An abrupt ending
INDIANA, Pa. — A dream season came down to just 5.9 seconds.
And, unlike the rest of the 2005-06 campaign, the Union girls basketball team had to swallow the bitter pill of disappointment.
The Damsels trailed Conemaugh Valley, 46-44 with 5.9 seconds remaining when Union's Nikki Davis inbounded the ball to teammate Andrea Mortimer.
Mortimer drove the length of the floor, only to have her last- second shot from just outside the paint blocked by Blue Jays senior center Samantha Pollino as time expired.
The defensive stand preserved Conemaugh Valley's two-point victory in the PIAA Class A Western Final Wednesday night at Indiana (Pa.) University's Memorial Fieldhouse.
"My thinking was to go with who got us here, so it was either Andrea or Beth (Koch)," said Damsels coach Josh Meeker. "We wanted to get it in their hands.
"With just (5.9) seconds left, you really don't have time to set up a play," Meeker added. "You just have to get the ball in and drive the floor."
The Blue Jays (30-2) had taken a 46-44 lead on Pollino's two free throws immediately before the play.
Union had possession with more than a minute to play and elected to hold the ball until the closing seconds. That plan yielded a missed jumper from Koch with eight seconds left, after which Pollino was fouled while going for the rebound.
"I asked my assistant (Jeff Shirey) if he would have called that foul and we both said no," said Meeker. "I know officiating a game can be tough, but I'm sure there were elbows being thrown from both sides while going for that ball. How do you call a foul on us?"
Pollino's first attempt appeared to be off the mark but found its way into the net after a few kind bounces on the rim. She then drained the second free throw for a 46-44 edge."As soon as I got fouled, I was just trying to relax," said Pollino. "I didn't want to blow it.""She's the player we wanted at the line," said Conemaugh Valley coach Teri Cruse. "When we saw that she was going to the line, we knew we had won."It was in doubt if Pollino would even be around for the end of the game after she picked up her fourth personal foul with 1:59 left in the third quarter.Instead of pulling her star player, Cruse elected to gamble and kept Pollino in for the duration of the game."I thought about pulling her for about two seconds," Cruse said. "But the last two fouls she picked up were dumb fouls. And we knew if she eliminated those, she'd be OK."It was Pollino, a Duquesne University recruit, who sparked Conemaugh Valley to a 30-13 advantage after 9:20 of play.Pollino scored 11 of her game-high 23 points in the first quarter, after which the Blue Jays led 24-13. They extended that cushion to 17 points early in the second quarter.Union committed 13 turnovers in the first two periods."Dropping passes, missing shots and not getting loose balls, that's not our game," said Meeker. "But we knew that no matter how much we were down, we could come back."And Union did.By halftime, the deficit was 33-23. The Damsels spent the third quarter chipping away and trailed 40-35 with one period to play.When Koch drained a two-pointer with 3:20 remaining in the game, Union had its first lead since the opening minutes of the game at 44-43. But the Damsels would not score another point.Mortimer and junior guard Tiffany Corle led the Damsels (29-2) with 11 points apiece.<B>UNION 44Tiffany Corle 4 2-4 11, Andrea Mortimer 5 1-6 11, Beth Koch 4 0-0 9, Nikki Davis 3 2-2 8, Molly Scott 0 5-8 5, Mackenzie Shirey 0 0-0 0, Janele Divins 0 0-0 0.</B> Totals: 16 10-20 44.<B>CONEMAUGH VALLEY 46Emily Coy 2 0-0 4, Jil Barnouski 0 1-3 1, Carlie Frick 3 2-5 8, Samantha Pollino 8 7-10 23, Kayla Brandle 4 1-4 10, Shantelle Brothers 0 0-0 0, Leah Borow 0 0-0 0. </B>Totals: 17 11-22 46.<B>Mars 13 10 12 9—44Conemaugh Valley 24 9 7 6—463-point goals:</B> Corle, Koch; Brandle
