By Steve Bradley
The Lady Indians (25-2) took this game to the last seconds. Down one to Millbrook with 14 seconds left they couldn’t get over the hump to take the lead.
The 10 am game, Friday March 16, was close all the way and the big Cambridge crowd was with their team every second of the way. Early in the first quarter the Indians took the lead and started to pull away but a Millbrook (21-3) timeout slowed the Indians momentum. By the end of the first quarter Millbrook had knotted the score at 14 all.
Photo by Steve Bradley
The middle of the game was nip and tuck. Millbrook would grab a three point lead then Cambridge would came back to grab a two point lead.
Both teams struggled to score beyond the three-point line with Cambridge going 5 of 20 and Millbrook going 0 of 7. Neither team shot especially well from the field (C-28%, M-32%), but Millbrook outscored the Indians in the paint 18-28. The rest of the stats show evenly matched totals and the game reflected that. These were two evenly matched teams, with neither able to pull away from the other.
The teams battled in the fourth quarter when a three-point lead looked big. A three-point lead is just what Millbrook had with six minutes to play. With just under three minutes to play, Cambridge had erased that lead and held a one-point margin of their own at 43-42. Over the next minute and one-half, Millbrook scored five while the Indians were stuck at 43. Millbrook extended the lead to 45-50 with 17 seconds to play. This lead must have looked very good to them.
But the Indians didn’t give up, scoring four points on Sophie Phillips free throws to get within one at 50-49 with 14.2 seconds to play. The Indians had to foul and Millbrook’s Sam McKenna was up for the challenge, making all her foul shots (6) in the final moments to keep Millbrook in front and ultimately get the win.
Sophie Phillips scored 17 points, Fionna Mooney 15 and Lucy Phillips added 10.
Millbrook went on to win the Class C state championship Saturday when they defeated Syracuse Academy of Science, 67-64 in the Final at Hudson Valley CC.
Stats: Steals C-6, M-7; Turnovers C-17, M-18; Assists C-9, M-7; Fouls C-22, M-18, Shots Blocked C-1, M-2, Rebounds C-34, M-35; Free Throws C-16/11, M-27/20; Field Goals C-64/18, M-57/18.
On the boys side, Lake George (28-0) won its third Class C state championship in 6 years when they defeated Northstar Christian Academy, 66-65, in Binghamton’s Veterans Memorial Arena.