In Cold Spring, NY, the home of the Haldane Blue Devils, basketball is more of a way of life than a pastime. The Poughkeepsie Journal summed up the program in this way after their 64-40 triumph over Tri-Valley on Thursday: “Rich girls are born with a silver spoon in their mouths. Haldane girls are born with a gold ball in their hands.” When our girls took the floor yesterday evening they were not only battling a team that was taller, deeper, and more experienced, but a program that pencils in the Final Four on their calendars at the start of each season. Over the last 23 years the Devils have been a dominant force, capturing 20 Section I titles, 13 regional titles, and five state championships.

Haldane’s success is illuminated in a phrase emblazoned on the back of their warm-up shirts: “Tradition Never Dies.” While their basketball lineage would rival any school’s in the state, our girls have recently built an impressive pedigree of their own as over the last seven seasons the Bears have won 18 championships (seven League, six County, four Long Island, and one Regional). However, as both squads warmed up prior to their Regional Final matchup, one couldn’t help but feel that the Brook was the underdog.

Haldane strolled into the gym with the look of a small army as 15 identically clad girls dwarfed our team of nine. Their starting five was group of polished and experienced upperclassmen that exuded a confidence forged by yearly runs in the state tournament. Our starting five included a converted All-State soccer goalie and a 12-year-old seventh-grader (but a gutsy one at that). Their side of the stands swelled with spectators as ruthless as those that packed the Colosseum (seriously, who boos at a girls basketball game?), while our side was comprised of just ten loyal fans that tried desperately not to get drowned out by the Haldane cacophony.

As the first quarter began to unfold, our defense was solid, stopping the Devils on their first four possessions, but we struggled to find any kind of rhythm on offense. Our few open looks found only iron while turnovers marred our remaining possessions, leaving us down 0-7 after one. The only other time we were shutout in a quarter this season was against Class A Hauppauge on December 9, a game in which we did not have Brannon Burke. It appeared we were in for a long night unless our girls could find some level of comfort on offense.

The player who answered the call was the one you’d expect: Burke (18 points/ 5 blocks), our team’s leader all season long. The lid finally came off of our rim with a little over five minutes left in the secnd quarter as Burke drilled her first of three 3-pointers. A free throw by Danielle Pappas cut Haldane’s lead to 7-4 but an and-1 pushed their advantage back to 10-4. In need of some momentum before the half, Burke nailed another 3-pointer and Natalie Istrati connected on a jumper from beyond the foul line with less than 30 seconds left to pull the Brook within 9-10 at the half.

Haldane, who was forced into a number of turnovers from the Bears’ first half defense, began to find their form as they scored the first seven points of the third quarter on two free throws, a layup, and a 3-pointer. Just as they did in the second quarter, our girls did not let their heads fall for a second, but quietly went about chipping away at the deficit. Burke scored a fast break layup on a great outlet pass from Istrati, then had an identical finish on the very next possession on an outlet from Jess Winston to cut the deficit to 13-17. However, a turning point in the game occurred soon after when Burke drew her third foul on a play in which she had seemingly perfect defensive position. From there the Devils went on a 10-2 run, the only interruption a tough score by Pappas who took the ball up the length of the court for a layup, to build a commanding 27-15 advantage going into the fourth.

Burke opened the final frame with her fifth block of the game, but after a 3-pointer and a fast break layup by Haldane it looked like they were poised to finish with a blowout as the score blossomed to 32-15. Their fans thought as much as they began to chant, “Start the bus!” However, before the chorus reached its crescendo Burke silenced it by connecting on deep jumper and the raucous fans did not feel comfortable enough to restart the chant until 1:50 remained in the game.

That scene illustrates the heart our team has displayed all season long. You could observe what our girls were thinking by how they played their final minutes of the season: ‘Yeah we’re down 17, yeah we probably won’t come back this time, but we’re going to fight as long as time is left on that clock.’ Burke followed her jumper with her third 3-pointer and a difficult layup to cap a 7-0 run of her own that brought the deficit back to 22-32 with 4:48 left. Winston continued her great defense with a steal, giving the Bears a chance to slice Haldane’s lead to single-digits, a true testament to our girls’ willingness to persevere. Burke’s free throw with two minutes left was not only the last point of the game, leaving the score at 34-23, but it was the last point of one of the finest careers in Stony Brook basketball history.

Brannon Burke is one of those players you beam with pride over. It is not difficult to root for our vivacious chaplain prefect because after each game every ounce of her energy is left between the lines. You can quantify how much Burke cares about winning by how many bags of ice she needs once the final buzzer sounds. Yesterday’s number: three.

Most games she is playing with ankle, neck, knee, or back pain yet her reservoir of mental and physical toughness is seemingly fathomless. It was sad watching her leave the court for the last time, to see her tears flow as her high school career came to a close, but as she hugged her coaches and teammates for the final time we felt so blessed that she had been one of ours for the last three years. She is a champion in every sense of the word, playing the game hard, playing the game right, and using every bit of her talents for the glory of God.

All in all, it was an effort that would have made anyone proud of our girls. Against a team with a 17-3 record, ranked #3 in New York State, they gave them the closest game they had seen in almost a month. Entering the game, the Blue Devils had scored 1,006 points on the year for a 50.3 points per game average. Our girls held them to 34, their second-lowest output of the season (they scored 31 points on December 8). They were behind the entire game, but even in the face of a 17-point deficit, capitulation was never an option. Though the ending of a season is always difficult to swallow, the girls can be comforted in the knowledge that they fought the good fight and earned the pride and love of their school.

“We played well enough defensively to win,” Stony Brook head coach Amy Helm said. “If you told me going into that we’d hold Haldane to 10 points at the half and 34 for the whole game I’d say we win that game. Offensively we had a rough time executing.”

Stony Brook played a defensive brand of basketball all year long and prided itself on holding its opponents offense in check. The game against Haldane was no different, and Helm said she was also pleased with the way her team controlled the boards at both ends.

~ The Three Village Patch

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