FRAMINGHAM – A trip to the Division 4 state final hovered just out of the South Hadley girls basketball team’s grasp.
The No. 8 seed Tigers fell 61-57 to No. 4 Amesbury after a contest that ebbed and flowed like lake tides. South Hadley (17-7) surged last but couldn’t complete a comeback.
“We knew we had to keep going until the very end, until the buzzer went off,” South Hadley senior Olivia Marion said. “We weren’t going to stop until that happened, just keep pushing until the end no matter the outcome.”
To Amesbury’s – and its fans’ – eyes, that outcome looked assured with 2 minutes, 12 seconds left after a Samantha Kimball layup gave her team a 52-41 lead. It capped a 15-4 spurt that stretched back to the third quarter.
The game was tied 37-37 with 1:05 remaining in the third quarter after Marion, who scored 11 points, sank two free throws. Then the last minute got out of the Tigers hands.
Amesbury’s Avery Hallinan (game-high 29 points) got loose for a fast break layup with 25 seconds remaining that made it 39-37. After a defensive stop, she leaked out on the break again and was fouled with 1.5 seconds remaining, making both free throws. South Hadley committed a traveling violation on the next possession trying to get a last-second heave away down four. No time ticked off the clock, and Amesbury received the ball under its own basket with 1.5 seconds remaining.
“Some weird things happened in that game,” South Hadley coach Paul Dubuc said. ‘That’s a good basketball team, they’re very well coached.”
Amesbury drew up a perfect out of bounds play and freed Avery Hallinan for a tip at the buzzer to go into the fourth quarter up 43-37.
“I think we lost composure a little bit and whenever we lose composure, it starts to slip away a tiny bit,” South Hadley junior Kacie Levrault said. “Even when we get back in, it was a little bit too late. No matter what, the effort’s always high.”
The Tigers showed that over the game’s final stretch. Even trailing double digits staring down the end of the season, South Hadley clawed and clawed.
Alex Jackson (10 points) banked in a 3 with 1:45 left to make it 54-46, and she hit another one with 35 ticks to go to cut the deficit to 58-51.
Levrault then banked in her own triple at the 24-second mark to bring the Tigers within five. South Hadley fouled after every make, but Amesbury’s McKenna Hallinan made enough of her free throws to keep her team’s nose ahead. Just enough, it turned out.
South Hadley’s Drew Alley (nine points) dropped in her own triple with seven seconds remaining to make it a four-point game with seven seconds left. Dubuc called his last timeout to set up his defense.
The Tigers pressured the inbounds pass, and Amesbury fumbled it out of bounds. South Hadley’s faint pulse pumped again. Marion’s 3 at the buzzer went awry, and the Tigers’ season ended in tears while Amesbury celebrated a berth in the Division 4 championship game.
Amesbury will play either No. 10 Millbury or No. 3 Lunenburg at the Tsongas Center in Lowell at a date and time to be determined. The other semifinal is at 5 p.m. Wednesday at Worcester North.
“We’re just such a tight-knit team. And we’re all super close. And we all care about each other so much. We all just really, really want to win. We love winning and we want to do it for each other,” Levrault said. “So that’s why we were just trying to claw back as much as we could.”
South Hadley was an underdog on paper for the first time all state tournament, playing away from its home gym for the first time. But the Tigers never looked out of place, even against an Amesbury team that towered over them at most positions. The Tigers never trailed by more than five in the first half.
They led 2-0 and Jackson put them ahead 21-19 with a 3 with 40 seconds to halftime. That lead ballooned to four at the half, and Levrault stretched it to 28-19 in the first 36 seconds of the third quarter with back to back baskets.
“It all starts with your mental and we’re all trying to be really mentally checked-in the entire game and play our solid defense the entire game,” Levrault said. “We tried to dictate how they played.”
Bang! Alex Jackson gives @SHHSGirlsBBall it’s first lead since 2-0 with a 3. It’s 21-19 tigers with 40 seconds to halftime pic.twitter.com/LsK1ai5bGQ
— Kyle Grabowski (@kylegrbwsk) March 15, 2022
South Hadley’s relentless assault of the rim put Amesbury in foul trouble all game and put Avery Hallinan on the bench for good with her fifth foul with five minutes remaining. The Tigers made 13-of-23 free throws, while Amesbury was 19-of-26.
“We had them rattled a couple times,” Dubuc said.
It was the final game for South Hadley’s five seniors: Ange Bessone, Marion, Gabi Moroney, Talia Uribe and Kelli Vey.
“It was definitely one to remember,” Marion said. “I’m so proud to have played with my team. They were great.”
Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com. Follow him on Twitter @kylegrbwsk.