The Road to Perfection
Most teams embrace the “clean slate” concept when playoff time comes around, regardless of the sport. However, that has not been the case for the Our Lady of Lourdes girl’s basketball team. With a flawless 21–0 record heading into sectionals, all the pressure is on the Lady Warriors to finish the perfect season with just three more victories.
If the record alone was not impressive enough, maybe the margin of victory and points allowed in the majority of their games will be more convincing of their dominance.
Just to name a few scores: 93–33, 90–23, 91–29, 81–11, 104–30, 85–15.
It is safe to say that the Lady Warriors entered sectionals as the favorite, but strangely enough, not as the top seed in the tournament. The no. 1 seed is their upcoming opponent, Ossining, with the Section 1 Class AA Championship title on the line. But how did they get to that point?
The quarterfinal round was hosted by Lourdes, with the Clarkstown South Vikings playing visitor. The Vikings threw everything they had at the Warriors, which lasted for about a quarter and a half. After that, Lourdes set the game to cruise control in a 77–39 blowout victory.
“I thought we played really well defensively,” head coach Alan Viani said after the game. “We came out strong and did our best to get a good jump on them early.”
The semifinal round was not going to be such a breeze. This game was a rematch from a brutal battle between Lourdes and Albertus Magnus in December. The previous match-up was played at Magnus and the Warriors were able to hang on for a 73–66 victory, without question their most challenging game all year.
The venue this time around was Our Lady of Lourdes, and it was a packed house from tip-off. There was plenty of controversy heading into this one, as the Falcons believed the game should be played at a neutral site. Being the higher seed, the Warriors pleaded their case and earned themselves one last home game for the season.
“It was a great basketball atmosphere,” Viani said after the game. “The place was packed, both sides were into the game from start to finish, extremely loud, and it was an incredible high school basketball environment.”
Both teams certainly put on a show, especially Lourdes’ senior forward Madison Siegrist. After a 35-point performance in the first round, she followed that up with 27 points in the semis.
“They are a tough team, we knew that they were not going to crumble if we got ourselves a lead,” Siegrist said. “Our game plan was to pound it inside because we knew we were going to have the height advantage.”
The Falcons made adjustments in the second half in an attempt to stop Siegrist. Regardless of how many players were on her at once, she was not going to be stopped.
“The double and triple teams were frustrating at first, but coach had two girls covering me at practice a lot this week, so we were prepared for it.”
The Warriors closed the game with clutch free-throw shooting and finished a bit more comfortably than the last meeting with Magnus, 75–61. Lourdes advances to the Section 1 Class AA Championship game against top-seeded Ossining for a chance at perfection.
