Lebanon deals Haverford a first-round surprise
HAVERFORD » The wounds were too fresh for Haverford senior Caroline Dotsey to see the bright side of it all.
The Fords’ 48-41 loss to District 3’s Lebanon High on their home court Friday evening was not the way they envisioned their season ending.
A team that fell a basket here and a free throw there from winning a District 1 Class 6A championship was built for the long haul. It would have been no surprise had the Fords rebounded from their first loss of the season last Saturday in the district title game and put together a memorable run to the state final later this month in Hershey.
In that respect the Fords were understandably shell-shocked to go home for good Friday night. A 27-2 campaign was over just like that. But in the PIAA tournament, chances are you are going to face a pretty good team every night. Lebanon fit that description.
“A lot is going through my mind right now,” said Dotsey, who should one day be inducted into the Haverford Athletic Hall of Fame. “I’m not so much upset about this one game. I mean, it’s tough to kind of go out that way. But I’m more upset that the season’s over with this team, just knowing I don’t have another year with this group. That hurts more than the loss.”
Dotsey battled in her swan song, scoring 12 points to go with 13 rebounds and three blocked shots. But the Fords were in catch-up mode the entire night, trying to keep pace with a gritty and undersized Lebanon team with three diminutive guards, including superbly talented sophomore Kaliah Correa, who poured in a game-high 18 points. Haverford trailed 11-2 in the first quarter and 26-13 midway through the second. The Fords fought back to make it an eight-point deficit, but Lebanon (26-2) seemed to always have an answer and went into the locker room up 30-18.
Zariyah Whigham made a three-point play early in the third to give Lebanon a 33-18 advantage. Haverford then answered with a run to get back within five points. Correa hit a floater in the waning seconds to extend the Lebanon lead back to seven points.
The Fords missed too many high-percentage shots in the second half (8-for-30 overall) and Lebanon made them pay at the foul line in the fourth quarter. The Cedars scored all 11 of their points from the charity stripe in the final period.
“They have some good players,” said Dotsey, who will continue her career at the University of Maine. “I think we tried to hone in on defense … and we were just a step too late. We picked it up in the second half, but it wasn’t enough.”
Junior guard Aniya Eberhart scored 12 points and sophomore Rian Dotsey had all eight of her points after halftime. Senior forward Mollie Carpenter added five points, five rebounds and two steals.
The 2022-23 season was one of many accomplishments for the Fords. Caroline Dotsey scored her 1,000th career point at a Christmas showcase in Brooklyn. The team advanced to a District 1 championship game for the first time in program history and captured the Central League title for the first time in 11 years.