Senior co-captain Catie Carayannopoulos steals the game as she gets fouled on a made layup. The crowd cheers as she makes the foul shot, tying the game with just six minutes left after being down by 8 points to start the fourth quarter. Not only did she put Westfield back in the game but Carayannopoulos drew the fifth foul from one of Plainfield’s starters.
With just 54 seconds left, Catherine Oliveira had a questionable offensive foul against Plainfield, giving them possession in a 39-38 game. With the Blue Devils standing in fear, Plainfield junior Jahnae Lembrick brings the ball up the court, wasting seconds on the clock. In a hasty hope to score, Lembrock passes to teammate Haszah Ward who drives to the basket, but pulls up short for the fade-away jumper.
Carayannopoulos stepped up to get the rebound and passed the ball up the court, forcing Plainfield to stop the clock, sending sophomore Mairin Fowler to the foul line. Fowler made her first free throw and missed her second, but Carayannopoulos was there for the offensive rebound. Ward used her fifth foul on Carayannopoulos, and two more free throws were made to put the Blue Devils up by four.
After dancing with the ball, the Blue Devils secured the 42-38 win, sending the Cardinals home. Although Westfield was the home team, the gymnasium was packed on both sides as Plainfield’s cheerleaders came loud and prepared.
“When you play a team four times there’s really not that many surprises. We knew they were going to bring a lot of fans and it would be loud in here and again, it’s just experience. I know the team is still young, but the way that our sophomore guards Mairin and Catherine take control, things that seniors do is a great job,” said head coach Liz McKeon.
Adding onto that, Oliveira said, “It was hard to hear everyone sometimes, but we communicated well and made sure that we kept each other focused in the game.”
The first half was not ideal as Westfield fell short 13-12. Oliveira said, “We just kept playing defense and that is what kept us in the game. Only 13 points in the first half is really important because they’re a good scoring team, so if we played good defense, we could make it up when our shots started falling.”
At the half, McKeon said, “I told them to keep believing in themselves. We weren’t getting the shots we wanted, and we couldn’t make anything. I said, you have to believe in yourself, you can’t stop shooting and give up. It’s all mentality. We can practice drills every single day, but it’s got to be your mental toughness and to keep believing in yourself.”
The Blue Devils had to compensate for their missed shots to stay in the game, and they did just that. Westfield’s defense was on fire. The rebounds on Westfield’s side of the court were out of this world. Carayannoplous has mastered this skill, hitting 600 career rebounds in last night’s game.
The Blue Devils will face Bayonne at 2 p.m. away in the North 2, Group 4 Sectional final on March 8. McKeon felt “so proud” of the team and felt that “it couldn’t have gone any worse those first three quarters, but to bounce back to stop them was so impressive.”
