SPRINGER got their rematch.
Revenge was another matter altogether.
Garrison have their validation as the powerhouses of girls’ basketball, though, refusing to squander their latest finals appearance by whipping Springer again in yesterday’s 55-37 Shirley championship-winning performance at the Wildey Gymnasium.
It proved the cap of yet another unbeaten tournament run for the prolific Paddock Road squad, giving the champs a second successive cup and eighth in 11 straight title-games.
The eventual margin was nearly identical to that of a 19-point regular season shellacking of the same opponents – who were hyped as tournament favourites behind dominant post player Winmalecia Bowen.
But the fight never lived up to its billing, as she and twin sister Winmarie got into early foul trouble that resulted in a decisive 41-23 Garrison run that spanned the second and third quarters.
This was after the champs threatened to blow open at the opening whistle, forcing five straight turnovers while tournament MVP Nikita President, Ashley Rock and Vanessa Reid-Cox all hit early jumpers.
However, the second seeds inevitably responded, if only briefly, with Hanisha Hoyte and Dominique Browne both knocking down long jumpers to pull Springer within three (13-10) late in the first.
It served as the last bit of resistance before the expected fall, as Winmalecia picked up her fourth foul with 3:36 still to play in the half just moments before Winmarie was whistled for a third.
Had Reid-Cox and Shonica Wharton scored any of their attempts in the paint during that span, the resulting advantage probably would’ve been 20 rather than just the ten-point (26-16) half-time lead.
Winmalecia did try to make a game of it after the break, scoring four quick points before her sister made good on a subsequent “and-one play” that reduced Springer’s deficit to single digits.
But Winmalecia was rested at the seven-minute mark, and the Government Hill lasses just couldn’t survive her extended absence once President and Rashida Chase repeatedly pushed the ball off forced turnovers.
And by the time she returned that deficit ballooned to 18 (41-23) as Reid-Cox punished Springer’s zone with a series of short baseline jumpers.
The dominant Bowen sister didn’t go away quietly, though, scoring successive baskets to close out the third, before going coast-to-coast and getting a put-back to start the fourth (43-31).
That rally, like the others before it, proved all too brief once President knocked down a tough contested jumper to end Garrison’s drought prior to another Reid-Cox outburst that pushed the lead to 51-31 with 5:39 remaining.
President led the queens with 18 points, getting a further 16 from Reid-Cox while Rock had 11. Bowen had a game-high 22 points as the lone Springer player in double digits.
