BERLIN- Worcester Prep’s girls’ varsity basketball team lost a tough one this week, falling to old rival Saints Peter and Paul, 34-32, in overtime on the road in essentially what boiled down to the Eastern Shore Independent Athletic Conference (ESIAC) regular season title game.
The Mallards beat the Sabres, 32-28, back on February 10 and for a while on Tuesday, it appeared the Worcester girls might get a season sweep over their familiar rival. Whenever Worcester Prep and Saints Peter and Paul get together in any sport, it’s almost always and knock down, drag out contest and this year’s regular season home and home series between to two schools was no different.
Neither team got much separation from the other on the scoreboard throughout the contest. Worcester led 28-25 late in the fourth quarter of the defensive struggle when Saints Peter and Paul nailed a three-pointer to tie the game at 28-28 with 53 seconds left. Worcester got two more possessions in the waning seconds, but could not get on the board and the game headed to overtime.
In the overtime period, the Sabres got out in front early, 31-28, which was the biggest lead for either team throughout the contest at just three points. A pair of free throws by Worcester’s Leigh Lingo cut the lead Sabres’ lead to 34-32 with just 10 seconds remaining.
On the Sabres’ ensuing inbounds pass, Worcester was able to create a jump ball and was awarded possession with seven seconds remaining and a chance to tie the game. Worcester freshman Gracie Gardner appeared to tie the game at 34-34 with a bank shot, but the basket was waived off when Gardner was called for traveling.
Saints Peter and Paul was able to run off the remaining seconds and escaped with a dramatic 34-32 win to clinch the ESIAC regular season championship. Leigh Lingo finished with a game high 15 points, or nearly half of her team’s total, and also grabbed nine rebounds.
The ESIAC playoffs got underway on Thursday with first-round games played too late to be included in this edition. Saints Peter and Paul earned the top seed and hosted fourth-seeded Salisbury School on Thursday. Worcester Prep was the number-two seed and hosted three-seed Delmarva Christian on Thursday.
If the two top seeds advanced as expected, Worcester Prep and Saints Peter and Paul could play the third game in the trilogy in the ESIAC tournament championship game on Saturday in what would be an all-too-familiar scenario. Last year, the two teams split a pair of very close regular season games before Saints Peter and Paul beat Worcester, 32-22, in the ESIAC tournament championship game.