Caitlin Barrett comes up big late for Manhasset in Long Island Class A championship victory

The stakes couldn’t get any clearer. Make the shot and you have a chance to continue your season. Miss and it’s all over.

Caitlin Barrett was at the loneliest position on a basketball floor with 0.2 seconds left, but the Manhasset senior was exactly where she knew she needed to be.

The free-throw line.

Barrett secured an offensive rebound and was fouled with 0.2 seconds left in the fourth quarter and Manhasset trailing by one point. She tried to remain calm but admitted she was feeling nervous. And when she missed the first foul shot, the nerves multiplied.

“It was definitely really scary missing the first one because I was just thinking if I miss the second one, my season could be all over,” Barrett said. “But I pulled it together and had confidence in myself to make that last one and I did.”

Barrett did exactly that as she made the second foul shot to tie the score at 45 and force overtime. She then scored seven of her 20 points in the overtime period as Manhasset defeated Shoreham-Wading River, 58-51, in the girls basketball Long Island Class A championship/Southeast Regional Final at Farmingdale State Saturday afternoon.

“It was definitely really nerve-wracking,” Barrett said. “The crowd was roaring on both sides. It was really exciting though knowing that I could send the game into overtime.”

Manhasset (24-1) advances to play the winner of Canandaigua Academy/Hamburg in the state Class A semifinals at Hudson Valley Community College Friday at 1:30 p.m. It’s Manhasset’s second Long Island crown in program history and first since 1993.

Manhasset trailed 45-39 before Barrett made a three-pointer with 57.6 seconds left. Between that basket and her final foul shot, coach Lauren Sadeh wasn’t surprised Barrett came through when her team needed her most.

“That just shows you her IQ as an athlete,” Sadeh said. “Whatever she’s playing, it could be soccer, basketball, lacrosse, she knew how much time and that she had to get [the rebound] and get rid of it and that’s the difference in a game like this. This is what I expected today. I expected it was going to come down to the wire and someone was going to make that one more better IQ type of play and it was Caitlin Barrett, not surprising.”

Manhasset outscored Shoreham-Wading River, 13-6, in the overtime period. Lauren Perfetto had 12 points and Nicoletta Tsiamis added 10 points for Manhasset.

Sophie Costello had 18 points for Shoreham-Wading River, which won its first county title in program history in a 24-2 season.

Perfetto said she “knew” even when Barrett missed the first foul shot that she’d make the second to force overtime. And now the team gets to travel for the state semifinals.

“It’s amazing,” Perfetto said. “It’s not something everyone gets to do, so I’m very grateful.”

Shoreham-Wading River led 16-9 after the first quarter before Manhasset held the Wildcats without a field goal in the second quarter and took a 21-18 lead into halftime. Costello made two foul shots over the final 90 seconds of the half for Shoreham-Wading River’s only points in the period.

Manhasset opened a 30-25 lead with two minutes left in the third quarter before the Wildcats closed the third on a 7-2 run, capped by Costello’s three-pointer in the final seconds of the period to tie the score at 32. Shoreham-Wading River opened a 45-39 lead with 1:13 left in the fourth quarter following back-to-back baskets by Juliana Mahan before Manhasset scored the final six points of regulation.

“I think the biggest thing was getting them to believe we could come back in the short amount of time we had left,” Sadeh said. “Just selling that we could make a defensive stop and come down and make a play and we’d be OK.”

“We believed in each other,” Perfetto said. “That’s really what we’ve done all year long. When we’re down, and it doesn’t happen a lot, but when we’re down we always pull together and believe in each other.”