The Lady Irish staged a dramatic second-half come back Saturday at Rush-Henrietta, overcoming a 13-point third-quarter deficit, to beat Letchworth 42-35 and claim the Section V Class C1 crown.
It came down to defense, said Head Coach Tom McCulley, whose team held Letchworth to nine points in the second half and prevented them from scoring for more than eight minutes at one point.
"That’s who we are," McCulley said. "Hard work and gritty and score enough on offense and turn it up on defense and make teams uncomfortable."
Callie McCulley's aggression, driving for layups, with Margaret Sullivan and Stevie Wilcox attacking the boards, combined with good shooting from the free-throw line helped turn the tide.
"We’ve preached all season long, rebounds and free throws," McCulley said. "The fundamentals of the game, when you’ve got evenly matched teams, that’s what it comes down to. A lot of these games come down to free throw percentages and who wins that battles on the boards."
He praised the hard work and fight put up by Letchworth. They came out of the gate aggressive and McCulley said that put his team back in its heels. When they were down by 13, he called a timeout and told them they needed to grind it out.
"I just told them you've got to contest every shot," McCulley said. "You’ve got to go after every loose ball. This is sectional finals. There’s no tomorrow if you don’t win today."
Callie McCulley finished with 15 points and was named tournament MVP. Stevie Wilcox and Margaret Sutherland scored eight points each. They were both named to the all-tournament team.
Perhaps overlooked in the accolades but not overlooked by her coaches and teammates, McCulley I said, is Morgan Rhodes, who scored nine points.
"Morgan is a spark plug," McCulley said. "I ask her to defend. I ask her to help with ball handling. She can knock down shots. She’s not afraid of the big stage and the big moment. She played huge the other night against Red Creek. She played huge for us tonight. She’s one of those unsung heroes of this tournament but coaches realize what she brings to the table."
