Before the final buzzer sounded, Haven’s girls varsity basketball team huddled together one last time, ending their season with a fight to the final seconds.
The Panthers fell short 54-47 to the Crestwood High School Comets in the PIAA 5A playoffs on Saturday, March 15, in Easton, Pennsylvania.
The Panthers entered the game with a strong mindset, knowing they couldn’t play scared.
“We haven’t been this far in a long time, and you just have to keep your head up, and you have to keep moving. We just have to know we have each other,” freshman point guard Maddie Fanning said.
At the end of the first quarter, the Panthers were up 14-13, coming back from being down by 5 three minutes earlier.
The Panthers managed to keep their heads high through the second quarter. The first half ended by a one-point margin, with the Comets leading 26-25.
“We did well coming together. I know we came into this game as underdogs. I think we just connected our passes and we made our shots,” Fanning said.
The second half was where the Panthers were struggling to keep up. The Comets had many free lanes to the basket and managed to secure most rebounds.
The crowd was loud during the entire fourth quarter and grew louder as the quarter progressed. The score stayed at 50-47 for the Comets in the final three minutes of the game until the Comets managed to put a layup in for two points in the last five seconds.
Despite the loss, the Panthers were able to stay close as a group, resulting in strong communication.
“When things got close there, they [the Comets] were getting frazzled, they were turning and yelling at each other, yelling at their coaches,” senior center Olivia Voshell said. “We fall back on each other. We rely on each other. We pick each other up after mistakes and things like that.”
This loss concluded the seniors’ high school careers as they move on to college. Voshell, committed to the College of New Jersey to play basketball, reflected on her last season with all her teammates.
“Everyone got along with each other, from seniors to freshmen, and there was no weird dynamics there,” Voshell said. “I also think that [getting along] carried over to being on the court and there was less fear coming from the other underclassmen. I think that this team is special because everybody wanted to be there and everybody wanted to work hard.”
