WPCNR COURTSIDE. By "Rims" Sheehan. March 9, 2008 Part 2 of 2 Parts: Mount Vernon (MV) had a 21-1 record, had beaten WP twice in the regular season, was ranked the #2 girls team in the State, had averaged 75 points a game in the playoffs and had three star players – guard Taylor Palmer, forward Kwinyatta Mercer and center Nadia Duncan – all of whom could easily score in double figures. WP had already over achieved by getting to the County Center and getting to the finals. Should they just be happy to take their picture at center court and try not to look bad against the top ranked Lady Knights?
Here's the story of that game.
Another Photograph for the Wall
Photos by Tim Sheehan
But coming this far emboldened the Tigers, who knew that they had three good defenders (Tharkur, Hayward and Aguirre) to try and stop the MV big three scoring machine, while the other starters (Rexhepi and Fields) could also keep the MV 4th and 5th scorers in check as well. Then WP brought out its good luck charm, former WP star and present Penn basketball player, Kim Adams (below), who traveled from Quaker land to the County Center to cheer her team on.
Once A Tiger, always a Tiger: Kim Adams, now playing for Penn, leader of last year's Champions lent her support.
MV came out hard and gave WP a taste of its own medicine, with a tough man to man defense and a trap press that reminded me of the choking defense that Nottingham used in the first half of the State championship 3 years ago. But WP defense did make MV work for its shots at the other end, and Angelei Aguirre slashed her way to the hole enough to get WP back into the game. Then WP took the lead at half 19 -16 and the County center was abuzz with the smell of upset, particularly because basketball aficionados knew that a low scoring game favored underdog White Plains.
WP's Aguirre, Tharkur and Heywood did a great job of limiting the MV big 3 to just one quarter of good offense (Duncan had 7 in 2d Q, Mercer had 7 in 3d Q and Palmer had 5 in 2d) each, which prevented an offensive explosion that all in the house knew MV was capable of. Significantly, MV’s Mercer and Palmer hit their 3's on open looks but those were limited and they did not shoot well with a WP hand in their face the rest of the time, all of which led to the lowest scoring output (40) for the MV season.
WP scoring was kept alive by Aguirre's all world performance during the first three quarters but she was finally outscored by her team in the 4th Quarter, with Rexhepi scoring her only 5 points at crucial times, including a dagger 3 pointer with 1:33 left to give WP some breathing room. MV’s press started to fall apart as Valde Hayward began to dribble up the sideline and Angelei Aguirre could not be stopped, as she scored 33 points.
All in all, a great upset win and an unprecedented 4th consecutive gold ball for a Cinderella WP team, which leads to a team celebration at midcourt and a television interview for Angelei Aguirre (see below)
The Gold Ball Back in the Tiger Den
Ms Aguirre Interviewing with News12 Sports Anchor Walt Fowler
REGIONAL SEMIFINALS
March 4, 2008 at New Paltz vs. Kingston
Section 9 champion Kingston, who beat WP in the regional finals last year, lost star Lindsey Timbrouk but kept point guards Rachel Coffey and Amanda Horvers, one a lightening quick point guard and the other a deadly 3 point shooter. After shutting down the high powered MV offensive stars, did the WP lady Tigers have enough gas in the tank on one day’s rest to deal with the Kingston backcourt duo?
The game started off sluggishly for WP, who trailed 12-4 after the first quarter (Shelby Fields had the four points for WP) and 27-16 at half, though Angelei Aguirre scored all 12 points for WP and it seemed that they might shake off the cobwebs for the second half.
In the second half, WP’s lackluster play continued at both ends of the court. Coffey was slicing her way through the WP defense and Horvers was left open too often for her trademark 3 pointer. On offense, WP could not respond when Kingston packed the zone against Angelei Aguirre and dared the other WP players to shoot the ball.
Unfortunately, WP’s best outside shooter, Danika Rexhepi was stone cold and didn’t score until the 4th quarter. With no outside threat to stretch the Kingston defense, the Kingston packed-in zone prevented Angelei from penetrating and forced her to take off balance shots from farther out.
Coach Adams Center Encourages one More Tiger Rally
However, WP dug down and came back, closing the gap to 7 points with just over 4 minutes left. Angelei launched a 3 pointer that just missed and Danika threw up 2 more that went “in and out” – any of which could have cut the gap. The bottom line was that WP players just ran out of gas and could not sustain another grueling man to man defensive effort on such short rest.
One silver lining to playing the game was the fact that Angelei Aguirre scored her 1000th High School point in the game and had a chance to pose with her family after the game.
Ultimately, the regional loss did nothing to tarnish WP’s improbable playoff run which resulted in an unexpected and unprecedented 4th Gold Ball. Congratulations to the players and Coaches Adams, Flooks and Owen for a job well done.
Mark Aguirre with his daughter Angelei and Family -- Ms. Angelei's 33 point performance against Mount Vernon -- when she was being triple teamed and MV could not stop her -- was Jordaneaque! It was one of the great individual performances you will ever see and those who saw it unfold will never forget it.
Next year, coming back, the Tigers will have junior Shelby Fields (who improved greatly despite only playing basketball for a few months -- she shut down Ursuline's Sferra and North Rockland's Mary Abram with great defense, and junior Bree Bradley (who did not play in the playoffs due to illness), plus sophomore Mishara Aguirre (she's at far left in photo above ) as a nucleus. They also have some potentially good freshman guards coming in and, just like this year, might do much better than expected.
The win over MV this year was as big an upset as the Jets over the Colts in Super bowl 3!
