Girls: South Shore rides the wave; Wins Class "AA" Federation Chip
GLENS FALLS, NY- Having won its 3rd straight PSAL Class AA Championship this season, the goal this time up for the NYS Federation Tournament was much more for the South Shore Lady Vikings. They have had a goal of winning the Federation Championship since the beginning of the season, and they were not going to let anything, or anyone in their way stop them.
In front of them for the championship on Saturday from the Glens Falls Civic Center was The Mary Louis Academy, the CHSAA champions so it was NYC supremacy on the line along with the coveted Federation crown.
From the start, it was all about South Shore's defense as they controlled the game on that end of the floor with their strong defender allowing them to get out and score easily on offense, pushing them to a healthy early lead that they would not relinquish, achieving their goal of bringing South Shore their first Girls Federation Championship by downing Mary Louis, 59-31.
From the very start of the season, back even during the summer when South Shore came back together to play at the Conrad McRae Youth League in August, the goal was simple, a Federation Title. The PSAL Championship they have held for 3 years now is nice, but for senior Selena Philoxy '17 the way she wanted to go out was as best in New York State.
"We wanted this. We knew that every team was after us this year and we wanted to come after States," Philoxy said about wanting a Federation Title this season.
That was all the Lady Vikings wanted. They wanted to bring the hardware back to Brooklyn and represent the PSAL, New York City, and South Shore H.S. by proving that no one was better, and Saturday's game with The Mary Louis Academy was their chance to do just that.
With the pressure of a championship on the line both teams came out with nerves as Mary Louis settled for contested midrange jumpers, with only Danielle Patterson '17 scoring 4 points in the opening quarter for the Hilltoppers. South Shore had offensive issues as well, but with Tsahai Corbie '17 able to push the tempo and score 5 early points on her own, she helped propel the Lady Vikings to an early 11-4 lead.
If the first quarter was an edge for South Shore, then the second quarter was owned by the Lady Vikings as the 2-3 zone stifled the TMLA shooters with great lateral movement, and when they tried to feed Patterson in the post she was met by two or three defenders every time.
The sisters Selena and Destiny Philoxy '18 were an offensive juggernaut in the second as well as Destiny would attack the Hilltopper defense and on three occasions find Selena underneath where she was in great position to use her strength to finish.
An expected close game ended up seeing the Lady Vikings take over in the 2nd quarter to take a 29-10 halftime lead, and while the offense picked up as the half went on, it was the defense according to head coach Anwar Gladden that was really the catalyst for everything they were doing in the early going.
"We knew if we were physical with them it would be good because they don't really like to be touched so we just tried to be physical with them in our zone and that led to everything else," Gladden stated.
He knew though that while the defense was doing what it needed to do through one half of play that it was going to take another 16 minutes of the same type of intensity and strong all around play to go home with what they all wanted.
Mary Louis to their credit to start the third quarter seemed more focused on pressuring the South Shore guards, trying to create mistakes out of them, which for the first 3 minutes of the 3rd they were able to do with Jordan Nixon '18 scoring off a steal in the backcourt while getting fouled, and then a pair of Patterson short jumpers brought the TMLA deficit to as low as 12.
Gladden didn't like what he was seeing from his group with 4:40 to go in the 3rd quarter though and had a calming talk with them and implored them to get back to what they were doing so successfully in the opening half.
"I just said to get back to what we were doing," Gladden explained. "I'm a baseball guy so I said stop swinging for home runs, just get singles. One possession at a time because you can't score 10 points in a possession so just one possession at a time."
Heeding their coach’s advice, South Shore didn't rush and stayed patient in breaking the Mary Louis trap by having Destiny through over the top which led to easy run outs by Diamond Shavis '18 for easy baskets helping push the Lady Vikings lead back up to 22 after three quarters.
At that point it seemed like fate was on the side of South Shore as they were clicking on all cylinders on offense, and defensively it was one of their better performances of the season in Gladden's eyes, stepping up with their best for the biggest stage possible as the dream that the Lady Vikings had in August became a reality as when the clock his zeros they all celebrated doing something no South Shore team has done before, win the Class AA Federation Championship by defeating The Mary Louis Academy in impressive fashion 59-31.
Truly a game and memory to remember, South Shore was led by their Seton Hall bound Philoxy who had 19 points and 9 rebounds in the win, while her sister who is already committed to UMass added 11 points, 10 rebounds, and 6 assists as well.
When this journey began for these South Shore girls at the start of the season, they all held the belief that winning in Glens Falls and taking home the biggest title of them all was possible, but to have it come true, and in the way, they accomplished it was truly something special to Philoxy who said it was a great cap to an amazing high school career.
"I told everyone last night, tomorrow is going to be a big game, this was a little thing, let's go out and do what we got to do," Philoxy explained. "We were able to do that and we did what we wanted to do."
A great effort in the win by South Shore, Mary Louis also had a phenomenal year led by their head coach JoAnn Arbitello-Pinnock as they achieved the CHSAA Class AA title for the first time and should be a force to reckon with for years to come. Patterson led the Hilltoppers with 16 points in the loss, and while they weren't able to get over the top on Saturday, this in no way takes away from what was a season to remember for them as well.
Only one team could walk away Federation Champions though and South Shore who have had this as their main focus and goal this season were able to complete the job, and for Gladden and his team this will be a moment he hopes they will treasure forever, knowing that they came together as one before the season and made a lasting memory for the school, and the community.
"This is a moment they can all take with them and their families and say I won a state championship as a high school player. It's big for the community and that's what it's really about it."
