Rowland sparkles as Shaker halts Colonie for ‘AA’ crown

PHOTOGRAPHER: Bill Palmer

With two of the marquee players anchored to the bench due to foul trouble, someone had to step up in Saturday’s Class AA girls’ basketball championship game.

It turns out Shaker had more somebodies than Colonie.

Tournament MVP Madison Rowland had a critical three-pointer in a game-high 18-point effort, senior Adrianne Devine added 13 points and ran the offense and forward Lauren Woods gutted her way to an 11-point showing as the Blue Bison turned back their crosstown rival, 59-52, at Hudson Valley Community College.

“Other people stepped up,” said Shaker coach Emily Caschera, after her 20-2 team won the school’s first girls’ basketball sectional championship since 1982. “Madison is such a good player. She’s our best defender, she can shoot from the outside, she can drive, she can finish. She played great. She deserved MVP for the tournament.”

“We have a lot of good players and they can’t guard everyone,” said Devine, who was named to the all-tournament team.

With her older sister, MacKenzie, and Colonie senior star Tehresa Coles both in foul trouble, Madison Rowland came through with the most important basket of the game, hitting a three-pointer immediately after Sydnie Rosales’ basket had given Colonie its only lead of the game, 47-48, with 6:12 to play.

“My shot wasn’t going in earlier, but I kept on shooting,” said the sophomore, one of three daughters of former Albany Patroons standout Derrick Rowland on the Shaker varsity roster. “I knew it was going in.”

“It was going to be a physical game, some pushing and shoving and fouls,” said Colonie coach Heather Fiore. “Unfortunately, it [foul trouble] was on two of the best players. They’re both involved in a lot of play, they’re both hustling after balls, and those calls can go either way.”

“I knew it was going to be a physical game. MacKenzie likes to shot block, so she gets called a lot of times,” Caschera said.

Jaclyn Welch scored 10 of her 17 points in the second quarter, and Rosales added eight, as the Garnet Raiders rallied from a 25-18 deficit to make it 32-28 at the half.

“Tehresa had to sit the entire second quarter, and she had to come out late in the third, but we kept it close without her,” said Fiore. “She’s been our go-to player. That’s a credit to the other players.

“Jaclyn the last two games has been terrific. Obviously, a lot of the focus is on Tehresa and Sydnie, and Jaclyn kind of gets overshadowed by them.”

Caschera noted the contribution Shaker got from a variety of players.

“Angelica Smith has been great. Lauren Woods has a stress fracture in her foot, and she still played great,” she said.

“Adrianne is so clutch. I’ve been saying this all year, she doesn’t get enough credit for basketball because she’s such a great lacrosse player. She is our leader. She hits the big shot when we need it. Her ability to lead us in transition has been phenomenal.”

MacKenzie Rowland finished with just five points, and Coles only had eight in her final varsity game before fouling out with less than one minute to play.

Woods, a 6-foot-3 sophomore, sat out Shaker’s 79-37 semifinal final win over Albany, sidelined by a stress fracture in her foot. The injury wasn’t going to keep her out of the final.

“In school, I’ve been limping along on crutches and in a boot. No way I wasn’t going to play,” she said. “Not playing in the Albany game helped a lot. When the game slows down, you think about it more. When you’re in the game [thinking about] who am I guarding, who is cutting, where’s the shooter, it’s a lot easier for it to slip your mind.”

Shaker advances to the regional final, which will be played in the Syracuse area this Saturday. Utica Proctor and Cicero-North Syracuse play for the Section III title today.

COLONIE

Loggins 2-3-7, Kipper 0-1-1, Rosales 3-10-17, Coles 2-3-8, Young 1-0-2, Jefferson 0-1-1, Welch 7-0-16. Totals: 15-18-52.

SHAKER

Devine 4-3-13, Woods 5-1-11, Alley 1-2-5, Roberts 1-0-3, Mad. Rowland 7-2-18, Mac. Rowland 2-1-5. Totals: 22-8-59.

Colonie 8 20 15 9 — 52

Shaker 13 19 13 15 — 59

Three-point goals: Rosales, Coles, Welch 2, Devine 2, Roberts, Alley, Mad. Rowland 2.

CLASS C

Anna Feller broke a 53-53 tie in the final minute as Voorheesville beat Cambridge, 56-53. It was the 10th sectional title for the Blackbirds, and first since 2004.

Senior Brittanie Denman scored 20 points, sinking six three-pointers, for the 15-7 Blackbirds, who have lost once in seven games since leading scorer Jen Cillis suffered a season-ending knee injury.

CAMBRIDGE

Lauver 6-1-14, Case 4-0-9, Andrew 2-1-6, Tironi 8-2-20, Cuddihy 1-0-2, Bell 1-0-2. Totals: 22-5-53.

VOORHEESVILLE

Madden 2-1-9, Denman 7-0-20, Blow 1-0-2, Feller 4-4-12, Bogart 2-0-4, Pritchard 1-2-4, Mar. McGinnis 2-1-5. Totals: 20-8-56.

Cambridge 13 9 13 18 — 53

Voorheesville 16 7 13 18 — 56

Three-point goals: Lauver, Andrew, Tironi 2, Madden 2, Denman 6.

CLASS D

Tournament MVP Samantha Godfrey scored the winning basket with 4.1 seconds to play, as Fort Edward erased a 35-25 fourth-quarter deficit and beat Adirondack League rival Fort Ann, 39-37.

FORT ANN

Kt. White 0-1-1, Graves 4-1-12, Bancroft 4-3-11, Kr. White 2-1-6, Aubin 3-1-7. Totals: 13-7-37.

FORT EDWARD

Sardina 0-1-1, Heym 4-3-13, brockway 1-0-3, Godfrey 5-2-13, Boucher 2-0-5, Hendricks 1-0-2. Totals: 14-6-39.

Fort Ann 12 7 8 10 — 37

Fort Edward 8 8 9 14 — 39

Three-point goals: Graves 3, Kr. White, Heym 2, Brockway, Godfrey, Boucher.