White Plains comes up just short, falls to St. Mary's in Federation basketball tournament

LATHAM — They weren't even supposed to be playing.

A loss by the White Plains Tigers in the state public school girls Class AA basketball championship game had ended their season until Section 5 Webster Schroeder, which had beaten the Tigers for that title, pulled out of the state Federation tournament.

And so, facing the Catholic High School Athletic Association's St. Mary's High School of Long Island Saturday at Shaker High School was gravy,

A nice extra.

But White Plains didn't play like that.

It played like it mattered.

A lot.

White Plains' Ineivi Plata (10) drives to the basket against Saint Mary's during the New York State Federation Tournament at  Shaker High School in Colonie March 25, 2023.
White Plains' Ineivi Plata (10) drives to the basket against Saint Mary's during the New York State Federation Tournament at Shaker High School in Colonie March 25, 2023.

It played like that even after its Division I-bound star, Aliya McIver, fouled out less than a minute into the fourth quarter after being hamstrung by fouls almost from the start.

That showed in her stats.

The talented guard didn't score a single point.

But in a game that was a complete foul-fest, with both teams clearly taken out of their rhythm by call after call after, well, call, White Plains, which trailed 17-9 at the end of one quarter and 30-25 at the half, fought back from a 47-38 deficit at the end of three quarters to pull within one 3-pointer as time ran down.

But the Tigers, who missed on a 3-point attempt but then got a seeming gift from the basketball gods when St. Mary's threw an inbounds pass across the court and out of bounds with 9.1 seconds left, couldn't cash in, losing the ball before getting off a potential game-tying shot.

The buzzer sounded with St. Mary's on top 53-50.

What it means

This time, the Tigers' season is really over.

White Plains, the No. 3 seed in the Section 1 Class AA tournament, which beat No. 2 Ketcham and No. 1 Albertus Magnus for the section title, ended its season with a 23-6 record.

St. Mary's will play for the AA Federation championship at Shaker Sunday at 2 p.m. against the winner of Saturday's Long Island Lutheran-vs.-South Shore High game. (Long Island Lutheran is an independent school and South Shore is a New York City Public School Athletic League school, located in Brooklyn.)

Player of the game

While not scoring in the fourth quarter (St. Mary's only had six points in the final frame), Taryn Barbot was a big reason the Gaels will play again Sunday.

She hit for a game-high 16 points with seven of those coming in the third quarter when St. Mary's outscored White Plains 17-13 to give itself what proved to be a crucial cushion heading into the fourth quarter.

By the numbers

With McIver effectively taken out of the game early, multiple Tigers stepped up.

In fact, four reached double figures.

Senior Capri DeMara buried four 3-pointers for 12 points, all coming in the second half. Her last 3-pointer cut St. Mary's lead to 49-43 with 6:42 to play and earlier, in the third quarter, she helped change momentum by hitting two 3s in a 32-second span after St. Mary's had taken a 38-29 lead.

White Plains' Sequoia Layne (4) tries to drive around Saint Mary's Taryn Barbot (11) during the New York State Federation Tournament at Shaker High in Colonie, New York March 25, 2023.
White Plains' Sequoia Layne (4) tries to drive around Saint Mary's Taryn Barbot (11) during the New York State Federation Tournament at Shaker High in Colonie, New York March 25, 2023.

Junior Ineivi Plata, a 1,000-point-plus career scorer, also had 12 points, seven coming from the free-throw line where she was 7-for-8. Two of those shots cut the St. Mary's lead to the final 53-50 score with 2:25 left.

Sequoia Layne , who was strong in the paint, also hit for 10 points, as did India Newman, who might have played her best basketball of White Plains' long playoff run.

Anneliese Reggio, who'll play lacrosse in college, finished with six points, four coming during White Plains' fourth-quarter comeback. That included a quarter-opening bucket off a nice McIver feed, moments before McIver fouled out, and another score after Reggio grabbed an offensive rebound and went back up with a shot. That basket cut St. Mary's lead to 49-45 with 5:15 left

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But as good as White Plains was, St. Mary's held on not just due to McIver's absence but also because of the Gaels' quick defense. In the fourth quarter alone, Sky Priester had two steals and Scarlet Cubero had one. Cubero's was particularly big, coming in the last minute of play.

Freshman Kayla Solomon was second on the Gaels in scoring with 14 points. Included were three 3-pointers, a couple seemingly launched from a different zip code.

Taylor Barbot had nine points and Priester drained two 3-pointers and finished with eight points.

They said it

Reggio and DeMara said during a pre-game meeting with officials they got the impression the referees interpreted rules differently from what White Plains was accustomed to.

But neither blamed the frequent whistles for the loss, although acknowledging having the Rider-bound McIver get into foul trouble, then foul out did have an impact on the team's fortunes.

"We still showed her love on the bench," said DeMara, who noted McIver remained into the game, cheering on her teammates while forced to sit.

Reggio cited DeMara's performance, coming in off the bench, as large, calling her a "difference-maker."

Reggio indicated her team was fatigued, saying its upset wins to get the Section 1 title had been draining.

But DeMara said White Plains played Saturday to win and didn't think it would lose.

"Most of us are seniors and we thought, 'Let's show them we're supposed to be here,' " Reggio added.

Nancy Haggerty covers cross-country, track & field, field hockey, skiing, ice hockey, basketball, girls lacrosse and other sporting events for The Journal News/lohud. Follow her on Twitter at @HaggertyNancy.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: White Plains falls to St. Mary's in NY Federation basketball tourney