It was flurry back and forth to finish. St. Anne’s-Belfield crawled out of the biggest hole in the first quarter, and with its defense rising to the occasion, the small deficit in the fourth was just a minor hiccup. With Lexie Mallory having a big game and NK Ilang, Maddie Hunter and Haley Kent all coming through down the stretch, the Saints were able to bounce Cape Henry Collegiate 46-44 in the VISAA Division 1 quarterfinals to punch their third ticket to a state final four in four seasons, but their first at the highest level.
“A huge W,” said STAB coach Phil Stinnie. “They thought our (regular season) win was a fluke when they came here and when you look at we have on paper and what they have, you’d think it’d be a difficult game and that they would win. But the girls are stepping up and making big plays.”
Down 38-35 with just over two minutes left in the fourth, the STAB defense forced three turnovers in four trips down the court to help fuel a 9-2 run. The swing in momentum proved overwhelming, something that the Dolphins could never recover from.
“It was just the teamwork, it was all about heart,” Ilang said. “If we didn’t play well, it was going to be our last game of the season. So we tried to play good defense.”
Thanks to free throws from Hunter and Ashley Taylor in the last seconds of play, the Saints hung on to the win.
It was a tough start for STAB as it had to overcome a 7-0 margin where its offense could not get on the board in the first four minutes of the game. But the Saints roared back to claim a 2-point lead to finish the frame and held on to it in a defensively minded second quarter.
With St. Anne’s up 18-16 at the break, the third quarter raced back and forth with Cape Henry going up by four only to have the Saints do just the same.
“We were missing a lot of easy shots,” Stinnie said. “So I said the only way to stay in it was play defense and using our speed.”
Midway through the fourth the Saints and Dolphins rested tied at 33 before Cape Henry come up with a big 3-pointer. That set up the wild finish, one where STAB’s half court trap provided one big play after another.
“Our main goal was not to foul because we were all in foul trouble,” Kent said. “But everybody just got up on their players and wouldn’t let them have the ball. It was huge, everyone stepped up.”
Five Saints finished with seven points or more including Taylor and Mallory who tied with 10. Ilang had nine points to go with 12 rebounds. Hunter and Kent each had seven rebounds. Hunter had three steals and two assists.
STAB now head to Wakefield on Friday for its final four appearance where it will take on top-seeded Paul the VI, the defending state champions.
