the half with a 16 point lead at 42-26.
At this point of the game, Southwestern had only 2 players who had made their way to the scoresheet, Beaver with 20 and Bella Sirianni with 6.
The Trojans wasted no time getting themselves back into the game after the break, scoring the first 11 points to pull within five. Hoyt hit a triple to interrupt the Southwestern run, but the Trojans netted the next six, four by Reece Beaver and 2 by her sophomore sister Brayla to bring the score to 45-43, advantage Hornell.
Bentley hit a bucket down low, but Reece Beaver followed up with 5 straight on a triple and a drive to the hoop to give the Trojans their first lead since 2-0 at 48-47. Evingham closed the quarter with a deuce to give Hornell a one-point edge heading into the fourth.
“They switched into a 1-3-1 which kind of disrupted things in the third quarter. We figured it out in the fourth quarter, but we had blown the lead we gained in the first half,” said Dagon postgame.
The fourth quarter was mainly played within a one possession score. Hornell maintained the lead for the first half of the fourth quarter, at one point extending their lead to five on back-to-back baskets by Evingham and Bentley at 55-50. Southwestern responded with a driving basket by Beaver, followed by an and one three-point play by Madi McIntyre and another pair from Beaver to go up 57-55 with about 3 minutes left in regulation.
Hornell answered with a nice diagonal pass to a cutting Gollintz to tie the score at 57 apiece. But Beaver, a Daemen commit, was able to do drive to the rim and finish to put the Trojans up 59-57. Not to be outdone, Maldonado made her way to the rim to knot the score at 59. With about a minute to play, Brayla Beaver was able to knock down a mid-range jumper from the baseline to give Southwestern another 2 point margin. Maldonado again took the ball to the rim and was fouled with 27 seconds to play and calmly sank both free throws to forge the fourth tie in the dying minutes of regulation.
Able to play for the last shot, it was assumed that Beaver would be the go-to shooter in the waning seconds. But the Trojans surprised by sending the ball down low to McIntyre whose shot went long. The rebound scramble was last touched by Hornell, giving Southwestern the ball back with about 13 seconds left to play. This time they got the ball into the hands of Beaver at the top of the arc. She navigated to her right, as she had done most of the afternoon, and found her way to the baseline. Despite nearly every Hornell defender collapsing on her, Beaver put up a shot from the edge of the paint that fell in for the game winning points with just over 2 seconds to play.
“Great players make big shots and she’s a great player and when it goes down to a tie game, their ball, you know she’s going to put it up and it doesn’t even matter if all five defenders know she’s going to put it up,” said Dagon of the last shot.
Hornell called timeout and got the inbounds play in the front court but were unable to put up a game tying or winning shot attempt.
For the Red Raiders it was a crushing loss. The consolation is that this is an underclass heavy group, starting only one senior and playing without top scorer Jordan Dyring, a sophomore, who was out with an injury. This group won the school’s first sectional championship last winter and took it one step further this season by advancing to the Far West Regional.
Dagon hopes to use the loss as fuel for next season.
“I told the girls after the game, a lot of coaches might say forget about it, it’s a tough one. I said don’t forget about it. Think about it every single day until next season starts.”
Hornell closes the season with a 21-4 record. Evingham led the way with 20 points, followed by Maldonado with 12 and Bentley with 10. Gollintz contributed 8 points while Hoyt and Nasca added 6 and 5 respectively.
Southwestern (18-7) moves onto the state semifinals next weekend at Hudson Valley CC where they await the winner of Albany Academy of Girls from Section II or Gouverneur from Section X. Aside from Reece Beaver’s 42 points, Sirianni added 9, McIntyre 7 and Braya Beaver contributed five points.
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