Defending champ Baldwin reaches 'AA' final
Baldwin High School #4 Alex Hampton, left, looks to get past Uniondale #34 Sakara Hester-Torres in the first quarter. (Feb. 28, 2012) Credit: James Escher
You only need to win by one in the playoffs. It's one of several coach-speak cliches reiterated by Baldwin coach Tom Catapano to his squad.
"They took it literally tonight," Catapano said.
Alex Hampton had 14 points and six rebounds and Amber Harrison had 10 points, including the game-winning free throw with 1:42 to play, as No. 1 Baldwin escaped with a 36-35 win over No. 4 Uniondale in a Nassau Class AA girls basketball semifinal Tuesday night at Oyster Bay. Baldwin (18-1), the reigning Long Island champion and two-time defending county champion, advanced to the final to face No. 2 Massapequa at 2 p.m. Saturday at LIU Post.
With the score tied at 35 and 1:42 left, Harrison was fouled on a three-pointer and missed the first two chances to give the Bruins the lead. But the senior shooting guard made her last free throw to put Baldwin in front.
"I was really, really nervous. I was thinking I had to make one of the three shots," said Harrison, who added five steals and four rebounds. "After I missed the first one and the second one I had to make the third one. I had to."
The teams each missed opportunities in the closing minute. Uniondale (13-6) missed the front end of a one-and-one with 41.9 seconds left and had two offensive rebounds but could not score. Baldwin wound down the clock on its final possession, which ended in a shot-clock violation with seven seconds left.
Sakara Hester-Torres (13 points) inbounded the ball and got it back, nearly losing control as she crossed halfcourt. The Uniondale freshman drove to the hoop and put up a shot that hit off the backboard and the buzzer sounded.
"You can't really ask for a better shot than that," Uniondale coach Danielle Nicol said. "She got a good shot. We had a weak-side rebounder; we just couldn't get the ball back up."
The teams never were separated by more than six points, as the lead changed hands eight times.
Harrison gave Baldwin a 35-29 lead early in the fourth quarter but Aliyah McDonald (seven points) tied it at 35 with 2:57 left.
Both Hester-Torres and McDonald picked up their third fouls late in the first quarter, but Baldwin could not capitalize. The Bruins managed only a 20-16 lead at the half with Uniondale's top two players sitting the entire second quarter.
