ONEONTA – The combatants weren’t even in grade school the last time Bainbridge-Guilford and Greene met in a league title game, but this one easily measured up to those classic battles.
The Trojans held B-G scoreless the final 2 1/2 minutes, and survived a tying shot attempt by the Bobcats’ Mariah Schaeffer in the final two seconds to hold on for a 45-43 win in the MAC championship game, Saturday at Oneonta State’s Fieldhouse Gymnasium.
Languishing on the bench with foul trouble for much of the second half, junior forward Megan McDermott hit two baskets in the last quarter, the latter was the capper in which she drove through the B-G defense to hit a running left-hander – her off hand. The degree of difficulty was certainly off the charts, and it wasn’t how Greene head coach Bill Case drew the play up.
“She was supposed to take a jump shot from the foul line,” Case said. “It was a set play and no one was within five feet of her...it was a good score.”
Yes, a good score indeed as it provided the margin of victory over a B-G club that had a 17-game winning streak – a team record – entering the fray. “We didn’t shoot the ball well as a team, and lets face it, Greene is very good,” said B-G coach Bob Conway. “Even so, we still had a chance in the end.”
Tempo, a key element to the contest that favored Greene in the first half, flipped 180 degrees into B-G’s favor the final two periods. A seven-point Greene halftime lead was erased thanks to eight second-half points from Liz Holbert. The Bobcats led 4-0 at the start of the contest, but gave up the lead in the first quarter, and didn’t regain it until Dani Conway’s two free throws with 3:32 left pushed her team in front 41-39.
Following a Greene miss at the other end, a stoppage of play gave B-G the ball under it own basket. Case, who had foregone the full-court press all game, instituted it at that point. Liz Wentwent deflected a pass, and diving out of bounds tipped the ball back to teammate Erin Smith for the layup and tying basket.
The Bobcats led one more time, this after Schaeffer drove the lane and converted a layup at the 2:37 mark – the final points of the game.
Wentlent, whose task nearly all game was to contain the high-scoring Conway, drew a foul after a baseline drive and tied the game with two free throws. McDermott netted the winning basket with just over a minute to play. “It was a little nerve-wracking sitting on the bench – and watching B-G come back – and it was my own fault I was on the bench,” McDermott said, who picked up two quick fouls, her third and fourth, early in the second half. “I had faith in my team and we knew this would be a tough game. We were prepared for whatever (B-G) had to offer.”
