Trailing for most of the game and by as many as eight points in the third quarter, Hilton rallied while limiting top seed Victor to just eight points over the final 13:45 and won their third Section V girls basketball title with a 38-33 victory in the Class AA final held at Finger Lakes Community College.
The rally featured a pair of three-pointers by junior Elena Graziano and one from senior Ella Clark, a putback from freshman Madison Murphy, plus a pair of drives and a free throw by senior Mallory Heise.
Senior Leah Thompson, who had not scored since the first quarter, gave the Cadets the lead for good on a field goal with 33 seconds remaining in regulation and helped seal the win with a key defensive rebound and free throw along with Heise hitting two free throws with six seconds left.
“I knew we just needed to score something close to the basket because we were having trouble hitting shots from the outside and I knew it would give us the momentum to finish out the game,” Thompson said. “It was pretty exciting for me because I wasn’t expecting to be the one with the ball at the end…it just felt really good.”
Tournament Most Valuable Player Mallory Heise finished with a team-high 13 points, Thompson had nine, Clark seven, Graziano four while junior Tea Cosman and Murphy chipped in two each.
“I’ve said it for a few years now that we’re willing to play any style that’s necessary to win,” Hilton head coach Dave Heise said. “We fought through the first half; we opened the game up a little bit in the third quarter going full court man-to-man. A lot of grit and a lot of determination over there.
“We’ve been building towards this for a few years. We’ve always scheduled hard, and you should see our practices – they get after each other. They deserve every bit of this…I’m really proud of them.”
Hilton adds their third trophy to the girls basketball case following previous Section V titles in 2003 and 2011.
“We really pride ourselves at being the best in the section and I think we really proved that today,” Mallory Heise said. “I’ve been thinking about March 2nd for longer that I can think of, but it just feels amazing to finally do what we came here to do.”
