CROSSTOWN COUGARS BATTLE
LaPrairie’s big day helps Stoney Creek fend off Dakota for first regional title
Nineteen points are hard to make up in any game, let alone a do-or-die postseason tilt.
Host Dakota managed to vanquish all but two points from Stoney Creek’s substantial lead, but the visiting Cougars held on and pulled away to win Wednesday night’s Division 1 regional final, 59-45.
The victory marks the school’s first quarterfinal appearance in girls basketball.
“It’s crazy,” Stoney Creek senior Sarah LaPrairie said. “Especially for senior year, it’s just amazing. I’m gonna remember this group of girls for the rest of my life.”
LaPrairie’s performance was equally memorable. She finished with 32 points.
Oddly, in a way, that wasn’t quite enough. If she had added another 3-pointer to her total, she would have hit 1,000 career points in the win, too.
“You never know,” LaPrairie said about the possibility of breaking the barrier next time out. “Knock on wood.”
It would seem a virtual certainty judging by Wednesday’s outing.
Half of Stoney Creek’s 24 first-quarter points were notched by its leading scorer, and her 3-pointer put Stoney ahead 27-9 less than 1:30 into the second quarter.
“We knew we needed to come out with a lot of energy, and that’s exactly what we did,” LaPrairie said. “We knew if we pushed the ball, we’d get out to a great start.”
Speaking about the spirit to begin the game, Dakota head coach Phil McCune said, “We didn’t match her energy … LaPrairie went off. I think we knew what we had to do, but she took her game to another level, and some of those deep 3s she was shooting, give her a lot of credit.”
On her aggressive start, LaPrairie added, “I was talking to my dad before the game and he said to get to the rim, make them foul you and have trust in
your teammates. He said, ‘You’re a senior, it’s time to act like it. Play the best you can, because you don’t know if it’s going to be your last game.’”
That 3-pointer turned out to be the only field goal for Stoney in a sloppy second quarter for both teams, leaving the door open for Dakota, who trailed by a dozen at the interval.
On the other side of the break, it got worse for Dakota before it got better, as a turnover leading to a LaPrairie layup made it a 17-point game several minutes into the third quarter.
That was when Dakota made its push, beginning with a bucket by senior forward Tambre Williams — who used her length and played some good defense on LaPrairie in the quarter — then a 3-pointer off a ball screen by Samone Andrews, one of three she hit in the period. A turnover by Stoney Creek led to a triple by sophomore Brooklyn Garavaglia that helped cap off a 12-2 run to get Dakota within five late in the third.
It got even closer when two consecutive buckets by Williams (eight points), including a driving layup off a baseline inbounds pass, made it 46-44 with 6:05 remaining.
“Anytime you’ve got your backs to the wall, we don’t ever give up,” McCune said. “We found something that was working, and it’s like Cinderella, you know, you’ve got to keep it going.”
Stoney (20-5) gave Dakota chances to tie it or keep it within a possession, whether by traveling or missing both inside and out, but a free throw by Williams with 3:20 remaining were Dakota’s only point scored after her early makes to start the quarter as the away Cougars eventually pulled away and ended the game on a 13-1 run.
“It gets gritty,” Stoney Creek head coach Columbus Williams said. “We’ve been blessed playing in what I feel is the hardest division in the state in the OAA Red. Those games prepared us for those moments night in and night out. Every game, you