By DAVE O’SULLIVAN
Staff Writer
MOORESTOWN — There was no way the Absegami High girls basketball team should have won its South Jersey Group 3 semifinal matchup against host and second-seeded Moorestown on Thursday night. The sixth-seeded Braves were down by 12 points at halftime and had scored just seven points in the entire first half.
That’s not a misprint.
Seven points.
A 3-pointer from star guard Reese Downey and a couple of buckets from Kaylynn Blackwell and Allison Giraldo. That was it — in 16 minutes of action.
The Braves were down by 10 points heading into the fourth quarter. By the end of regulation, two starters had fouled out and three others were in serious foul trouble.
The odds were stacked against them like cases of soda at Shop Rite prior to the July 4 weekend.
But in one of the most miraculous comebacks in recent South Jersey memory, Absegami pulled off a stunner, somehow forcing overtime, then fighting back from a deficit nearly the entire extra frame to win, 51-49. The Braves punched their ticket to the sectional championship game, where they’ll travel to top-seeded and heavily favored Mainland at noon on Saturday.
They’ll start focusing on the Mustangs today, but the long ride home on Thursday night was one of joyous celebration as Gami scored its second straight upset, having taken down No. 3 Clearview on Tuesday.
“It was a great game. With Allison and Kay fouling out we really had to work hard to win this game,” said freshman forward Meghan Johansen.
Johansen was a huge reason why the Braves are still playing while the Quakers are headed to the offseason. She started getting a few minutes when Blackwell got into some foul trouble, then rose to the occasion late in the fourth quarter and overtime after Blackwell had fouled out. She averages just four points per game and had only two prior to the fourth quarter, but finished with nine huge points. She hit 1-of-2 from the free-throw line with 14 seconds left in regulation to force overtime, then put back a missed shot by Downey with eight seconds left in overtime for the winning basket. She also hit a pair of free throws earlier in overtime that got Absegami to within 45-42 after Julia Blong had nailed a big 3-pointer to give the Quakers the lead.
“With the crowd cheering like that — I don’t know, I was just really hoping I would make (my free throws). I’m glad I did,” Johansen said.
“Going into overtime really showed us we had to pull through the entire game; we had to work hard the entire game, even through fouls. Making foul shots really helped us out in the end,” Downey said. “(Meghan) did a great job. I was definitely off a little today, and I knew that from the start. But I knew we had Meghan and Kay down low to box out and get rebounds for us. Every time I missed a shot they were right there to put it back up for a layup.”
“Every game is like this for us. Give Moorestown credit, their coach (Matt Emerson) is a helluva coach. They gave us fits in the first half. We only had seven points. I told my girls, ‘no matter what happens, we’re going to fight the rest of the game.’ We felt like we could clean a few things up and put a little bit of pressure on them, and that worked. We had some kids step up. Lilia Ortiz, she might have played 15 seconds in our last game and came out and was a superstar today. And Meghan Johansen, what can I say? She might have six games of basketball under her belt before this year. To see what they did was special and it goes to show you, these kids have been fighting all year,” said Absegami coach Bob Lasko. “We never made an excuse that we were shorthanded with injuries, we just fought through every game. We didn’t listen to anybody. We knew nobody was giving us a chance to win these games, but we said we’re going to do everything our way, and when we go out, we’ll go out our way.
“You have to give these kids more credit than me. I’m just trying to keep them focused and keep them going. Two of our starters fouled out, and if you told me that was going to happen I’d tell you we’re probably not going to win. These kids are a bunch of good kids. A few of them are basketball players, more of them are just athletes — but they are great kids who have a lot of heart. We’re tickled to death. We’ll go into the championship game and just see what happens.”
Absegami (16-12, Cape-Atlantic American) went on a short run to start the second half, cutting the deficit to 19-13, but after a timeout Moorestown (25-6, 10-0 Olympic Patriot) was able to extend its lead back up to 10 points, 25-15, behind a big 3-pointer from Blong, who finished with a team-high 15 points — which was huge, considering Moorestown was without leading scorer Analyse Intenzo, a sophomore who has scored more than points this season. That was the theme throughout the second half, Absegami making runs and Moorestown answering them, until the Braves were finally able to close the gap in the final two minutes through the use of pressure defense and some incredible plays by Downey.
With the Braves trailing by four, 41-37, with just more than a minute to go, Downey fed Blackwell underneath with an acrobatic pass. Moments later, Ortiz converted off a steal to tie the game, 41-41. Mae Murphy hit 1-of-2 from the line with 41 seconds to play in the fourth quarter to give Moorestown a 42-41 lead, but Johansen came up big from the line with 14 seconds to go. Moorestown had two cracks at a final shot in the last seven seconds, but misfired on both, sending the game to overtime.
“This is what the season prepares us for,” said Downey, referencing Absegami’s tough schedule. “In the beginning of the season we came out a little slowly, but we realized we need to work as a team. We’ve been getting better every game, and I think today showed how good we can be when we work together.”
Lasko said he put the game in the hands of Downey — a junior who already has scored more than 1,000 points — in the final moments, and would as long as she’s wearing brown-and-gold. She scored just 12 points, well below her season average, but affected the game in so many other ways, particularly with defense and ball handling in pressure situations.
“She’s an amazing player,” he said. “She had a rough time seeing two, three or four defenders the entire game, and that isn’t easy. I kept telling her (in the fourth quarter and overtime), ‘they have five team fouls, you make them beat you. I don’t care if all five defenders are on you, do what you have to do.’”
Some might be surprised to see Absegami in a sectional final after posting a 3-10 divisional record in the CAL, but the Braves have played a ton of tough teams, including Mainland, Wildwood Catholic, Middle Township and Egg Harbor Township.
“With this group, we’ve had a really hard schedule. We lost some really close games in the beginning of the year to some really good teams, and I don’t know if they believe your message all the time. It’s tough when you lose your first game at the buzzer to Middle, you lose a one-point game to Spirit. I kept telling them that, ‘yes, it stinks that we’re losing these games, but it doesn’t matter. What matters is the state playoffs. We just have to believe that we have a chance in the state playoffs,’” Lasko said. “You could tell in the Clearview game that we believed. And that’s really all that counts, is that they believe, and whatever happens, happens.
“We’ve had some nice playoff wins, but nothing tops this,” he added. “We’re going to enjoy this game. I’m going to let them enjoy it, but unfortunately for them (on Friday) we’re back to film and we’re back to practice. The ‘this might be our last practice’ speech is getting old, so we’re just going to enjoy this ride. This is the first South Jersey final in a long time for Absegami. I can’t be more proud of my kids.”
WHAT’S NEXT: No. 6 Absegami at No. 1 Mainland Regional for the South Jersey Group 3 championship on Saturday at noon. Moorestown’s season is complete.
Contact Dave O’Sullivan: sullyglorydays@gmail.com; on Twitter @GDsullysays
