In last year’s Girls Capital District quarterfinals, Hanover came from behind in the second half to defeat host Lee-Davis and advance to the regional tournament. On Friday night, the Hawks put on an encore performance but in more dramatic fashion. Trailing by seven points with four and half minutes to play, Hanover went on a 9-1 run to edge out the host Confederates 50-49.

  “Down seven at 46-39 it looked sort of bleak for a lot of folks out there,” said Hanover head coach Kevin Brooks. “We didn’t make every shot, we didn’t make every free throw. We didn’t make every box out but somehow found a way to win.”

  Junior Rachel Fehl knew the Hawks could comeback because they’d done it before. “I knew we could do it because this was the same position we were in last year,” she said. “I knew we could pull it through and just stay as a team and not blame each other for things we were doing wrong and I think we did that really well.”

  Fehl, Taylor Woolard and Lynnse Caler scored a dozen points each to lead the way for the Hawks.

  “It’s a total, total team effort,” Brooks said. 

  The Hawks gave up size across the board but showed no shortage when it came to matching up against the Confederates’ scrappiness.

  “We’re obviously a team that’s not very tall,” Brooks said. “Our tallest player is 5-8, but we talk about gang rebounding and getting on the glass. I think we’re comfortable playing multiple, different positions. We put a girl that’s 5-4 out there at the four spot a lot of times. Our team is used to being one of the smallest teams. So if somebody’s going to go six foot, six foot then we’re going to have to go 5-8 and 5-4 and that’s just the way we have to play. We’ve gotten used to it and try to do a good job with hit.”

  Lee-Davis started the game with the intention of utilizing their 6-1 duo of sophomore Caroline Naumann and junior Kori Hughes but the Hawks speed forced the C-feds to go smaller.

  “They were small so we had to go small too,” said Lee-Davis head coach Alvin Puller.

  The first quarter set the tone of the night the teams played a nip-and-tuck battle with Hanover coming out on top 16-15 when Fehl connected on a jumper with 2.1 seconds left in the quarter.

  It was Lee-Davis’ turn to edge ahead in the second as freshman Olivia Tuck showed why Confederate fans should be excited about the next four years. The 5-7 guard, who led all scorers with 13 points, showed the potential of developing into one of the district’s best by frustrating Hanover ball handlers and repeatedly splitting through gaps in the Hawk defense.

  “She’s a player to watch,” Puller said. “She’s going to be good.”

  Despite back-to-back threes from Hanover’s Brooke Throckmorton (9 points), Lee-Davis led 26-25 at the break.

  Fehl, Woolard and Caler went to work in the third, giving Hanover a 39-36 lead with a little over 10 minutes remaining in the game. But then the Hawks went flat and did not score for nearly five minutes.

  Meanwhile Lee-Davis went on a 10-0 run. Tuck connected on a pair of free throws then Casey Price added another. When Imani Boothe swished a put-back shot at the buzzer, the C-feds held a 41-39 lead heading into the fourth.

  Logan Bryan opened the final quarter with a pair of free throws, Trina Gardner connected on a three from the left baseline and Naumann scored on a put-back to seemingly give Lee-Davis an insurmountable 48-39 lead with less than five minutes to play.

  But then it was the C-feds turn to go cold by scoring only one point over the remainder of the game.

  “My older girls said let’s hold the ball. You can’t hold the ball,” Puller said. “Then they started to get passive and when we get passive you know what happens then, we start making mistakes and that’s what we did.”

  Caler got the Hawks reignited by drawing a foul on a made field goal with 4:29 to play. Fehl connected on a pair of jumpers then Woolard scored on a put-back of a missed free throw to tie the game at 49-49.

  With less than two minutes to play Woolard connected on one of two free throws to give Hanover the lead.

  Lee-Davis had one last chance for the win, taking the ball out on their own sideline with 13.2 seconds remaining. Puller drew up a plan to get the ball to Naumann in the corner from where she could shoot a three or drive into the post and be fouled. But the C-feds couldn’t get the ball to Naumann so instead it went to Tuck at the top of the key. The freshman got off a good shot but it bounced off the back of the rim allowing Hanover to escape with the win.

  “The thing is, these kids, they were resilient,” Brooks said. “We went down I got in them pretty good for the end of the third quarter when we acted like we didn’t know what basketball was when the clock was running. I’m really, really proud of how they responded in the fourth quarter.”

  Though disappointed with the loss, Puller was confident about the future of his team. “They’ll learn from their mistakes,” he said. “Once they figure it out we’ll be tough to beat.”

HANOVER 50, LEE-DAVIS 49
HANOVER (2-1, 2-0 Capital) — Woolard 12, Norris 3, Barrett 0, Throckmorton 9, Caler 12, Sills 0, Fehl 12, Lankford 0, Carey 2, Hess 0, Belcher 0. Totals 15 15-27 50.
LEE-DAVIS (3-2, 0-2) — Winston 2, Tuck 13, Bryan 5, Morrison 3, Price 3, Booth 3, Gardner 4, Naumann 12, Hughes 4 . Totals 16 14-23 49.
Hanover…..........  17 9 14 10 — 50
Lee-Davis…........  15 11 15 8 — 49
3-point goals — H: Throckmorton 3, Woolard, Norris; L: Gardner.
Highlights — L: Caroline Naumann 9 rebounds; Olivia Tuck 5 for 5 FTs.