Fox Lane Withstands a Second-Half Comeback by the Falcons
vs. Woodlands.
By Monica D’Ippolito – Late in the fourth quarter on Thursday afternoon, with his team’s earlier 26-point lead suddenly down to just two, Fox Lane girls’ basketball coach Kris Matts called a timeout. Just before his players headed back on the floor, he had them chant, “heart.”
Over the last three minute of the game against surging Woodlands, the host Foxes showed just how much heart they had, overcoming a raucous Falcon cheering section and some physical play and never surrendered the lead.
“The second half showed the heart and the determination,” Matts said after a 77-71 win in the first round of the Dapper McDonald Classic. “The grittiness, the determination and the refusal to lose, despite a really hard situation, that’s Fox Lane basketball. I’m really proud of them, but I’m sorry it had to be this tough on them.”
Although the walls inside the gym were quite familiar, if the Foxes didn’t know better they would have thought they were playing on Woodlands’ home floor with the huge turnout of Falcon fans.
“I said to someone at one point, ‘We’re in our own gym and their crowd is much crazier than ours,’” Fox Lane’s Emily O’Mahoney said. “I don’t think that’s how home-court advantage is supposed to work. But we realized we just had to tune them out and focus in on the game and we came out with the right result.”
The Foxes started the game with an offensive onslaught and may have had one of their best performances of the season in the first half. The ball moved fluidly and it seemed like everyone was a threat on the perimeter and in the paint.
Fox Lane outscored Woodlands 27-14 in the first quarter and increased the lead to 53-30 after the first half. Tara Lombardi ignited the Foxes’ offense as she started the night off with three consecutive baskets and totaled 12 of her 14 points in the first quarter.
With 1:15 remaining in the second quarter, O’Mahoney epitomized how the first half was going for Fox Lane by draining a corner 3-pointer while getting fouled. The junior guard connected on the free throw and completed her third 4-point play of her varsity career, which also extended the Foxes’ lead to 25.
“Honestly, I came out kind of slow offensively with my 3-point shots, so getting that was kind of just breaking the slump and boosted some confidence I think I really needed,” she said. “I think we really needed that, knowing how the second half wen. We knew we could pick it back up if we did it the first half.”
The second half began with a Falcons 11-1 run, led by a pair of athletic eighth graders, Teisha Hyman and Kelina Menard. Menard sank five 3s in the game, finishing with 23 points, while Hyman recorded 21 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and two blocks.
With 50 seconds remaining in the game, Menard intercepted a pass near midcourt and took the ball down the floor for a bucket and the foul. Her free throw cut the Fox Lane lead to 72-71. But that would be the last basket Woodlands would score, while the Foxes continued executing down the stretch. Great ball movement and then vision by Maria Violante, who had 24 points and 11 rebounds, led to a Kate Muller basket, extending the Foxes’ cushion to 74-71.
The Falcons were then forced to foul, but clutch free throws by O’Mahoney sealed the well-deserved win and earned the Foxes their 12th victory of the season.
“At one point, I was on the court, I was with my teammates, and I was just thinking if we want to make it to the County Center we’re going to have to be able to play with crowds like this,” O’Mahoney said. “Because teams in our section have really nice crowds, and knowing that we won and we played through this crowd, it really gives me hope that we can make it to the County Center.”
Unfortunately in the victory, Fox Lane lost one of its best players when Lombardi rolled her ankle with two minutes left. The sophomore guard was battling for a loose ball when she tumbled to the court.
“I’ve seen her get really knocked around and she smiles,” said Matts. “I’ve never seen her in this much pain. It’s an ankle, but when the girl ripped her down, her foot was caught underneath her so it could be anything at this point. I hope she’s OK, but we don’t know for a while.”
The Foxes played in the championship game of the Dapper McDonald Classic Saturday against Harrison, defeating the host Huskies 53-36.
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