February 28, 1999
Senecas hit double-zero at championship game
By Chris Homan
Sports Writer
OLD FORT &emdash; It was just about a month ago that Calvert coach Jim Kuhn had made the comment that his girls were just finding a way to get things done before time run out.
Yes, it was certainly a living-on-the-edge theme the Senecas had followed in racking up 18 wins and a No. 13 state-ranking.
But when it counted most Saturday night in the Division IV sectional championship game against Fremont St. Joseph, Calvert's finally clock hit double-zero with the job unfinished.
The Senecas had six shots at the game winning points in the final minute-and-a-half, but not one would fall as the Crimson Streaks emerged stunning 41-40 winners.
''I guess (assistant coach) Stephanie Fetter said it best after the game,'' Calvert coach Jim Kuhn said. ''She said 'Here are a group of girls with a lot of experience, a coach who's done some real good things, and you play with a lot of confidence &emdash; you think you're never going to lose and some day that's going to come back to haunt you.'
''That's exactly what happened to us tonight,'' he said. ''Did the better team win? Tonight they did. We failed to get the ball to the big people and relied on Sara (Riley) to get things done. Basketball is a team sport and it takes all five people on the floor to win.
''You also have to be effective. My feeling is you can't be one step behind, but two ahead. I would have liked to have seen some different things out of the starting five that were on the court, but you have to look back at all the bunny-shots we missed.''
Everything went down hill for Calvert, owners of a 30-23 lead, with three minutes left in the third.
The Streaks had trimmed it to three, 30-27, on a pair of layups by Erin Raubenault (15 points), but guard Jaime Heberling was fouled and twisted and ankle on the next series.
Rachel Babione (six points) replaced her, hit two foul shots, then sparked SJCC with a steal and layup for the Streaks first lead, 31-30. Brea Busold (12 points) added another shot from the paint and St. Joseph took a 33-32 edge into the final.
The lead changed hands three times in the opening minutes of the fourth before St. Joseph finally pulled away with two straight baskets off Calvert turnovers.
It was a five-point game, 41-36, when the Senecas made their final charge.
Riley (11 points) knocked down a jumper and Amanda Lucius (eight points) drove the lane and scored off a turnover to make it 41-40.
''All we needed to do was play the delay game, but the problem was we had someone who wanted to take a shot and they got the ball back,'' St. Joseph coach Gary Geller said. ''For some reason, they (Calvert) could get their chances to fall tonight. We were doing a great job of delaying the game on the outside and that's all we needed to keep doing.
''When your looking at three girls standing 6-2 on the inside you can't try and force it in there,'' he said. ''We did that and they got the rebound both times. We were just fortunate.''
Calvert was not. With 53.9 seconds left the Senecas put the ball up three times, but no points. Lucius could not convert off a turnover in transition with 23 seconds to go and Riley's drive failed with six seconds to go.
Lisa Kuhn was called for a foul on that play and that amazing gave Calvert one last life, because, Raubenuolt missed her first shot of a one-and-one and Kristen Kastner came down with the rebound.
''I was scared to death they'd just pound it inside when Riley took that shot the first time,'' Geller said. ''I think we forced her to hold the ball a little longer that she wanted to and it disrupted what she wanted to do. All I could do was hope on the final play.''
Which skipped off Lisa Kuhn's hands below the basket as time expired.
''We gave them too many opportunites tonight and they did a real nice job of taking advantage of them,'' Kuhn said. ''You can't fault our girls for being 18-3. What more can you ask for?
''There're going to be a winner and there's going to be a loser.''
Time just ran out.