Girls: Rose Classic Semifinals

BROOKLYN, NY- The pressure was on Sunday morning as it was do or die time as the Rose Classic Semifinals took place at J.H.S. 113 in Brooklyn. The four teams remaining each had strong cases to be considered the favorite to win it all come Sunday evening, but first things first came difficult and competitive semi's.

Both games proved to be played at the very highest level with nearly every player taking the court a future Division 1 player, and each gave it their all-in hopes of taking home the spring title. It was a fight to the finish in hopes of getting to the title game, and with NYCHoops.net in attendance to start the day, we now give you a recap of the action from Fort Greene on Sunday morning.

A game featuring one of New York's top AAU programs against another's of New York's best programs meant that this was one of the more hotly anticipated semifinal games that the Rose Classic could've hoped for. It was nip and tuck throughout with lead changes and momentum shifts throughout, but after needing OT to finish this one, Dara Mabrey (Manasquan, NJ '18) would carry her team late to ultimately take a 5-point victory.

It looked early on as if Exodus was going to be able to pull away as just four minutes into the game, New Heights star forward Emily Engstler (St. Francis Prep '18) picked up her 3rd foul, putting her to the bench and causing them to have to push on without their top scorer.

Exodus was able to take advantage as after Lauren Hackett (St. Anthony's '18) fought her way into driving lanes and keep New Heights close for a bit, Exodus was able to start to pull away a bit as Mabrey began to find her range, and with Lola Mullaney (Manasquan, NJ '19) giving them good minutes both on the inside doing a great job against the undersized New Heights frontline, and on the perimeter from the midrange, they were able to grab their biggest lead of the game at 21-12 with 40 seconds to go in the half.

New Heights did stem the tide to close the first 16 minutes as Reilly Campbell (Loomis Chaffee, CT '19) was able to attack the rim and get fouled, making both FT's, and then off a steal, Samantha Schultz (Kings Park '18) was able to get herself to the line where she made 1 to make it a 21-16 lead for Exodus at the break.

Truly as good as New Heights could've hoped for without Engstler on the floor for much of the half, they had to go into the second half with confidence knowing they withstood a big Exodus run to be down by only 5.

To start the second half, it did look like New Heights was in more of control, getting the deficit down to 27-26 until Jenna Annecchiarico (Baldwin '18) slashed down the lane and finishing off a scoop while getting fouled.

For at least a couple minutes that allowed Exodus to right the ship, but with Engstler feeling it in one on one situations, she began to light it up from the midrange and out. She would score 8 points during a 10-1 run for New Heights that would not only give them the lead with 4:54 to go, but put them up by a 43-36 score.

The run for New Heights would be broken up by Aziah Hudson (Baldwin '18) who would use her lightning quick speed to get up the court and finish off an Annecchiarico feed. That would be followed by Mabrey lighting up the lamp when she drained a 3 from the left wing, then stole the ensuing inbounds, stepped back, and drained her second three ball in a 10 second span to have Exodus go from down 5 to up 46-45 with 1:39 to go.

It was a crazy final 90 seconds of regulation as both teams would trade the lead with Makenzie Helms (Loomis Chaffee, CT '19) looking as if she was going to put New Heights in front for good after stealing the inbounds off an Engstler bucket and taking it right to the basket where she connected while getting fouled.

That would put New Heights up 50-48, but Mabrey would hit on a floater in the lane in the closing seconds to tie the game at 50. New Heights would have a chance to win but an offensive foul on Engstler for pushing off her defender just before the buzzer sounded meant this game was OT bound as we went to the extra session tied at 50.

Overtime would start with Hudson streaking up the court and connecting on a 2 on 1 to put Exodus in front, a place they stayed for the entire OT as even though New Heights would get within 1 on a pair of occasions they were never able to get over the top. They had a chance to tie when down 56-53 with 10 seconds to go, but Schultz missed an open three from the right side, sealing their fate. Annecchiarico would get fouled and connect on 2 FT's on the other end to put an exclamation point on the game, allowing Exodus 16u to advance to the Rose Classic title game with the 58-53 victory.

Mabrey had 21 points to pace the way for Exodus, and while she was the only double-digit scorer, Mullaney would score 9 points, with Hudson, Annecchiarico, and Emma Cuccurullo (Long Island Lutheran '18) each scoring 8 points as well in the win.

In what was a truly great effort by the entire New Heights team, Engstler had 18 points to lead, 16 of which came in the second half and overtime, while Schultz had 10 points with Hackett adding 8 in the defeat.

In the second semifinal, it was a tight opening half that saw the Demons lead for a good portion of it, but led by the long-range shooting of Angelique Rodriguez (Capital Prep, CT '17), D1 Bound took control if the second half and ran away with things to comfortably take the double-digit victory, and move on to Sunday evening's championship.

Missing two of their top players in Katie Kinum (New Providence, NJ '17) due to her graduation, and Julia Cunningham (Watchung Hills, NJ '18) due to an ankle injury, the Demons were down over 50% of their scoring from the Rose Classic regular season, but at the start it looked as if they would be able to get away with it with the play of Maddie Selvaggi (West Morris, NJ '18).

Selvaggi was able to drain three early three balls and score 11 points in the opening half to see the Demons go up 25-17 with 5 minutes to go in the first half.

They were getting solid interior play as well from Onome Akinbode-James (Blair Academy, NJ '18), and overall doing a good job of containing the D1 Bound guards.

D1 Bound themselves were missing Andra Espinoza-Hunter (Ossining '17) and Raven Farley-Clark (Queen of Peace, NJ '17), both of whom have already enrolled in their respective colleges, meaning that others on the Mike Toro coached team would have to pick up the slack.

The slack in the final few minutes of the opening half was picked up by Rodriguez, as the girl they call Pika connected on 3 threes’ in the final few minutes as D1 Bound went from down as many as 9, to being up 34-30 at the break, focusing on pushing the tempo more and using their great shooting touch to their advantage to begin to take control.

With the momentum beginning to shift toward D1 Bound late in the half, they fully brought it over to their side in the early stages of the second half as Rodriguez hit yet another three, and with Qadashah Hoppie (The Patrick School, NJ '17) able to create pressure and Demons mistakes, they began to instill their will on the game.

It was still a 45-40 game with 8:13 to play after Sydney Brown (Blair Academy, NJ '18) scored on a putback, but from that point on D1 Bound would go on a 13-2 run over the next 4 minutes to go up 58-42 and put the game away. Rodriguez was the sharpshooter who got it done, but Chanell Williams (Msgr. Scanlan '17) was all over the floor fighting for loose balls, harassing everyone defensively, and even blocking shots from behind at her 5'5" size.

Dominating down the stretch, D1 Bound looked fully ready for the championship game to come as they closed out their semifinal in style pulling away for a 58-46 victory to move on.

Rodriguez would score 18 points in the win, connecting on 5 threes’ and showing off for everyone her superior range. Hoppie had 11 points a good number of assists as well, while Williams and Tori Harris (Half Hollow Hills West '17) each chipped in 7 points in the win.

Selvaggi was able to pour in 14 points in the loss for the Demons, showing that she is a steady and consistent offensive weapon for the New Jersey power, with Akinbode-James and Brown also adding 11 and 10 points respectively in the loss.

So, the Rose Classic Championship Game is set and it will be Exodus 16u taking on D1 Bound for the title coming up later on Sunday at 5pm at J.H.S. 113 in what should be yet another great and exciting finale.

First Team All-Rose Classic:

Emily Engstler (New Heights)

Teisha Hyman (Hoopers NY),

Grace Heeps (NY Havoc),

Brianna Livingston (Toronto Matrix),

Caroline Lau (CT Impact)

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