By Ted Waddell
WEST POINT — March 12, 2004 – It’s sure wasn’t “Wildcat Country” at West Point’s Christl Arena Wednesday night, as the Lady Statesmen of John A. Coleman Catholic School defeated the Livingston Manor Lady Wildcats, 52-25, to take the Section IX Class D girls’ basketball crown.
Top-seeded Coleman (14-7) opened the scoring at 7:40 in the first period as Laura Matturro made one of two foul shots.
Third-seeded Manor (13-8) got on the board with a three-pointer by Jen Taggart at the 5:40 mark, but that didn’t keep the Lady Statesmen from racking up a 12-5 advantage at the end of the opening quarter.
Both squads were even up at 10-10 in the second period, a stanza that saw Manor’s Heather Sherwood bring the Lady Wildcats to within one point of Coleman (14-13) with 3:20 left until halftime.
But the short-lived run was as close as the Lady Wildcats ever got to catching the Lady Statesmen as Coleman took a 22-15 lead into the locker room.
With the score at 46-23 in the final period, Manor’s Tegan Kern was sidelined after taking a hard fall under the Coleman hoop during a scramble for the basketball.
Top scorers for the Lady Wildcats were Sherwood, who had nine points, and Mary Mills, who netted seven.
For the Lady Statesmen, Dana Postupack had a game-high 14 points, Abby Brenkach registered 13 and Corinne Albrecht added 12.
Stats from the free throw line: Manor was 4-of-14 (29 percent) and Coleman went 16-of-20 (80 percent).
“We’ve improved all season long, and the kids have worked extremely hard,” Coleman Coach Duane Postupack said. “They are really at the pinnacle of their game.”
Postupack said both teams fought hard and played well in the contest.
“We knew they were a good team, and we were ready for them,” he added. “We’re happy to come out the winners.”
Manor senior Liz Weickum said the Lady Wildcats tried hard and could have played better, “but not everyone has a perfect game.”
“We wanted to go further this season, but we got to where we wanted to be and that’s a lot further than most teams,” she said.
Mills’ take of the Lady Wildcats game against Coleman?
“I thought we had it,” the senior center said. “We were only down by three points at the half, but I think we got overanxious in the second half and lost it because we were rushing.
“It was tough playing with the big girls,” added Mills. “We should have blocked the passing lane and kept them from taking so many shots.”
Her take of the 2003-04 season of hoops?
“Overall, we had a really good season,” Mills replied. “We pulled out some really good games and we worked well together.
“The sweetest revenge was when we beat Eldred at our homecoming game, and that got us into sectionals.”
Manor Coach Kevin Clifford said that anytime a team makes it to the sectionals, that makes the season “a plus.”
“Their man defense and height was the deciding factor,” he said of Manor’s 27-point loss to Coleman. “They were a lot quicker than we expected.”
Next year, Clifford plans to have several returnees back on the floor, including Sherwood, Katie Portz, Carrie Lewis, Ashley Mann and Nicole Miller.
“We brought up a couple of freshmen [Rose Curtis and Jackie Trotti] and they’ll probably be back next year,” Clifford said.