Souhegan ran into wrecking crew

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Courtesy photo Milford High School's Ben Lambert makes his way down the slopes during the Alpine Skiing Meet of Champions.

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AMHERST – During the first half with his team seemingly in control on Thursday night, Souhegan High School girls basketball coach Wiley Billings turned back to his bench and said, “I’m going to run out of gum – that’s a bad sign.”

Hard to believe at the time, but as it turned out he was right, because Kennett junior guard Allie Wagner gave Billings and the Sabers plenty to chew on. Wagner scored 34 points, including all of the Eagles’ field goals save one, in a 50-48 Class I quarterfinal comeback win.

“A one-man wrecking crew killed us,” Billings said. “That one girl (Wagner) beat us.”

No doubt, ending the season for a 17-3 Sabers team that was poised to make a trip to Monday’s semifinals at Southern New Hampshire University in Manchester.

Instead, it will be Wagner and the sixth-seeded Eagles (17-3) making another trip south.

It seemed so improbable at halftime, with the Sabers seemingly in control (32-19) and Kennett shooting a horrid 5-for-24 from the floor, during which Wagner was keeping her team afloat with 10 points. And when her junior backcourt mate Melissa Frase went out with an ankle injury midway through the third quarter, things looked good for the Sabers, even though their lead had shrunk to 34-27.

“My team had my back,” said Wagner, only six points away from 1,000 for her career. “I don’t know, I just wanted it that bad. We just wanted it.”

“She’s done that since she was a freshman,” Kennett coach Peter Ames said of Wagner’s move to take the game over. “She’s been very consistent. When Melissa went out with the ankle, she just stepped up.”

And the Eagles got an even bigger spark when Frase returned to the game with 6:22 to play. Souhegan seemed to be holding the comeback off, especially when Christan Wojtas hit a buzzer-beating, potentially back-breaking 3-pointer at the end of the third to give Souhegan a 37-31 cushion.

But Wagner wouldn’t be denied. Her 3-pointer tied things at 41-41 with 4:31 to play and she hit one of two free throws with 3:33 left to give the Eagles the lead for good, 42-41. Frase, who ended up with 14 points thanks to 12-of-16 shooting from the line, hit four freebies down the stretch to help lock up the win.

“It gave us a little lift and even though she was still kind of hurting, a second ball handler,” Ames said. “And it gives us a very good foul shooter, because we figured once we tied it, they were going to have to foul, and it’s going to be one of those two (Wagner or Frase), because they’re pretty much going to have the ball.”

What happened to the Sabers offensively? They ended up with only one player, Lauren Cordts, with double figures (10 points), and sophomore floor leader Jane White picked up a critical fourth foul early in the third quarter. Wojtas and White each finished with nine points.

“I think we stopped being aggressive going to the basket,” Billings said. “The first half we were going inside, they couldn’t stop the inside game. They made some adjustments. We didn’t make an effort to go inside in the second half. We shot four 3s in the first half, we shot 14 in the second.”

One of those, with the Sabers still within range at 49-46, would’ve tied the game after Frase made only one of two freebies with 25.6 seconds to go. But the Sabers couldn’t connect, and had to settle for a Cordts two pointer underneath to make it 49-48 but with only two seconds left. Wagner was fouled trying to inbound the ball with 1.6 ticks remaining and that was it. What a performance.

“She made some incredible shots, and the lid went on our basket down here,” Billings said. “They weren’t setting one single pick, they were setting multiple picks. They were doing everything to get her open. Obviously they practice it because it’s not something you go over in a game.”

No, but it’s something Billings and the Sabers have to chew on for an entire off-season.