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Girls: Federation T.O.C. Class AA Semis

ALBANY, NY - Always one of the highlights of the Federation Tournament weekend is Friday afternoons Class "AA" Girls Semifinals. There are always 4 extremely talented and deep teams who each can make a case year after year to being able to bring home the title.

Once again this year is no different as each of the four teams, Long Island Lutheran, St. Anthony's, South Shore, and Ossining each are teams who came in with the belief that they can win two games this weekend and take the championship. It was going to be very interesting how the pair of games played out as well as the action and competition for these games at the Times Union Center in Albany was going to be of top quality and high level action.

Long Island Lutheran Edges St. Anthony's, 41-40

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Jenna Silletti & Sarah Mortensen
Jenna Silletti & Sarah Mortensen (M. Libert)

In a game between two of Long Island's elite, it should come as no surprise that this one was not decided until the final buzzer as the Friars had a chance to win it at the end, but it was a big defensive play from a Crusaders star that saved the day and allowed LuHi to move onto Saturday's Championship Game in dramatic fashion by 1.

It came down to the very end as with the shot clock winding down with under 10 seconds left in the game and up 41-40, guard Celeste Taylor '19 threw up a runner in the lane to beat the 30 second shot clock, but that shot was no good. St. Anthony's forward Jayla Jones-Pack '16 got the rebound and made the outlet pass up the court to Sarah Edmond '16, and that is where the fun began.

Edmond got the ball and she was at half court with 5 seconds to go, and at that point it was one on one, with Edmond going in at LuHi guard Sarah Mortensen '16. A winner would be decided right here.

Mortensen may be new to Long Island Lutheran, being an import from Denmark this season, but she understands the history of the Crusaders. They have won the Federation Championship more often than not as of late, and she knew that with the game riding on her to make the biggest defensive stand of her life, she needed to come up and lift her team to the win.

"They cannot score. I need to stop them. I will not allow them to score this bucket, we need to win," Mortensen said about her mindsets with Edmond baring down on her with the final seconds ticking down.

It all seemed to be going in slow motion according to Long Island Lutheran forward Jenna Silletti '16. She could only watch as she was watching from the other side of court and could do nothing. She called it a crazy moment to watch, but believed that Mortensen, a commit to Miami, would be able to make the stand.

As Edmond came in on her with the buzzer about to sound, Mortensen said she felt as if she gave her enough room to score if she wanted, she put her hands up in the air and the ball left Edmond's hands. The two bodies hit as the ball went up and while Edmond was able to get off a good look at the rim, Mortensen did just enough to alter the shot causing the ball to fall off the rim as time expired as Long Island Lutheran were able to celebrate as they clinched a berth in yet another Federation Final with a 41-40 victory over St. Anthony's in an All-Long Island Classic.

It didn't have to end up a classic, as the start of the game was slow with both teams going nearly 4 minutes without scoring in the 2nd quarter, and it looked as if St. Anthony's was going to take a 21-18 lead into the half, but Mortensen, who came up big from start to finish, hit a big three to help give LuHi some momentum into the break sending the game to a 21 tie into the locker room.

Neither head coaches, Rich Slater of Long Island Lutheran or Ken Parham of St. Anthony's were thrilled with their team's opening half, with Silletti admitting that her team at the very least may have been a bit too amped up at the start which caused the sloppiness of the opening half, but things were definitely about to change in the second half.

Grace Stone '18 was able to hit some jumpers early in the 3rd, and Silletti was able to come up with a pair in the 4th that kept LuHi seemingly in control. St. Anthony's did have their moments, especially after Jones Pack started to get more looks around the rim, and Taylor Goode '16 hit a clutch three from the corner to give the Friars a lead late in the 4th, but that is when the magic for the Crusaders started to come into play.

Mortensen hit 2 big FT's late to put LuHi on top, and then it was the Danish Sensation who came up with the final stop to allow the Crusaders to keep their chances at another Federation Title as they were able to pull out a thriller over St. Anthony's, 41-40.

It was the combination of Mortensen and Stone who each scored 13 points for Long Island Lutheran in the victory, and it was a win, and for that matter a season, that Slater says is one the shoulders of Mortensen, who he compared to one of the all-time greats after the victory.

"Sarah had her worst shooting percentage of the year but the kid is Larry Bird," Slater admitted. "We don't play in this game without her."

For St. Anthony's it was Jones-Pack who had 13 points in the loss, while Goode added 9 points in a game that ends the H.S. career for a senior group that will go down in the history books as one of the best in school history.

It wasn't the way that St. Anthony's wanted to go out, but Slater was able to accomplish his goal of killing them by 1, just making it by 1. The win puts the Crusaders into Saturday's title game, and while they may want to celebrate a big win over a big Long Island rival, Silletti admitted they don't have that time, already now focused on what is ahead in 24 hours.

"We have to focus on the next game because this is now the past and look forward and move on."


Ossining Beaches South Shore, 67-51

Shadeen Samuels & Aubrey Griffin
Shadeen Samuels & Aubrey Griffin (M. Libert)

The seconds semifinal was going to be a big contrast to the first as both the Pride and the Lady Vikings were going to want to push the pace more, and while both teams attempted to play at that pace, Ossining was able to play it just a bit better as wings Shadeen Samuels '16 and Aubrey Griffin '19 combined for 48 points to lead the Pride to the title game with an impressive 16-point win over the PSAL champs.

Ossining got out to the quick start as the superstar duo of Samuels and Griffin combined for 30 of the Pride's 37 first half points, as they were able to get out in transition offensively, yet control the glass and play of the defensive end as well to take a 37-28 lead into the half.

It could've been a lot worse for South Shore as they trailed in the opening half by as many as 15, but led by forward Selena Philoxy '17 and her strong close to the half, the Lady Vikings ran off an 8-2 run to free them down just 9 at the break.

While Ossining was up, and looked to be in control, Pride head coach Dan Ricci was still leery of how his team was playing in the first half, being as dependent as they were in the Samuels and Griffin, and he wanted to see more from the rest of his team in the second half as they looked to close things out.

"We needed some of our other kids to step up in the second half," Ricci admitted. "We played well in the first half but we needed others to step up because I really thought we could wear them out as the game went on."

He just needed someone else to hit shots to take the pressure off, and guard Alexis Bernardo '16 was able to drain a couple three balls to stretch out the defense and push the lead back up for Ossining, but as others started to get involved, South Shore started to clamp down the defense, limiting the Pride to just 12 three points in the 3rd, and cutting the deficit behind Philoxy and Tsahai Corbie '17 to just 49-41 heading to the 4th.

In the 4th it looked as if the Lady Vikings were going to make a big run, getting within 5 at one point, but a big layup at the defense by guard Gabby Ferrao '16 helping push their lead back up, and then a technical foul on South Shore head coach Anwar Gladden arguing a debatable flagrant foul call set the Lady Vikings back even more as the Pride made a living at the FT line down the stretch and were able to open up the lead once again.

It wasn't always pretty at times which Ricci admitted, but his team was able to do what he thought they could in wearing down South Shore and pulling away down the stretch for a 67-51 win.

Samuels had 26 points with Griffin adding 22 points in what was a truly dominating effort by the pair to help lead Ossining to the Federation Championship Game on Saturday evening.

Philoxy had 23 points to lead South Shore in the defeat, while it was Corbie who had 11 of her 13 points in the second half for the Lady Vikings to keep them in the game in the second half before eventually falling in a tough, yet well played contest.

It onto yet another Federation Title game for the Pride, a place they have been to many times but never won, and while Ricci said it would be nice to head back down to Ossining with the championship, he said for him and his team, they know they will need to play their best if they want a chance to win Federation Championship #1.

"Long Island Lutheran are very well coached, they are very athletic, Andy it is going to be the game of our life if we are going to win. I love my young kids though and I know they are going to give it everything they got."

It will now be Long Island Lutheran taking on Ossining in Saturday's Girls Class "AA" Federation Championship to be played on Saturday at 7pm at the Times Union Center in Albany, NY.


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