Lancers prevail in overtime thriller Lancers prevail in overtime thriller (March 04, 2005)

St. Francis overcomes Westmoor star's 33-point effort

By Scott Campbell

Thank goodness for the freshmen. With its season on the line, St. Francis received key contributions in overtime from two first-year players, Rachel Gate and Kimberly Benedetti, and outlasted Westmoor 72-70 in a nail-biting victory on Feb. 26.

The teams were knotted at 70-70 with 15.9 seconds remaining when Gate stole the ball from Rams guard Daniela Nopuente, a play that led to the tie-breaking free throw from Lancers guard Cynthia Curley.

"She was getting nervous, and I knew I had her," said Gate of Nopuente, who scorched St. Francis for 33 points. "I knew where they were going. They had to go to her. She was their team."

Trailing 71-70, Westmoor again turned to its star for the potential game-winning shot. As Nopuente's jump shot fell short, Benedetti out-jumped everyone to secure the rebound and the victory. The Lancer forward's free throw with 0.1 seconds left was the icing on the cake that set off a wild celebration in front of the St. Francis bench.

"We ended up with ... two freshmen that were on JV at the beginning of the year on the floor with a sophomore and two juniors," said St. Francis coach Ashley Hill. "They kept fighting. These kids just didn't give up."

The CCS quarterfinal began with No. 6 seed St. Francis jumping to an early 15-11 lead against No. 3 Westmoor (26-7), thanks to the outstanding play of Rebecca Tratter. The junior center, who controlled the paint with 23 points and 15 rebounds, scored eight in the first-quarter to give her team the momentum.

"I was trying to get everybody pumped up to tell them that, 'We can win this,'" said Tratter.

Westmoor fought back to force a 33-33 halftime tie behind a brilliant performance by Nopuente. The Rams junior guard connected on her first five 3-point attempts en route to 22 first-half points.

With Gate, who recorded four steals, assigned to slow down Nopuente in the second half, the Rams turned to sophomore guard Rose Thompson. Thompson's eight quick points led to a 9-0 Westmoor run to open the quarter.

St. Francis crawled back to within 49-47 at the end of the third quarter behind the determination of senior guard Kim Mooney, who scored seven of her 12 points in the period.

The Lancers were again forced to play from behind as a Nopuente jump shot, with four minutes remaining, gave the Rams a 60-52 lead.

Frustrated early by Westmoor's aggressive defense, Curley began to heat up when her team needed her the most. The junior guard's three-point play, after being fouled on a hesitation lay-up, brought the Lancers to within 62-59.

But the determined Rams showed their mettle by maintaining a 66-64 lead with six seconds remaining.

With Tratter double-teamed, the Lancers turned to Curley to save their season. After missing an elbow jump shot, Curley grabbed her own rebound and made a left-handed lay-up just before the buzzer sounded to send the game to overtime.

"I'm still shaking," said Curley, who finished with 19 points. "It's a big joke on the team because I never remember to rebound. I threw up that first one, and it was like tunnel vision. I went after it and put it in."

And after the overtime heroics of its freshmen, St. Francis lived to see another game.

"It was definitely an emotional roller-coaster," said Mooney. "We really stepped up tonight, and we showed that we have the ability to compete with the best of the best."

Unfortunately for the Lancers, the Westmoor victory was their last of the season. St. Francis was defeated 62-40 by a bigger and more physical Aragon team in the semifinals on Tuesday.

Tratter again led the Lancers with 16 points and 16 rebounds, while Mooney notched 13 points and five steals.

St. Francis completed its season with a record of 18-10.

E-mail Scott Campbell at sports@mv-voice.com

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