Manhasset girls basketball season ended by Canandaigua Academy in state semifinals

TROY, N.Y. — A glance at the final score doesn’t tell the whole story. 

Manhasset fell to Canandaigua Academy, 55-42, in the state Class A girls basketball semifinals at Hudson Valley CC on Friday afternoon.

Manhasset never led but cut Canandaigua's lead to 32-28 with 7:15 left in the fourth quarter following two made foul shots by Caitlin Barrett and 39-34 with 4:14 left in the fourth quarter after two free throws by Nicoletta Tsiamis.

But Canandaigua (21-5) answered with a 13-2 run in a 2:20 span to open a commanding 52-36 lead with 1:35 left to end Manhasset’s season in the state semifinals.

“They didn’t give up,” coach Lauren Sadeh said. “They never backed down, they never were intimidated. A couple shots go our way, we’re having a different conversation right now. So you get to this stage, the season is an accomplishment in itself so I’m just really proud of them.”

Manhasset (24-2) won the program’s first county and Long Island championship since 1993 and first in Class A. Those are the moments the players will remember for years. 

“I’m really proud,” Barrett said. “Everybody stepped up in so many different ways this season at so many different times. Long Island champions for the first time in 30 years is something really, really cool and just to be able to do that is amazing.”

Ali McIntyre had 12 points and eight rebounds, Tsiamis had 11 points and Lauren Perfetto had 10 points and nine rebounds for Manhasset, which shot 1 of 18 from beyond the arc.

“Some of our shots weren’t landing, which happens,” said McIntyre, a senior. “They outrebounded us. They’re a really good team.”

Manhasset kept the score close throughout the contest, suffering its first double-digit deficit in the game’s final three minutes.

“I feel like we would kind of get momentum a little bit and then we’d lose it somehow,” Barrett said. “We couldn’t finally break the ice on that.”

Manhasset had a combination of youth and experience this season. Sadeh complimented Barrett and McIntyre as the team’s two senior starters for creating the winning culture.

“If we didn’t have their leadership, I don’t think that we would be here. I really don’t,” Sadeh said. “I could draw up Xs and Os all day, I could get kids open three-pointers but in terms of trusting one another and playing hard for one another, that comes from them.”

Barrett, a standout three-sport athlete committed to play lacrosse at Duke, was happy to share a basketball state championship environment with her teammates, which she called some of her closest friends. Barrett was a member of Manhasset’s state Class C girls lacrosse championship team last spring.

“I think it’s just such a unique experience,” Barrett said. “Not everybody gets to experience this and it was a really fun time being up here. Leaving a mark on the program like this as a senior and leaving like that is really cool.”

“I’m so proud,” McIntyre said. “I went into this game and didn’t really feel a lot of pressure because I was already proud of what we accomplished.”