LAGRANGE PARK Five Nazareth seniors hoped on Thursday to win their final game on the home court, and for four quarters it looked possible.
But Senior Night proved to be another bump during a rough season as the Roadrunners (9-18) fell to Taft 48-46 in overtime.
“We basically lost eight or nine seniors from last year so I guess you could call it a rebuilding year,” Roadrunners’ coach Kim Connell said. “Other than Maggie Harrington, for the other seniors this is their first experience with playing time and I give them credit because there is no quit in them. They fight and claw and their record doesn’t indicate the heart and fight they have.”
Harrington, a 5-10 senior forward, spent the season applying the lessons she learned from previous Nazareth teammates.
“I would be upset if I heard that anyone gave up,” Harrington said. “We’ve always said, ‘You finish the season for the seniors and that’s because you want to send them off on a good note.’ That’s what we really tried to do last year and that’s what I think we’re trying to do this year.”
The team’s five seniors — Harrington, Raven Gant, Peggy Masterson, Addie Doyle and Kelli Felbinger — all started against Taft (17-9) and played well as Nazareth held a 13-5 lead early in the second quarter.
Then the Roadrunners’ offense went cold. They didn’t hit a field goal for the rest of the half and went into the break tied at 16-16.
The drought continued in the third quarter and suddenly the eight-point lead was a nine-point Nazareth deficit at 29-20. The Roadrunners persisted and pulled within 32-28 after three quarters.
The fourth quarter remained tight and Maggie Harrington’s younger sister, Mary Clare Harrington, had a potential game-winning 3-pointer rim out in the final seconds of regulation with the score tied 41-41.
From there, it was all Taft, as the Eagles opened with a 7-2 spurt. Doyle (11 points) sunk a trey at the buzzer but it didn’t change the result.
“We definitely lost momentum in the second quarter and Taft is a good team and they capitalized on it,” Doyle said. “I think it definitely showed our character that we kept fighting and didn’t turn away once it looked like the game was over to most people. We knew it wasn’t and we came back and at least we forced overtime.”
Doyle, who also plays tennis and soccer at Nazareth, is glad to have been a part of Nazareth’s athletics for four years.
“I could not have had a better basketball experience,” Doyle said. “I think that Naz really motivates their athletes in the classroom and on the court and I know that’s helped me. I’ve just had so much fun and it’s been a great group of girls I’ve been playing with for four years.”
“Naz has been a great experience for me too,” Maggie Harrington said. “Naz does a really good job supporting their athletes. I’ll take away a lot from being at Naz.”
Maggie Harrington had eight points while younger sister Mary Clare Harrington added 11. Freshman Emily Czuhajewski led Taft with 15 points.