Lancaster Catholic edges Lebanon Catholic 50-48 on soph guard’s game-winning shot
Jeffrey Reinhart jreinhart@lnpnews.com
LEBANON – Victoria Brito had never had a buzzer-beater before in her young basketball career.
Until Friday night.
Locked in a 48-all game and with time running out in regulation, Brito, Lancaster Catholic’s cat-quick junior point guard, pounced on a loose ball, dribbled into the key and tossed up a runner over the outstretched arms of two Lebanon Catholic defenders, and her shot banked off the glass and in at the buzzer, giving the Crusaders a riveting 50-48 L-L League Section 4 win over the shell-shocked Beavers on Assumption Hill.
“Amazing,” said Brito, who was mobbed by her teammates after her game-winning shot. “I was trying to get fouled, actually. But I got the shot up there off the glass and kissed it in. Everyone went crazy. It was a memorable moment.”
Not so much for Lebanon Catholic, which led 42-39 heading into the fourth quarter – before an overflow crowd on hand for the girls/boys doubleheader – and the Beavers led by as many as six points in the second half.
Lancaster Catholic overcame a stupendous effort by Lebanon Catholic senior Hailey Carangelo, who scored a game-high 21 points, grabbed a game-high 23 rebounds and blocked five shots.
“She was amazing,” Brito said of Carangelo, who gave the Beavers a 48-47 lead with 38.5 seconds to go when she made the first of two foul shots.
Lancaster Catholic knotted the game at 48-all with 9.8 seconds to go when Reina Hill hit the first of two foul shots. When she missed the second shot there was a mad scramble for the rebound, which ended with a jump-ball call.
Possession arrow: Lancaster Catholic with 7.4 seconds left.
The Crusaders got the ball inbounds, but it was knocked loose. The ball ended up in Brito’s hands, and she made a mad dash to the key and got off a shot over Carangelo and Erin Walker while fading away.
Ballgame.
Cue the mob scene and ensuing celebration.
“If the jump-ball is in our favor, we’re probably going overtime,” Lebanon Catholic coach Patti Hower said. “But that’s the way it is. I don’t think we could have defended (the final play) any better.”
Brito also came up big moments earlier when she picked off a pass, sprinted the distance and scored in transition to tie the game at 44-all with 1:59 to go. The Crusaders also went ahead 46-45 when Molly Westwood – who had just checked into the game for the first time – got a steal and a transition bucket with 1:10 to play.
The final two minutes were a blur.
The victory kept Lancaster Catholic (7-1, 8-4) a game behind Lancaster Mennonite (8-0, 12-1) in the Section 4 hunt. The Blazers beat Annville-Cleona 63-25 on Friday.
Lebanon Catholic (6-2, 8-3) slipped two games behind Lancaster Mennonite in the race.
“This is a big win for us because it keeps us just a game down,” Lancaster Catholic coach Lamar Kauffman said. “We didn’t want to get two games down to Mennonite.”
Thanks to Brito, the Crusaders, who won their fourth game in a row, didn’t.
“So, so proud of Victoria,” Kauffman said. “Nobody has been working harder than her. This was one of those games where the last team that had the basketball was going to win. And we lucked out and got the ball last.”
And Brito, for the first time in her career, delivered the game-winner, beating the final buzzer in the process.
“I told our kids that they showed they can win a big game,” Kauffman said. “Now they need to keep believing that they can step up and win big games.”
NOTES – Lancaster Catholic out-rebounded Lebanon Catholic 44-41; Madeline Sloan had a team-high seven boards for the Crusaders, who turned the ball over 15 times – zero in the pivotal fourth quarter. … Lebanon Catholic had 18 turnovers. … Reina Hill added 10 points and six rebounds for the Crusaders. … Lebanon Catholic gets right back on the court Saturday with a 1 p.m. non-league tip at Lancaster Country Day.
