Putnam Valley can't hold off Waterloo, falls just short of state title
TROY — It wasn't a 61-39 blowout.
But maybe this was worse.
Putnam Valley, which fell in last year's state Class B girls basketball semifinals to Waterloo by that score, faced the Section 5 champions again on Saturday, this time in the championship game.
And entering the fourth quarter at Hudson Valley Community College up by 10 points, it looked like the Tigers, who had lost only one game during the season, would win the state title.
Then everything changed.
Waterloo, which had scored just 29 points through three quarters, exploded for 29 in the final frame at the same time Putnam Valley's offense went ice-cold.
Sixteen of those 29 points came in fewer than three minutes as Waterloo, tied at 42 with Putnam Valleyu with 2:52 to play, pulled away for a 58-48 win.
The game, already leaning Waterloo's way, swung with Natalie DiSanto, who'd been scoreless, burying a 3-pointer, Jazzmyn Lewis stealing the ball and Addison Bree then hitting a 3-pointer to put Waterloo up by six with 2:05 left.
Putnam Valley never got closer.
"We're not a team used to having to come back and our shots were not falling," said senior Simone Gabriel, who finished with a team-high seven rebounds.
"I probably should have done a better job of resting (the players). Their press was relentless. We weren't great in the fourth quarter and they were," said Putnam Valley two-year coach Don Hamlin, who, as planned, retired from coaching following the game after 41 years on the bench.
Player of the game
Lewis, who had a monster fourth quarter and finished with 20 points (going a perfect 11-for-11 from the free-throw line) for the game with eight rebounds, four assists and two steals, took top player honors.
By the numbers
Nai Torres, who carried Putnam Valley early with Rhode Island-bound star Eva DeChent hounded by a double-team, led the Tigers with 18 points. She also had four steals.
DeChent, who, played very physically, had an uncharacteristic number of turnovers, nevertheless hit for 17 points and had five steals and three assists.
If she were guilty of anything, when her shots failed to fall late, it was, Hamlin said, of trying too hard.
"It happens," he said.
Brianna Foody hit for seven points and had three boards, Jona Kabashi had four points and five rebounds and Ava Harmon had a bucket and three boards.
For Waterloo, Morgan Caraballo had 17 points, some coming off off-balance, underhand shots.
Bree also got into double figures with 14 points.
They said it
"Tonight, until the fourth quarter, we were struggling. I thought we were frustrating them in the second half," said Waterloo coach Michael Bree, who noted the championship was the first in any sport in his school's history.
"It was just a lot of hard work. We just didn't give up," Lewis said, noting she decided to attack the basket more in the fourth quarter than she had earlier.
Nancy Haggerty covers cross-country, track & field, field hockey, skiing, ice hockey, basketball, girls lacrosse and other sporting events for The Journal News/lohud. Follow her on Twitter at @HaggertyNancy.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Putnam Valley falls to Waterloo in state girls basketball final
