By Chris Stevens, Editor
Trailing a young and talented Sanford team 42-36 with in the latter stages of the fourth quarter Friday night, the St. Elizabeth girls’ basketball team made their minds up that somehow, some way, they would end up on the right side of the scoreboard.
And that’s just what happened, as the Vikings closed the game on an 11-3 run to escape Dover High with the school’s sixth DIAA state championship 47-45. St. Elizabeth also won the championship in 1979, 1982, 1985, 2007 and 2013.
“All there was to it,” said senior point guard Olivia Lynch, who led the Vikings with 14 points, “was we were not losing this game, no matter what.”
“Honestly, they’ve been doing it all year, they just don’t give up,” Vikings head coach Dan Cooney said of his 15-0 team’s ability to rally. “We’ve been down in other games and this is how they battle back. They stayed true to themselves. I can’t say enough about this group – they gave me everything they had and they never quit.”
That resilience would be tested early as the 3rd-seeded Warriors (16-2) jumped out a 9-2 lead behind two baskets from Jada Snow, as well as a three-pointer from Abby Meredith and a fast break layup from Zy Kilgoe (Sanford’s leading scorer with 13 points). The Vikings rallied to within a point (12-11) as Ericka Huggins’ three pointer found the net just before the first quarter horn went off.
The second quarter was nip and tuck until steals by Rory Ciszkowski and Lynch led to easy buckets and a 22-21 Viking halftime advantage.
A similar third quarter followed as Meredith had the last word, crashing through the lane for a layup and a subsequent free throw to give Sanford a 32-31 lead heading to the fourth.
Sanford led 42-36 in the fourth when Naia Pulliam drained a three pointer and off a turnover, Huggins scored on a pass from Lynch. The game was tied at 42 with 25 seconds left when the two senior catalysts brought it home.
On the right wing, Pulliam set a pick and rolled toward the rim. Lynch hit her in stride with a pass and Pulliam was fouled as she powered a layup home. She made the free throw and Sanford ran out of time for a comeback.
“They’ve been the true leaders all year,” Cooney said of his captains. “They’ve done it all season long and they did it again tonight.”
“This is amazing,” said Pulliam, who finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds. “I’ve been here all four years and to go from nobody knowing my name to being a state champion, it’s great.”
“We knew we were going to win this game,” Lynch added. “We didn’t know when we were going to do or how we were going to do it, but we did.”
