Girls: Section 1 Class "AA" Champ Ossining in 7th Heaven

WHITE PLAINS, NY- Even with the addition of Andra Espinoza-Hunter '17 at the beginning of the season having returned to Ossining after 3 years at Blair Academy in New Jersey, there was doubt on the Pride's chance of winning their 7th straight Section 1 Class "AA" Championship when star sophomore Aubrey Griffin '19 suffered a Torn ACL in September.

It was a loss that many didn't know if the Pride could recover from. Even with Espinoza-Hunter in the fold the question was did Ossining have enough to fend off the rest of Section 1 this time, an improved and deeper Section 1.

For the first time in years Ossining lost a Section 1 home game when they fell in late January to Albertus Magnus, so of course after navigating through a tough field of challengers to get to Sunday afternoons title game, it was the Lady Falcons waiting as the last in the way of the Pride and history once again.

Things looked bleak early on as Ossining trailed at the half 34-27 as Albertus Magnus connected on 5 first half threes, while Mairead Durkin '18 was controlling the paint, but with Espinoza-Hunter trusting her teammates more, and the likes of Kailah Harris '19 and Kelsey Quain '18 rising to the challenge, the Pride fought back, rallying from a halftime deficit to achieve the goal, another Section 1 Gold Ball by getting the best of Albertus Magnus this time around, 80-77.

When the school year began, things were looking up as even though they lost Shadeen Samuels to graduation, Espinoza-Hunter was welcomed back into the fold. Things took a hit though when Griffin was lost for the year in a fall league game, and without a star running mate next to the UConn bound Espinoza-Hunter, many lost faith in Ossining's chances for a 7th Section 1 title in a row, a fact not lost on the young Harris.

"We believed in ourselves, but I don't think anyone else believed in us," Harris admitted.

The lack of faith that many had in Ossining was used as motivation for this group as they fed off those who felt that it was someone else's year to rule Section 1, and one team who tried to take Ossining's top spot was Albertus Magnus.

A true threat to their reign without a doubt, the Lady Falcons went into Ossining during the regular season and knocked off the Pride, the first team local Section 1 team to defeat Ossining in 93 games, but that only seemed to motivate and push Ossining even more.

From the time the final buzzer sounded in that loss, Espinoza-Hunter said that all she wanted was another shot at Albertus Magnus, believing that they were better than what they had showed that night.

"When we lost to them we wanted to play them the very next day again but unfortunately, we couldn't," Espinoza-Hunter explained. "We wanted to show them that the team they faced the first time wasn't the team we are."

With so much on the line, Ossining was out to make a statement, but at the start it was Albertus Magnus who looked prime to once again pull the shocker and throw a monkey wrench into the Pride's plans of another championship.

It was a balanced scoring effort early on for the Lady Falcons as Kate Mager '18 and Tanasha Mills '20 each were able to find the range from long distance, and with Mairead Durkin '18 putting together a solid opening half down low scoring 12 points early on, helping Magnus finish the second quarter on a 9-1 run to give them a 34-27 lead at the break.

Completely unhappy with what he saw from his team, Ossining head coach Dan Ricci called his team out at halftime for its lack of cohesion in working together, saying he didn't believe that Espinoza-Hunter was trusting her teammates, trying to do too much on her own which ultimately hurt what they were trying to do.

Agreeing with her coach, Espinoza-Hunter felt that she needed to change her game plan, and get back to what Ricci wanted in the second half knowing that doing what made them so successful all season was there only chance at victory against a very talented Albertus Magnus squad.

"Coach just reiterated what he said before the game that we need to play hard, play strong, box out, and make sure that we are playing every possession like it’s out last," Espinoza-Hunter said. "I knew that's what we had to do and we had to come out strong in the 3rd."

Playing with a renewed sense of intensity, Ossining turned it up to start the 3rd quarter as Espinoza-Hunter made a concerted effort to find Harris down low, with the sophomore beginning to impose her will inside, and after Quain knocked down back to back threes less than 4 minutes into the second half, the Pride had retaken the lead at 41-38.

Instead of doing everything herself and trying to beat triple teams, Espinoza-Hunter was moving the ball around and Harris was using her size and strength down low to start to push the lead out for the Pride.

Albertus Magnus wouldn't go away quietly though as after getting down by as many as 7 in the 4th quarter, the three point shot became the Lady Falcons best friend as Danielle LaRochelle '18 and Allison Conti '18 were able to step up in the closing two minutes and knock down long balls to keep the game close, but when the game was on line and it came time for clutch FT's to be made, it was Espinoza-Hunter who came through in a major way.

Going 6 of 6 in the final 75 seconds from the charity stripe, she helped keep Ossining on top, and while LaRochelle did have one last chance to tie the game at the buzzer with a three pointer from behind the NBA line, there was Espinoza-Hunter again blocking the shot and preserving the win, and the 7th straight Section 1 Class "AA" title for the Pride, winning once again by an 80-77 score.

Finishing with a game high 32 points, Espinoza-Hunter left the County Center as a champion once again, but Harris and her 27 points and 17 rebounds were just as big as it was her play that Ricci felt really carried them over the top on Sunday.

"When you have a bunch of different girls stepping up its huge, and Kailah doing what she did was phenomenal, I can't say enough about her," Ricci said.

Credit to the Lady Falcons for hanging in and never going away in this one as even after Ossining made their run, they were always there for an answer. Durkin ended up with 21 points and 10 rebounds to lead the way for Albertus Magnus, while LaRochelle and Tess Lorenz '17 had 14 and 13 points respectively in what was a remarkable season for a team that didn't know they were going to be a Class "AA" team until September.

The Gold Ball stays at Ossining though as once again it's the Pride who remain on top of Section 1, and doing it with all they had to overcome with injuries and youth made it even more special for Ricci who says he will enjoy this one as much as any.

"Obviously when you lose a player before the season the caliber of Aubrey just getting here says a lot about our kids and character, but to win it and come together the way we did, this really is special, and really means a lot."