Photo by Corey Maher
MICHELLE HALE and QUINTIN JAMES
Sports Editor and Special to The Leader
The Fredonia’s women’s basketball team made history four times in one week.
Last Tuesday, the Blue Devils did something they’ve never done before at home — win their first round conference tournament game.The Blue Devils also tallied the most wins in Fredonia women’s basketball history with 19. The last time the women’s basketball program has ever come close to this record was back in the 2005-06 season when they had a record of 17-10, but lost in the first round of the SUNYAC tournament.
Senior forward Sabrina Macaulay reached 1,000 career points at the Blue Devils’ first home SUNYAC tournament game in the school’s history. Macaulay added herself to the list of Blue Devil women’s basketball players to reach 1,000 career points, and — to her surprise — she had no idea she even made it to that point last Tuesday.
“I knew it was close, but I didn’t know I got there until after the game. I couldn’t have done it without the help of my teammates and coaches, though,” said Macaulay.
Additionally, Coach Linda Hill-MacDonald now joins the list of coaches — including previous coaches Donna Wise and Cathy Flanders — who have won SUNYAC playoff games at Fredonia.
The game itself was full of anxiety and excitement for both teams. Sharing leads back and forth set the crowd mostly filled with proud Fredonia students, student athletes and parents in a loud cheer.
Brockport ended the first half ahead of the Blue Devils with a score of 45-36. The Golden Eagles went on a scoring streak, but the Blue Devils fought right back to go on a 19-0 run in the third quarter.
Going neck and neck with possessions that almost always turned into points for both teams, the Blue Devils and Golden Eagles tied regulation time 77-77, sending them into overtime.
During the five-minute overtime period, Fredonia kept Brockport to scoring only 4 points. The Blue Devils held their lead and finally finished in a history making victory with a final score of 89-81.
Coming off a thrilling overtime win in the first round of the SUNYAC playoffs, the Fredonia women’s basketball team looked to advance to their first ever championship game if they could beat rival and defending champions Geneseo.
This was uncharted territory for the Blue Devils but they looked to continue their run for the championship gold. For that to happen, they would have to forget about the huge home playoff win and focus on the net game.
Macaulay mentioned the importance of keeping a level head and the players not getting too ahead of themselves.
“This is just another game for us. We’re not making it out to be a huge game even though it is,” said Macaulay.
Photo by Corey Maher
She said that the key to focusing on the Geneseo game would be to look at themselves and figure out what they can do better and correct them before the game. No matter what happened this season, the women’s basketball team has left an impact.
“This is the best season ever. It’s nice to be a part of this team because we accomplished so much. We left our mark at this school,” said Macaulay.
That was definitely a big accomplishment, but the next challenge was to move on to face a Geneseo team. Geneseo has won the last 18 meetings between the two schools and have beaten the Blue Devils all three times they faced off this year. This final meeting was where the magical run would out for Fredonia, as they would fall to defending champions Geneseo by a score of 71-41.
After an unforgettable win against Brockport, the Blue Devils struggled to make a shot against the Knights, only shooting a harsh 23 percent from the field. Geneseo led the entire game and Fredonia was down 20-8 when the first quarter finished up.
Being down 13 in the first quarter and 19 in the second quarter, the Blue Devils stood no chance with their shooting woes following them around. It didn’t get better in the second half as Fredonia struggled to do anything on offense and defense.
Even with this final devastating loss, this team made history this year and will look to continue that history next year.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better season. I think we shocked a lot of people by breaking the school record,” said junior guard Alexis Cheatham. “I’m so proud of how well we did and I can’t wait for next year so we can do it even better.”
For seniors Sabrina Macaulay, Katie Devine, and Sammy Villarini, this tough loss was nothing compared to the incredible season before it.
“Breaking records was so cool because we just wanted to keep going on with the season,” said Devine. “In the end we all helped and pushed each other to make a part of history that’s something the school and I will never forget.”
With history being made this season, Fredonia ended its run with an overall record of 19-8.
Photo by Corey Maher