Averill Park outlasts Saratoga in nail-biter finish to win 44-41
AVERILL PARK NY » Abby Ray was trying to will the Blue Streaks to victory on Saturday afternoon against Averill Park, and she almost succeeded.
“Our kids understood that they were AA finalists last year with Shen,” said Averill Park coach Sean Organ. “We were able to get a couple extra stops and a couple more free throws at the end of the game to seal it.”
The Warriors came out on top in a very close contest, taking home the 44-41 victory on their Senior Day.
The Blue Streaks came out to a 7-0 lead to start the game, thanks to five early points from Katie Claeson. Then Saratoga hit a wall and Averill Park’s Taylor Holohan and Allison Lapinski hit threes to put the Warriors back in it.
“We came our really slow and we knew that if we were going to have any chance of winning the game, we’d have to pick it up really fast,” said
Averill Park senior Anna Jankovic. “We were finally able to get in a flow.”
The Warriors would go on to take a 25-14 lead into halftime, taking advantage of the turnovers from a struggling Saratoga team.
The Blue Streaks came out a different team in the third quarter, going on an initial 10-0 run to bring the score within one point. In the period, Ella Spain hit two threes and Natasha Chudy scored eight to put Saratoga back in the game.
“They’re deep and (Natasha) Chudy has really matured over the last year and she was a handful,” Organ said. “She was tenacious inside, but she’s done a really good job of stretching her game - her mid-range game is looking nice and her perimeter game is really, really nice and she’s tough, she plays with fire.”
Chudy finished the day with 16 points, even with Averill Park’s leading scorer, Amelia Wood.
The game came down to the wire and while Abby Ray didn’t have the biggest stat line, it was the Blue Streak’s senior guard who was coming up with the big defensive stops and rebounds when it mattered the most.
With 22 seconds on the clock and Saratoga down by three, Saratoga got off four three pointer attempts on three offensive rebounds, each made possible by Ray’s boxing out of the Warriors at the rim. Ray had one final tip-in attempt before the buzzer sounded.
“A win is always a win, but to have good game and really see us come together and play as a whole - it means a lot and it really shows how good of a team we are,” Jankovic said, who scored 10 points on the day for Averill Park.
“It was definitely a team effort, with a lot of the girls on the bench really stepping up,” Wood added. “Our bench has always been there for us, getting us pumped up.”
Michelina Lombardi added seven points for Averill Park, while Taylor Holohan put in six. Ella Spain scored nine for Saratoga, all on threes, and Katie Claeson scored seven.
Organ spoke about what it was like to have a day to commemorate his team’s seniors, which was initially scheduled to be last week against Niskayuna. Either way, the Warriors were going to get a powerhouse AA school.
“We have four very special seniors who have sacrificed a lot for our program through the years. They’ve continued on the tradition we’ve built up here by teaching our next generation of players what hard work is, what defense is and they understand their roles very well,” Organ said. “Allison (Lapinski) and Emma (Burdick) are great role players and work very, very hard. Julia (Gelder) has started two years in a row now and she’s like a utility infielder who you can plug in anywhere and she’s going to do a great job. Anna’s a four year varsity player and is tough as nails and she’s one of the toughest players we’ve ever had in our program. She plays with a tremendous heart.”
“I’m very relived and I’m very happy for our seniors and for their families that they could have that moment. It doesn’t matter that there wasn’t anyone else in the gym.”