By CRAIG KNOWLES
PLATTSBURGH — The title drought for the Willsboro girls' basketball team continued Friday night as the Warriors dropped a heartbreaker to Westport in the Section VII Class D Championship game at the Plattsburgh State Field House.
The Lady Warriors, who have not won a section title since 1983, had their dreams dashed as the Eagles captured their 17th title with a 39-30 victory. Westport head coach Hokey McKinley picked up his third Class D crown.
"This feels good," McKinley said. "They are all sweet.
"I knew this was going to be a dog fight."
The Eagles went 1-2 on the season against Willsboro, but learned a lot from those setbacks.
"It helped a lot to lose to them and it helped us grow and become a different team," McKinley said. "If we had won all those games we would have been content on how we were playing."
The game came down to the final quarter. Willsboro made one of two free throws and Codia Holland hit a long jumper early in the fourth to knot the game at 23. The Eagles would go up by three with 6:01 remaining, but Alicia Hathaway fouled out for Westport and Jennifer Murphy hit both foul shots for the Warriors to cut the Eagles' edge to 26-25.
Less then a minute later, Westport lost Valentina Rodriguez on fouls out at 5:15 and Murphy hit one of foul shots to tie it at 26.
"I didn't think it was a problem losing Hathaway and Rodriguez," McKinley stated. "I was confident with the players on the floor.
"I had a lot of faith in my players."
Kalika Hopkins made a basket for the Eagles but Ashley Sherman answered for Willsboro to keep it even. Willa McKinley then made one of two free throws and Sarah Gibbs drained a basket to put Westport up 31-28. Willa McKinley pushed the lead to five points with a long two and Gibbs made a long two to sustain the five-point lead with under a minute to go.
"Willla has been consistent all year long," McKinley said. "I expect her to play well."
Martha McKinley and Gibbs each went one of two from the line down the stretch and Gibbs sealed the win with a basket in the paint with under 10 seconds to go.
The first quarter was the complete opposite as the two teams combined for 13 points. Both teams played strong defense and created a lot of problems for each team to get into a rhythm on offense.
The second quarter Westport started to stretch out its offense and outscored Willsboro 10-4 to take a 14-13 halftime lead. Martha McKinley drained a bucket just before halftime to give the Eagles the lead.
Westport once again outscored the Warriors in the third 9-7. The two teams were knotted at 18 in the early moments of the third quarter and Christina Sherman broke the tie with a two-pointer to give the Eagles a 20-18 lead. Willsboro made it a one-point game with a free throw but Willa McKinley stepped up and drained a 3-point basket right before the horn to give the Eagles a 23-20 advantage.
Willa McKinley finished with 11 points and seven rebounds while Martha McKinley had nine points and nine rebounds. Gibbs finished with nine points and four rebounds for Westport (17-4).
Holland had 11 points and two rebounds and Murphy, 11 points and 10 rebounds, for the Warriors (17-6).
Westport will now wait the winner of the Section X/II game which is slated for Wednesday, March 11 at 6 p.m. at SUNY Postdam. Section X will be represented by Hammond, who defeated Chateaugay in the Class D championship and Section II will be represented by Germantown or Argyle, who play today at 3:30 p.m. in their championship game.
—
Westport 39, Willsboro 30
Westport (39)
Hopkins 2-0-4, White 1-1-3, Hathaway 0-0-0, Rodriguez 0-1-1, M. McKinley 4-1-9, Sherman 1-0-2, Gibbs 4-1-9, W. McKinley 4-2-11. Totals: 16-7-39.
Willsboro (30)
Bruno 0-0-0, James 0-0-0, Sherman 2-0-4, Porter 0-0-0, Holland 3-5-11, Reynolds 0-1-1, Murphy 2-7-11, Swires 0-0-0, Sayward 1-0-2, Mahoney 0-1-1. Totals: 8-14-30.
Westport 4 10 9 16 — 39
Willsboro9 4 7 10 — 30
3-point goals: West (1): W. McKinley.
