Waterloo girls return to regionals for first time since 2013

3/11/2022 9:49:26 PM

Paul Gotham

MACEDON, N.Y. -- Nearly four minutes remained in Tuesday's Class B regional qualifier, and the Waterloo Girls' basketball team found itself in a single-possession game.

With 23 wins to their credit on the season, only four of those victories came by single digits.

Familiarity with the opponent certainly had a factor in the contest's close nature.

"It was exactly what I thought was going to happen," Waterloo head coach Mike Bree said after Waterloo's 43-30 victory over Midlakes - the third win this season over the Finger Lakes East rival. "We just know each other so well. We knew it was going to be a battle tonight, and it was exactly that."

Macy Carr led three in double figures with 13 points, and Waterloo clinched its first trip to the NYS Far West Regional since 2013.

"We worked for this for years," Carr said. "It’s amazing to finally see it pay off. We always knew since we were little these last two years we would go far."

Playing more than six minutes of the first half without leading scorer Giavanna White-Principio certainly didn't help Waterloo. The 6-foot-1 center picked up her second foul of the game with 5 minutes and 7 seconds remaining in the first quarter. She didn't return to action until early in the second stanza.

Waterloo also struggled to connect from long range hitting just one 3-pointer in the first half of play and that triple from Natalie DiSanto came with White-Principio still in the game.

"Typically, she stays out of foul trouble," Bree said of the senior co-captain. "We don’t practice for that very often. Midlakes is such a good defensive team anyway. We knew it was going to be a battle. We focus on getting her the ball early especially in some sets that we run. Not having her in there hurt, but our kids fight and we find ways. We didn’t shoot the ball that well at all tonight. To come out of here with a win, it shows what they’re all about."

Waterloo's next trey came with less than four minutes to go in the third quarter. Carr connected from the right wing. Jazzmyn Lewis followed with a layup, and it looked like the Indians were finding their rhythm with a 27-20 advantage.

"I give the kids a lot of credit," Bree stated. "We won the first quarter. We won the second quarter. And she didn’t play a lot. Like I told the kids before the game, ‘it doesn’t matter at this point if you win by one, five, 10, 20.' We’re moving on, so that’s the key thing."

Clinging to a 32-29 edge midway through the fourth, White-Principio connected twice from the free throw line, and Carr hit on back-to-back pairs from the stripe. With her second trip to the line Carr stretched the Waterloo lead to 39-30 with 55.8 seconds remaining.

"Ultimately, we got some stops," Bree noted. "We ran a couple sets for Gia at the end and she scored right on a play we run a lot. We actually have success against them because of just the way they play it.

"Both teams struggled shooting the ball tonight. Whether it was nerves. Whether it was two great defensive teams. Both teams struggled shooting the ball."

Jazzmyn Lewis and White-Principio scored 10 points apiece for Waterloo. Morgan Caraballo had seven.

Callie Walker paced the Midlakes offense with 12 points. The junior center's reverse layup was part of six straight points from the Screaming Eagles that cut a Waterloo lead to two at 30-28. Kate Mahoney added five points. Grace Murphy and Hanna Godkin accounted for four points apiece. Stella DelPapa scored three points. Cate Peacock had two.

Waterloo, which finished with 14 wins and zero losses to claim the B2 title in the abbreviated 2021 season, has won 38 straight games. The Indians will play the Section VI representative (either Lewiston-Porter or Eden) on Saturday. A 5 p.m. tipoff is scheduled at Rush-Henrietta High School.

Waterloo advanced to the 2013 NYS Championship game before falling to Irvington (I).

"We’ve all worked really hard to make those dreams come true," Carr said. "Hopefully, we’ll get a title."