Timely shooting, strong team defense and making foul shots down the stretch earned the Barrington High School girls basketball team a trip to meet Moses Brown in the 2018 Girls Basketball State Championship at the Ryan Center on Sunday, 3/11 at 3:30 p.m.

It was an epic defensive game with several lead changes. The Eagles had never beaten LaSalle at the Ryan Center, until today.

“We’ve never beaten them in this building. My teams have gotten our butts whipped by Lasalle in this building. Last year we lost by seven. That’s a testament to them. I can’t say enough about what a great program LaSalle has and how hard it is to come in here and beat a team like that. That’s all on my girls. They were mentally tough today,” said Eagles Head Coach Stephen Lenz, adding, “Every possession is a key against Lasalle. It can turn so quickly and we never let them get that classic LaSalle run.”

The Eagles tied the score 42-42 with 3:18 left in the game, when guard Cary Heterick made one of two free throws. For two minutes, both teams defended well, keeping the other team away from the basket and forcing a well guarded outside jump shot. Shots were taken and missed by both sides. At one point the ball came loose and Caroline Adamson dove for the ball slamming onto the floor with LaSalle’s Christina Kiser. The Eagles wanted the ball and were willing sacrifice their bodies to get it.

With the game still tied 42-42 with 1:06 to play in the game and time running out, Eagles senior guard Olivia Middleton fastened up and drove to the basket into the LaSalle gauntlet, slicing between Lasalle towers Ella Fiore and Jayme Decesare. She was fouled and knocked to the floor. Two free throws later she gave the Eagles the lead, 44-42.

“Hey, I give our girls credit because we made free throws down the stretch. And that’s what you need to do. It’s a great win for this program,” said coach Lenz.

With time ticking down, The Eagles played their best defense of the game. They forced LaSalle into swinging the ball to Fiore and she took a guarded 3-pointer, but it hit the rim. Alex Marinelli grabbed the rebound and quickly slid a pass to Heterick and she headed up court. The Eagles set up, and Heterick passed it back to Marinelli. With time running out, LaSalle’s Catherine Medeiros fouled her with 28 seconds left to play. Marinelli hit them both for a 46-42 Eagles lead.

“Caroline Adamson, Alex Marinelli, Liddy Hutchings, all got big rebounds for us. Especially in the clutch. I’m just so proud of our kids. We played just incredible defense today. The girls were relentless on the boards, so when LaSalle missed we were there to get the rebound. The whole second half that happened. We didn’t give them multiple shots,” said the coach.

After a LaSalle time out, the play went to Decesare and she threw up a jumper draped by Heterick. Andrea Kubas-Meyer grabbed the rebound handed it to Middleton who dribbled till she was fouled. She hit one of two free throws to make the lead 47-42 with 11 seconds left. But the game was over. The Eagles had won.

“That was very hard to do. That’s a very well coached team. They are very talented, athletic and I’m very glad my girls came here to play their best game. I think that our team is really motivated. So hopefully we can come back tomorrow and keep the run going,” coach Lenz said.

Scoring:

Alex Marinelli scored 12 points, Andrea Kubas-Meyer scored 11 points, Olivia Middleton scored 9, Cary Heterick scored 8, Liddy Hutchings scored 4, and Caroline Adamson scored 3.