AMD goes back to back
Williamson, Daly end Cedarbrook’s hope for unbeaten season
By JEREMY SELLEW
jsellew@yourmvi.com
Free throw shooting has been a thorn in AMD Industries side during this Mon Valley Independent Summer Basketball League season, and Cedarbrook was yet to suffer a loss.
In Wednesday’s championship game, AMD exorcised its demons from the line and handed Cedarbrook its first loss to claim its second straight championship with a thrilling 49-45 win.
The game featured 23 lead changes, including the final one with 31 seconds to go as Seton LaSalle sophomore Mallory Daly scored on a putback to give her team a one-point lead. Daly and Trinity’s Eden Williamson combined to go 3 for 4 from the line in the waning seconds to clinch the win, with the key play being Williamson’s offensive rebound off Daly’s missed free throw with 7.2 seconds remaining.
AMD (9-3) shot 9 of 11 from the charity stripe in the second half and outrebounded Cedarbrook (10-1) by a 45-26 margin in the game.
“We knew rebounding was going to be big for us in this game,” AMD head coach Bria Rathway said. “Eden and Mallory were outstanding and I can’t say enough about Bailie Brinson’s work under the basket.”
Brinson, a senior at Elizabeth Forward, finished with only two points but grabbed down 13 rebounds and was outstanding defensively.
“We knew Bailie was going to have to be physical. With (Elle) Snyder and Katie (Hoff) inside, she was going to have to be extremely physical under there,” Rathway said. “She only had two points, but those two points were so big.”
Brinson hit a pair from the line to give her team a lead with 2:47 to go.
After Latrobe’s Snyder hit a layup with 56 seconds to go to give Cedarbrook the lead, there were too possessions where the No. 1 seed had a chance to take or extend its lead, but both ended in turnovers.
“They did a really good job against Alyssa Clutter,” Cedarbrook head coach Mariah Ward said. “We knew that’s what they were going to try to do. We’re a young team and I think late, we had some girls that kind of panicked a little bit with the ball in their hands. Alyssa slipped and turned it over, I mean, what can you do?”
Williamson was the star for AMD, finishing with 22 points and 15 rebounds. Daly poured in 16 points and finished with eight boards. Both played a large role on the defensive end, using their length to keep Cedarbrook’s Jazmine Dunn and Iyanna Wade out of the lane.
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