Article By: Jeff Dertinger
With the game tied and one quarter to play, Mandy Mahler and the Delhi Raiders made absolutely sure this contest belonged to them.
Mahler drove hard to the net over and over again Tuesday, drawing fouls, making free throws and powering the Raiders to a 48-38 victory over the Holy Trinity Titans in the NSSAA senior girls basketball semifinals at Simcoe Composite School.
"Like our coach (Gerry Malo) said in the huddle, if you want to win this game, it's up to you, and we wanted it really, really bad," Mahler said.
The Delhi senior scored nine in the fourth and 20 points overall as the third-seeded Raiders pulled off the small upset to earn a spot in the Norfolk final, where they'll meet the undefeated Simcoe Sabres. Simcoe took care of business against Valley Heights in the second semifinal, winning 30-17.
To call this game an upset isn't entirely fair, as these teams were close throughout the year. Delhi got the best of Holy Trinity at the SCS tournament, while the Titans took both regular season contests. The Titans were also missing an extremely valuable member of their squad, as Jenna West was forced to watch from the bench due to injury.
Nevertheless, Tuesday's game packed plenty of drama. The two sides were feeling each other out in an even first quarter, with the Titans earning a slim 11-9 lead after eight minutes.
In the second, Delhi brought the pressure, flummoxing the Titans and creating turnovers aplenty. Corrie Cowell had the hot hand for the Raiders in the frame, dropping shots from just inside the arc to pace Delhi to a 23-15 halftime lead. Cowell finished with nine points on the night.
The Titans regrouped during the break though, and turned the tables on the girls in gold. The third quarter belonged to a hard-pressing Holy Trinity team that swarmed the ball carriers and forced bad passes. The result was a 14-6 run that left the sides all tied 29-29 heading to the fourth.
That's when Delhi got back to fundamentals. Point guard Morgan King made crisp passes to her outlets, and when that wasn't open, King drove the net and finished strong, scoring nine points herself on the evening. Mahler was un-guardable in the lane, and although she didn't always make her layups, she did make the free throws, going 7-for-8 in the quarter.
"I was frightened to death at the line, to be honest," Mahler said. "But I just took deep breaths, calmed down, and made the shots like I know I can."
The Titans kept working, but had no answer. Nicole Atkins finished with 10 points to lead her squad, with Kim Frazer scoring nine and Jenna Dierick eight.
As you would expect, in the second game of the night between Simcoe and Valley Heights, the unbeaten 8-0 team emerged victorious against the fourth-seeded 2-6 squad. But much to their credit, Valley Heights kept working and kept working, making the final score much closer than predicted.
Outside of Simcoe's 12-0 run in the second quarter, this was actually a one-point game -- although putting that way is a bit misleading. Simcoe led 20-4 at halftime before calling off the dogs, mixing and matching their lineup and trying out some new schemes on both ends of the floor.
"We worked well as a team today, that's something I'm happy about," said Sabres forward Sarah Allemang, who scored eight points to tie Alyssa Becque for the team lead. "In the second half we got a little scrambled, a little mixed up trying new plays and such -- it certainly wasn't our best showing."
The seven Bears players had plenty to be proud of, especially considering they played a team with exactly twice as many members. Their season isn't over either, as they now head to the CWOSSA single-A championships Nov. 16 at Rockway Mennonite School in Kitchener.
Here in Norfolk, it's down to Simcoe and Delhi, two schools that find themselves butting heads in the double-A division for the first time in years. Simcoe is the clear favourite and will have home court advantage for Thursday's final at 7:30 p.m., but Allemang knows her team can't take Delhi for granted.
"They're definitely going to bring a lot of energy, they're a high-energy club. We're going to have to step up our game to match that," she said.
Just minutes after completing a tour de force performance, Mahler was still feeling that energy and spoke with excitement about the game ahead.
"Comparing our first game to where we are now, there's no comparison," she said. "I truly think we have the ability to beat any team we play against."
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