Shipley School upsets Germantown Academy in PAISAA quarters
WHITEMARSH >> Saturday night wasn’t supposed to be the end for Germantown Academy. The Patriots had won the Inter-Ac while going undefeated in the league, held a 24-2 record, and were the odds-on favorite to win the PAISAA tournament as the No.1 seed.
Unfortunately for them, their season was spoiled for the third straight year at the hands of eight-seeded Shipley School, as GA fell 56-50 in upset fashion.
“I think we’ve been lucky enough that when we’ve played them we’ve been able to play good games on those days,” Shipley head coach Kevin Costello said. “This is a much different group than we had the past two years, and it was for both sides, but when you get two very good successful programs you’re going to play each other late in the season and sometimes it’s just your day.”
Saturday was definitely Shipley’s day. The normally potent GA offensive unit shot just 29 percent from the field and looked somewhat out of sync.
Even though the team had a poor shooting day, leading scorer and Inter-Ac MVP Erin Lindahl did her part. The senior guard finished with a team-high 20 points including four three-pointers, but it was not enough to bring the Patriots all the way back.
“We just wanted to play good team defense on them, and Yndiah (Bobo) did a great job on her (Lindahl),” Costello said. “They run a lot of plays for her and run a lot of good stuff and she was able to get free a couple times but we were able to limit their other players a little bit and that’s what benefitted us in this one.”
It was a quick start for the Gators, as they shot out to an 11-point (19-8) lead after the first quarter of play.
Freshman guard Lauren Ross was a huge part of the fast start for Shipley. Ross finished the first quarter with nine points, using her quickness to blow by defenders and finish in the lane.
Points in the paint were a huge issue for the Patriots all night long, and a lot of that can be attributed to the absence of senior center Lauren Oeth, who missed the game due to injury.
“We’re playing without our starting center Lauren (Oeth), and she’s a three-year starter so it was a tough matchup for us to not have her in there,” GA head coach Sherri Retif said. “We contained them somewhat down low but they went to the line 23 times in the second half. That’s a product of us letting them have a physical game.”
Whether it was an offensive rebound underneath, or an inability to defend down low, GA could not get a stop when they needed one.
Even after the hot start from the Gators, it looked as though the Patriots would inevitably pull out the win, as anticipated.
With just over four minutes left, Lindahl put GA ahead 48-47 after an offensive rebound and put back. That looked to give the Patriots the momentum they needed to eek out a win, but they could not get a stop when they needed one.
“That’s the sort of game that you need against them,” Costello said. “GA is a great basketball team, a great basketball program, and you have to be able to take a punch and come right back. I thought every time it looked like it was starting to go their way we’d get to the free throw line, or we’d get to the rim, or we’d get an offensive rebound. We made those little plays that get you to a win when it mattered.”
Just as she did in the first quarter, Ross stepped up for Shipley, netting seven more points in the final eight minutes to seal the deal for her team.
The loss is a devastating one for GA. This is a team that had a PAISAA state championship in mind after the successful year they had, but even after the loss, the Patriots accomplished a lot of the things they set out to do at the beginning of the year.
“We’re not going to reflect so much on tonight’s loss, we’re going to reflect on all the great memories we have with these kids,” Retif said. “This was a magical season, they won the Inter-Ac championship, went 12-0 (in the league) and those are the memories we’ll have about this year.”
