FARMINGDALE, N.Y. – Andrea Desvignes took as long as she could, and fired an NBA-distance three-pointer as the buzzer sounded, draining the long ball to advance No. 1 seed Farmingdale State College (18-8) past Mount Saint Mary College (9-17) with a 46-43 victory in the Skyline Conference Championship semifinals Thursday evening.
The Knights found themselves at the wrong end of a defensive struggle, trailing 37-26 with 8:25 to play to the Rams, who went 12-0 against Skyline opponents in the regular season. An 8-1 run for the underdogs cut the deficit to four, and initiated the Knights' comeback down the home stretch. With 3:42 left, freshman forward
Bridget Kelly (Farmington, Conn.) split her free throws, leaving the Knights down by just two.
Desvignes turned a steal by Nicole Lanteri into a fast-break layup to put the top-seeded Rams up by four again. Senior forward
Natalie Candarelli (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y.) then found her way to the charity stripe, where the Skyline's sixth-ranked free-throw shooter made both chances to get the Knights back within two. Desvignes followed with another two points, but senior guard
Lauren Romao (Brick, N.J.) responded with a jumper after pump-faking a defender to enter the final 90 seconds trailing, 43-41.
The Knights forced Jeanette Spillane to turn the ball over, finally giving the Knights a chance to tie with under a minute to play. Candarelli responded by draining a jumper, knotting it up at 43-43 with 58 ticks on the clock. Marlaina Sherman was unsuccessful on a jumper, but Spillane was in the right place to get an offensive rebound for the Rams. When she tried to put the ball back up, Kelly swatted it away, but the Rams once again kept possession.
Farmingdale State drew a foul with 7.8 to play, but luckily for the Knights, they had one left to give. Head coach
Michael Coppolino called timeout to help his team regroup for one final defensive stand. Desvignes received the inbound, and took it well beyond the three-point arc to wait for the clock to run down. She took her time, and certainly did not look to pass, as the Rams' best player waited until the very last second to fire off a very long three, swishing the heave as the backboard lit up to move the Rams into the championship game.
The No. 1-seeded Rams will now host No. 2 College of Mount Saint Vincent on Saturday, Feb. 28, in the Skyline Conference Championship finals. Mount Saint Vincent defeated No. 3 Sage Colleges, 69-61, in Riverdale, N.Y. Thursday evening. The Knights, making the Skyline Playoffs after a one-year hiatus, and for the first time under Coppolino's tutelage, are eliminated from postseason play after giving the Skyline leaders a run for their money.
Desvignes finished with a team-high 16 points, while Sherman registered a double-double with 10 points and 10 boards.
Freshman forward
Jessica Rini (Seaford, N.Y.) was the best player on the court Thursday evening, reaching season-high totals with 19 points and 15 rebounds for the fifth double-double of her rookie campaign. Candarelli, who was named to the 2015 Skyline Women's Basketball All-Conference Second Team on Wednesday, banked 12 points and pulled down nine boards in the final game of her collegiate career. Romao, also set to graduate this year, made the Knights' only two long balls of the night en route to a 10-point effort.
Neither team found much success on offense in the Skyline semifinal matchup, as both squads shot under 30 percent. The Knights turned the ball over 24 times, but they only led to 12 points for the home team. Farmingdale State controlled the paint, outscoring the Knights from in close, 28-10.
After winning just five games in 2013-14, the Knights took significant strides forward to make it back to the Skyline Conference Championship tournament. The Knights will graduate three seniors in Candarelli, Romao and
Audrey Pooley (Middletown, N.Y.), as well as junior
Nicole Scicutella (Massapequa, N.Y.).
Follow the Knights on Twitter at
@MSMCKnights
