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St. John's girls win SYBL championship
Team finishes season perfect at 20-0
Friday, March 12, 2010
 Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photo by REID SILVERMAN
Jodie Buddenbohn of St. John's drives to the basket in the fourth.
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Bennett scored two key baskets and assisted on another in the final six-minute period to help propel St. John's to a 25-20 victory over St. Mary's Bryantown School in the Sunday Youth Basketball League's girls championship game Tuesday night at St. Mary's Ryken High School.
Bennett, who finished with six points in the contest, was later named the tournament's most valuable player.
"I just got really mad when we were tied. I just like pushed myself to win," Bennett said.
For Bennett and St. John's, the championship completed an undefeated 20-0 season.
"She is a very talented athlete," St. John's coach Ray Vest said of Bennett. "I'm very fortunate to have someone of her caliber this year to play and with me to coach. And I tell you what, when things get tough, she digs in and she plays hard. She's an excellent player. I think the world of Maddie, I really do."
St. Mary's Bryantown (13-4) overcame a 9-0 St. John's start to come to within 15-14 at halftime and took the lead on its first possession of the second half.
"Taking that timeout telling them to refocus," St. Mary's Bryantown coach Garrett Sawall said of what changed with his team. "We changed our game plan a little bit and just told them to settle down and we played our game."
Sammie Sawall led St. Mary's Bryantown with nine points, while Lindsay Heinze connected on two three-pointers and finished with eight points. Heinze received the coaches' hustle award.
"We had too many turnovers," Garrett Sawall said. He was joined in the coaching ranks this season by Joanie Heinze. "If we could've minimized all of those turnovers, I think we could've had this game. We would've had it."
St. Mary's Bryantown won a division for the first time, claiming the North division crown, Sawall said.
The game was tied at 17 entering the fourth quarter.
Bennett put St. John's up to stay with a putback in the first 26 seconds of the final period. Then, 31 seconds later, Angie Goldsborough drained a 16-foot jumper to put it ahead 21-17, off an assist from LeAnne Hudson. Hudson led St. John's with seven points.
St. Mary's Bryantown was held scoreless until Sawall hit a baseline jumper with 2 minutes 15 seconds left in regulation, bringing it to within 21-19.
Bennett followed with a layup, then found Jodie Buddenbohn with a pass with 53 seconds to play and St. John's held on for the win.
"I never in my life imagined that this team would go 20-0," Vest said. "I knew we had talent. There's a lot of good teams in this league, we've had a lot of close games and it's incredible. It's a feeling to go 20-0 with the group of girls only means that they come together and they play as a team and there's no ‘I' in team."
Hudson finished the St. John's 9-0 start with a three-pointer that banked off the backboard and into the basket, then scored on a fast-break layup.
St. Mary's Bryantown did not score its first basket until 1:35 remaining in the opening period, on a Heinze three-pointer that rattled in.
Heinze drained another three-pointer with less than two seconds to go to pull St. Mary's Bryantown to within 9-7 after one.
"Bryantown is a very talented team," Vest said. "Lindsay Heinze popped two three-pointers, it brought them back and they hit one inside and you can't lay down. … And they knuckled down on defense. After they gave up nine points, they tightened the defense up on us. They came out to play."
Bennett added, "I think we got too confident and then slacked off and then we started getting mad and did good again."
The teams traded baskets in the second quarter.
St. John's 25, St. Mary's Bryantown 20
St. John's 9 6 2 8
St. Mary's Bryantown 7 7 3 3
St. John's: Hudson 7, Bennett 6, Goldsborough 6, Buddenbohn 4, Thompson 2
St. Mary's Bryantown: Sawall 9, Heinze 8, Allston 2, Smallwood 1
Free throws: St. John's 0-8; St. Mary's Bryantown 4-14 (Heinze 2-4)
3-point goals: St. John's 1 (Hudson); St. Mary's Bryantown 2 (Heinze 2)
