Whitman girls basketball fights back, but falls short in state semifinal

TROY — The Whitman girls basketball team faced a decision trailing by 13 points with less than five minutes left in the state Class AAA semifinals. The Wildcats could have withdrawn, call their season a success just to reach Troy, and accept their fate. Or, they could play their hardest basketball of the season and see what could become of the final few minutes.

Anyone who has seen the Wildcats play the last few seasons knew that the first option wasn’t a true possibility.

“We never go away,” senior point guard Iris Hoffman said. “If we get into a scoring drought, there’s always time left and we’re going to come back. You can never count us out regardless of the score because we’ll push through.”

Whitman did inch back, cutting the deficit to five points with less than two minutes left, but ultimately fell to Our Lady of Lourdes, 60-51, at Hudson Valley Community College on Saturday.

“I knew they would fight,” Whitman coach Dan Trebour said. “It’s just such a high-character team that that doesn’t surprise me or anyone that’s seen them play, I’m sure.”

Whitman won its second straight county title and first Long Island championship this season. The Wildcats reached their first state semifinal in program history and finished the season at 21-4.

“I can’t say enough about the girls,” Trebour said. “It’s just a season full of great memories when you have kids that work hard, buy into the idea of competing for one another and sacrificing themselves for one another. I’m going to miss the seniors, but I’m sure we’ll have a similar group of unselfish kids returning.”

Whitman opened the game on a 7-0 run, but Our Lady of Lourdes countered with a 17-4 run over nine minutes to take a 17-11 lead with 2:31 left in the second quarter. Hoffman and Paige Hiller hit back-to-back three-pointers before Our Lady of Lourdes scored the final basket of the half for a 19-17 lead.

Whitman used an 11-4 run over three minutes to take a 31-28 lead with 3:49 left in the third quarter. But Our Lady of Lourdes (24-1) answered again by scoring the game’s next 10 points to take a 38-31 advantage with 1:26 left and never trailed again. 

“We had a great long run and I’m grateful for everything,” senior forward Kathleen O’Mara said. “We worked our butts off to get here and we were excited to get up to states finally for the first time in Whitman girls [basketball] history, so it was great to represent.”

Claire Wagner made four three-pointers in the fourth quarter - her only 12 points of the game -  to help Our Lady of Lourdes pull away late. Trebour said Whitman watched film of about five Our Lady of Lourdes games without seeing Wagner make a significant impact.

“I felt that was the difference and that’s what winning teams do,” Trebour said. “Next kid in. But that was disappointing. You scheme and you study kids and this stranger to us comes in and starts killing it.”

Hoffman had 23 points and seven rebounds, Jazmynn Julien added 10 points and seven rebounds and O’Mara had seven points and 11 rebounds. Hoffman’s final points, two foul shots with 32.3 seconds left, gave her exactly 1,000 varsity points in her final high school game, Trebour said.

“It’s been a dream,” Hoffman said. “Five years on this team and I’ve played with so many different girls. This program is everything. I’ve been with it since fourth grade, I’ve been playing for [Coach] Trebour since then, so I thank him for everything he’s ever done and it’s been a great experience.”

“I hope they understand it was a special ride,” Trebour said. “Back-to-back county champs and to come up here. I thought they had a really good showing against a good team. Hopefully, they don’t have a bitter taste in their mouth.”