The wait is finally over for coach Regan Burns and the Scotia-Glenville girls basketball team.
Valerie Bethka’s putback of Katie DeVantier’s missed jump shot with a minute left in the fourth quarter gave the Lady Tartans their first win of the season, a 40-38 Foothills Council victory over South Glens Falls Saturday.
It’s a weight off the shoulders for us (the coaching staff) and the kids, said Burns, who earned her first win. `We’ve been in a lot of close games, but to win now means these kids believe they can win.`
South High (4-4 league, 4-9 overall) tied the game at 38 on Lauren Carruthers’ three-pointer with less than two minutes left. After missed opportunities at both ends, Scotia-Glenville (1-7, 1-13) got the ball into the hands of DeVantier, one of the team’s leading scorers. DeVantier missed the shot, but Bethka was alone underneath the basket to collect the rebound and hit the game-winning shot.
`It’s the little things ` the boxing out, the rebounding ` that makes the difference,` said Burns.
The Lady Tartans had to dodge some bullets in the final 10 seconds to earn the win, though. South High had a shot to tie, but missed it. Scotia-Glenville collected the rebound and got the ball ahead to Laura Coderre, who was promptly fouled with 3.8 seconds left. Coderre missed the front end of two foul shots, but South High lost the rebound out of bounds with 1 second left to end its comeback hopes.
`South Glens Falls is a scrappy team. They’re not going to give up,` said Burns.
Scotia-Glenville needed a comeback of its own to have a chance of winning. The Lady Tartans trailed 22-15 at halftime before turning things around with their full-court press. They scored six points before South High crossed the midcourt line, thanks to two Bulldog turnovers. That sparked a 13-3 run that put Scotia-Glenville ahead 28-25.
The press Scotia-Glenville used harkened back to Burns’ playing days at Voorheesville High School, where she and her Blackbird teammates won a state class C title and reached the state semifinals twice in a three-year span.
`We try to create turnovers, and we forced a lot of turnovers,` said Burns. `We still didn’t convert as much as we’d have liked to, but we took them out of their offense.`
The first true sign that Scotia-Glenville had that it might win the game came at the end of the third quarter. After South High made some free throws to tie the score at 28, DeVantier launched a desperation three-pointer at the buzzer that hit nothing but net to put the Lady Tartans ahead 31-28.
Scotia-Glenville extended its lead to five points early in the fourth quarter, but South High battled back with six straight points to go ahead 34-33. Rather than fold, the Lady Tartans regained the lead midway through the period and limited the Bulldogs to four points the rest of the way.
`The second half just came down to their effort,` said Burns. `They took the time (at halftime) to talk to each other, and they came out and played hard.`
Gina Cappuccitti led Scotia-Glenville with 15 points, while Alisha Zink contributed eight points and DeVantier added seven points. Chelsea Carruthers had 14 points for South High.
Scotia-Glenville will try to keep the momentum going Saturday when it travels to Queensbury.
`In our conference, on any given night, any team can win,` said Burns. `We just needed that win to get them to believe. I think they believe now.“