OXFORD – Bainbridge-Guilford has had a hard time scoring 30 points on Oxford’s home floor much less beating the Blackhawks.
B-G came out hitting outside shots in bunches to build an 18-point lead in the first half. Oxford rallied to briefly take a one-point lead early in the fourth, but it was the Bobcats’ clutch shooting and playmaking that swung the balance of the contest in a 49-42 victory Thursday night.
The Bobcats will meet Harpursville next Saturday at Oneonta State in the Midstate Athletic Conference championship game. Harpursville advanced to the finals beating Walton last night, 56-34.
“Oxford is a tough team, and with us coming over here, I thought we might be in trouble,” said B-G coach Bob Conway, whose club lost at Oxford earlier in the season. “We needed to get some confidence, and I told Tim (Mattingly, assistant coach) that we needed to score early to gain some confidence. We did that, we just let them back into the game.”
B-G led 12-2 after one period and 22-4 at one point early in the second quarter. Corrine Riegel banked in a three-pointer less than a minute into the game to start the scoring, and Chelsi Rosa had two three-pointers during the early stages of the game.
Rosa finished with a season-high 18 points, seven points better than she has scored in any other game this season. “Rosa shot it great tonight,” Conway said. “She hasn’t shot the ball well tonight, but tonight was the best she has shot it all season.”
Even though Rosa and company were draining just about every shot that was directed at the basket, Oxford managed to turn the momentum. Reserve Emily Smith spotted up on the wing hitting a 15-footer that started a 12-0 second-quarter run for Oxford, who closed the gap by halftime to 26-20.
B-G hung on to the lead until the fourth quarter when the Blackhawks erased a 36-32 deficit scoring the first five points of the quarter. Smith hit back-to-back outside shots following a Lacey Barry free throw giving Oxford a 37-36 lead, its lone advantage of the game.
On the next possession, Rosa came of a screen and hit a three ball with 5:05 left in the fourth. Following an Oxford miss, Randi Conway canned a three-pointer to move the advantage to five points.
Oxford had one last spurt in it. Haley Witchella had five points over a 46-second span, the last three on free throws tying the game at 42-42.
Each team misfired on its subsequent possessions, and B-G had the ball with under a minute to play. With the shot clock winding down, Rosa dribbled around an Oxford defender, and fired an on-the-move three pointer that swished through with 47 seconds left.
Shania Vandermark stole a crosscourt pass on the next possession, and sealed the B-G win with an uncontested layup.
“We were playing pretty good defense, and Rosa hit a leaning three-pointer at the 30-second clock buzzer,” said Oxford coach Chris Palmer. “There’s nothing you can do but tip your hat on that play.”
The defeat for Oxford halts an eight-game losing streak, and a four-game winning streak over the Bobcats also came to an end. “I liked the way we came back, but we came out panicked, and that’s on me,” Palmer said. “As a coach, I need to do a better job getting us ready to play.”
Witchella had 12 points for Oxford, while Julie Heggie scored nine.
