Garden City Loses Heartbreaker

TROY - Garden City coach Anthony Sparacia will remember the last 2.1 seconds of the New York State Class A girls basketball semifinal game for a long time.

Bridget Carney took an out-of-bounds pass from Julia Mai and scored to help Averill Park nip Garden City, 43-41, Friday afternoon at HudsonValley Community College (HVCC).

Carney had a strong game with 11 points and seven rebounds. Brooke O'Shea also delivered 11 points and pulled down six rebounds.

Garden City featured Barbara Sullivan with 19 points and Katie Trimmer added 11 points and eight rebounds.

"I don't think it's set in yet," said Carney. "It was a set play. I think Peekskill is a great team."

Averill Park came out strong with an 11-5 lead and with 3:09 left in the first period Christina Mangels picked up her third foul and went to the sidelines.

Taylor Carpentier and Sullivan each hit field goals to draw Garden City closer, 11-9, and when the quarter ended it was Averill Park on top, 13-11.

The game went back and forth as Garden City used baskets by Trimmer, Sullivan and Kim Ryan to lead  17-15.

JoJo Burridge scored and Alison Nunziato drained a three-pointer and Averill Park took a 20-17 lead with 1:25 left before halftime.

Sullivan converted a layup and got Garden City within 20-19 at halftime.

The teams battled in the third quarter and were deadlocked, 26-26, before Mai's layup with two seconds left gave Averill Park a 28-26 advantage.

The fourth quarter began with each team connecting on two three-pointers. Mai took the spotlight down the stretch with a field goal and five foul shots. 

Averill Park will now play Peekskill for the Class A championship today at 7 p.m. at HVCC.

"She's (Carney) a great player. Nothing you can really do about it. I thought we were going into overtime. They did a great job," said Sparacia.

Averill Park had a 41-39 lead with 22 seconds left. Sullivan delivered a layup nine seconds later to deadlock the game.

Garden City gained control of the ball under the Averill Park basket with 2.1 seconds left but was called for a violation and the ball went to Averill Park.

Mai took the ball out of bounds and looked for an open player. She found Carney a few feet away from the basket and the junior forward made the basket and Averill Park began celebrating.

"They're a very well-coached team. The coach is a great coach. He outcoached me that's for sure. I couldn't be prouder of my team. And you don't win or lose a game in 2.1 seconds," said Sparacia.

Box Score

Garden City 

Ryan 2-0-5

Sullivan 9-1-19

Stein 0-1-1

Trimmer 5-1-11

Stutzmann 1-0-3

Carpentier 1-0-2

Totals 18-3-41

Averill Park

Carney 5-1-11

O'Shea 3-5-11

Mai 2-0-5

Ryan 1-1-3

Nunziato 3-0-9

Burridge 1-2-4

Totals 15-9-43

Garden City 11  8  7  15 - 41

Averill Park 13  7  6  17 - 43

3-point goals: Nunziato 3, Mai, Ryan, Stutzmann