Here’s basically what happened in the final 15 seconds of Westfield’s 44–41 loss to Sparta, rendered as concisely as possible, if that even is possible:
With Westfield trailing by 3 points, Annie Ryan shot a 3-pointer. It hit the side of the backboard. Except the whistle blared. Ryan had been fouled. So Sparta called a timeout. Ryan missed the first free throw and made the next two, bringing Westfield within 1 point. But Westfield stole Sparta’s inbounds. Sara Rooney missed a potential go-ahead bucket with 8 seconds left, and Sparta secured the rebound. Westfield was forced to foul. Sparta made two foul shots. Rooney chucked a desperation heave from midcourt that hit the top of the backboard. Sparta won.
Madness.
The No. 20 Spartans (11-4, 4-2 NJAC American) squeezed past the Blue Devils (10-4, 8-2 UCC Watchung) in a frenetic game that pitted last year’s Group 3 champion against last year’s Group 4 champion for the first time since Sparta’s victory in the Tournament of Champions (which the NJSIAA, incidentally, has since abolished).
“It was just a hectic game,” summarized Sutton Factor.
An elastic cord appeared to connect the two teams. When one team shoved ahead, the cord always yanked it back to prevent the gap from stretching any further. Neither team led by more than 5 points.
“We had chances,” head coach Liz McKeon said. “I knew we were in it, and I knew we were a talented, strong-enough team. We were playing hard for the entire four quarters.”
A cold spell clasped its icy hands around Westfield, 3-pointers veering off target and shots clanking off. The Blue Devils missed six consecutive 3-point attempts at one point in the first half. Westfield leaned on its stout defense to stay in the game.
Part of that was obstructing Sparta’s Ally Sweeney, a McDonald’s All-American nominee three days removed from a 45-point outing against Chatham. How did Westfield slow her down? “Sutton Factor,” McKeon said. Factor’s oppressive defense limited Sweeney to 18 points. “A quiet 18,” McKeon added. “I don’t feel by any means that she overtook the game.”
“She’s a gamer,” Factor said. “She’s a really good player, a really good ball handler. I’ll be right in her face—I was actually touching her hand on one of her shots, and it went in. There’s nothing I can really do about that.”
The play in question occurred at the end of the first quarter. Sweeney was just inside the 3-point line, fading away from the basket, Factor pasted to her. No room to breathe, much less shoot. The shot was flat, ugly. It went in.
Sparta ran incessant action for Sweeney, sending her curling along the baseline while teammates set screens.
But the Spartans had another option in Bailey Chapman. Chapman scored 15 points and went 8-8 from the free throw line, her clinical foul shooting in the waning minutes maintaining Sparta’s tenuous lead.
“Some of their other players stepped up, on the foul line especially, and that’s the reason we lost this game,” Factor said.
For Westfield, Ryan scored 12 points, Paige Gorczyca had 9 points and 8 rebounds, and Catie Carayannopoulos and Factor scored 7 points apiece.
“Our shots weren’t falling in the first half, so we needed to look to penetrate, and we were just a little slow rotating the ball on offense,” McKeon said. “We were taking our time, making it easier for them to defend us.”
Even for the offensive woes, Westfield manufactured the tough buckets it needed to give itself the chance to win. Ryan reeled off 7 points in a row midway through the fourth quarter to flip a 5-point deficit into a 2-point lead.
Sparta struck back, and with two minutes left and a 38–37 advantage, the Spartans entered time-wasting mode. Westfield regained possession with just over a minute to play but turned it over. Sparta extended its lead with a pair of free throws, and then Gorczyca missed a tying three before shaving the deficit to 1 point with a layup.
Sparta knocked down two more free throws, giving Westfield back the ball with 27 seconds. The Blue Devils brought the ball down the floor and called a timeout with 15 seconds left, setting up Ryan’s 3-point attempt and the foul shots.
“I wasn’t nervous, but I knew what I had to do,” Ryan said. “And unfortunately, I missed the first one.”
“Her on the foul line is by no means indicative of the entire game,” McKeon said. “Annie played four quarters. It doesn’t come down to just one play.”
Westfield next plays on Tuesday, in a home game at 7 p.m. against Columbia.
The first foul shot, the one that missed, did one of those graceful rolling things where it carves a semicircle on the back rim and jumps out the other side. A little bit beautiful. A little bit painful.
