Mercy Falls Just Short in Class LL Title Game

Mohegan Sun just isn’t a lucky place for Mercy. For the second straight season, the Tigers were denied a state championship there at the buzzer. 

Nicole Anderson hit a go-ahead free throw with 3.7 seconds remaining and Amber Bepko's harried shot with one second left fell short as ninth-seeded Career of New Haven prevailed 39-37 over the No. 2 Tigers in the Class LL final at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville Saturday. 

It was another devastating setback at Mohegan for Mercy (24-3), which lost to Norwich Free Academy here last season when a game-tying 3-pointer rolled out at the buzzer. This one hurts just as much because the Tigers, who had beaten Career twice this season, had a five-point lead with just over four minutes left. Mercy overcame an atrocious opening half (4-of-26) and a 12-point second-half deficit, but Career (22-5) closed the game on a 7-0 run. 

"We knew it was coming," Career coach Kevin Walton said of the Tigers' comeback. "You're not going to beat Mercy by 20 in the final."

Mercy coach Tim Kohs saw it coming as well. 

“I never thought we were in trouble,” Kohs said of his team’s ugly first half. 

He had reason to be confident. The Tigers had a similar start in the semifinal win over Glastonbury.

“I knew if we started to play like we were capable of we would come back, which we did,” Kohs said.  “We just didn’t make plays down the stretch.” 

Mercy would like to have one play in particular back.

With the game tied at 37, Bepko, who sat most of the second quarter with foul trouble, came up with a steal with just over a minute left and sent an outlet pass to Maria Wesleyj. But Wesleyj missed a wide-open layup that would have given the Tigers a 39-37 lead, and Career grabbed the rebound.

After a jump ball was awarded to the Panthers, Tanaya Atkinson was fouled. She then grabbed her own miss of the front end of a 1-and-1, allowing Career to milk 1:18 off the clock. 

“We didn’t get a big rebound and that hurt us,” Kohs said. “If we get that rebound it’s a different game. Now they’re chasing us.” 

Instead, Mercy was in a Catch-22. 

“We were in that mode where we didn’t want to go get her (Anderson),” Kohs said. “We would have put them in the bonus so you don’t want to be too aggressive.” 

The Panthers passed the ball around, letting precious seconds tick off the clock. Anderson (11 points) let the clock run down to about 5 seconds before driving to the right on Sadie Edwards, who reached in.

With a deafening roar in the background, Anderson missed the first free throw. After a timeout she hit the second. 

“It was pretty tough, but I had to just block them out,” Anderson said of the screaming Mercy fans at that end of the basket. But even after her free throw, Anderson and the Panthers had to wait what seemed like an eternity to celebrate. 

“(It seemed) about three hours,” Walton said of the final 3.7 seconds.  “They persevered. They understood the game plan at the end and that just comes from preparation.” 

Mercy had two chances to win it.  The first inbounds pass sailed the length of the court out of bounds. After Nicole Bentley split a pair of free throws, Edwards (16 points) was fouled at midcourt with one second left. Unfortunately, for Mercy, the Panthers were two fouls shy of exceeding the limit. 

Bepko took the ensuing side inbound pass and fell to the ground as contact was made. Her shot was a feeble attempt that barely reached the basket in the air. 

“The last shot, I don’t know if the ref got a good look at it," Kohs said.  "She did get hit. I don’t know if it’s a good call or not. But that play’s not … We had chances. We needed to make a shot up five.” 

Edwards got the Tigers, who trailed 25-13 at halftime, in position to win it by scoring 10 of her 16 points in the third quarter. Her layup off a backdoor cut tied the game at 32 with 6:54 left in the fourth and Bepko (8 points) gave Mercy its first lead since 2-0 with a 3-pointer from the right wing.

Cassandra Santoro’s layup made it a five-point game, but Bria Moore (13 points) led the Career comeback. Moore’s 3-point play tied the game at 37 with 3:25 to play, setting the stage for the frantic final seconds. 

The first-half performance (the Tigers were held to one field goal in the second quarter) was something that will hang with Bepko (who's headed to the University of Hartford next season) and Mercy for a long time.

Bepko, tears running down her face, acknowledged that nerves could have played a factor. 

“Going into it you don’t want to believe (you’re nervous),” she said. “You don’t want to think you’re nervous. You don’t want to think your team's nervous. It’s until that buzzer sounds that everyone might get a little riled up and nervous, because you can say you’re not nervous until that tip off comes."

"Awful performance in the first half," Kohs said. "Fifteen percent is hard to do. Somehow we found a way to do it. Did it cost us the game? I don't think so. We had a five-point lead and a chance to win it.  But it set the tone, I thought, and it wasn't a good tone."