The Cooperstown girls basketball team saw its outstanding season come to an end on Thursday as the Hawkeyes fell to Stillwater 59-37 in the Class C State Semifinals at Hudson Valley Community College.
Lanie Nelen was the leading scorer in the loss with 13 points while Polly Kennedy scored nine, Mia Kaltenbach had six and Brenna Seamon netted five.
Addison Thornton and Andie Luskin each scored 18 points for Stillwater while Maddie Chatt had 11 points.
Despite facing a large deficit for most of the second half, the Hawkeyes never stopped competing, an effort that drew praise from head coach Mike Niles.
“Obviously we’d rather have a better showing tonight,” he said. “The kids that played at the front of our press, Brenna and Mia, have fantastic energy. It’s not just that they’re in good shape but they’re very driven, emotional kids. Fantastic effort from them up front.
“Polly’s been outstanding here in our sectional run. She was carrying us today for a little while. And Bella [Reich] is such a special kid. I’m glad that she got in the book today, got a bucket, because she’s just a wonderful kid. She hasn’t missed a summer league game since seventh grade. I’m just happy for her to contribute in this place which is kind of our mecca for New York State.”
Cooperstown opened the game with some strong defense. But Stillwater responded with a 7-0 run capped by a three-point play by Thornton that made it 13-8 late in the second quarter.
Too many turnovers by the Hawkeyes and great passing by the Warriors led to a 12-0 Stillwater run to end the quarter with the score 18-8.
Cooperstown’s offense continued to struggle in the second quarter, as the Hawkeyes were unable to find any rhythm while consistently being outrebounded at both ends of the court.
It seemed like every shot was a tough shot for Cooperstown. With 1:30 left in the half, they had just 11 points on the board, though five late points by Kennedy cut the deficit to 27-16 at the half.
Any thoughts of a second-half rally were put to bed by a 7-0 Stillwater run to open the third quarter. As the game progressed, Cooperstown simply wasn’t getting enough scores on offense and enough stops on defense and went into the fourth quarter down 47-20.
“I wasn’t comfortable with trying to install a bunch of new stuff in just a few days,” Niles said about the team’s offensive approach. “You saw in the second half, we had two or three actions that we were comfortable with. But really we didn’t get on the same page enough to steal any momentum.”
Even though the game was effectively over, Cooperstown’s press defense never let up for a second, coming up with a handful of steals down the stretch to trim the deficit a bit.
But Stillwater was able to run out the clock to advance to Friday’s state title game and end the Hawkeyes’ season at 21-5.
“I said, ‘This might sound a little crazy but we want to be here and have it hurt this bad if we don’t win,’” Niles said about his postgame address to his team. “So we’re going to start working in June to have the best shot to be back here. It hurts because it was worth it, it hurts because they’re connected and played well.”
He made special note of his senior quartet of Kaltenbach, Kennedy, Reich and Seamon, a group that just a few years ago played on a JV team that had only six players. Niles said despite the long odds they faced, he knew they had what it took to make an impact on the program.
“I said, ‘These kids are special. These kids and their families can handle it. They’re not gonna mess it up.’ and those kids basically got us here to Hudson Valley,” he said. “That’s very fulfilling to watch and be part of as a coach.”
Stillwater 59, Cooperstown 37
S … 18 9 20 12 — 59
C… 8 8 4 17 — 37
S: Addison Thornton 7 1-1 18, Cassandra Benoit 0 0-0 0, Ana Parella 1 0-0 2, Miranda Price 1 1-2 3, Leiann Thompson 0 0-0 0, Maddie Chatt 5 0-0 11, Andie Luskin 7 4-5 18, Mya Price 0 0-0 0, Sadie Hazen 0 0-0 0, Emersyn Patenaude 3 1-2 7, Kara Powers 0 0-0 0. Totals: 24 7-10 59
C: Emma Johson 1 0-0 2, Lanie Nelen 5 0-3 13, Mia Kaltenbach 3 0-0 6, Katie Crippen 0 0-2 0, Brenna Seamon 2 1-2 5, Polly Kennedy 2 5-7 9, Bella Reich 1 0-3 2. Totals: 14 6-17 37
Three-point baskets: S 4 (Thornton 3, Chatt); C 2 (Nelen 2)