Sports

Freshman moment: Calhoun’s late treys shoot Royals past SJB

Excuse Sierra Calhoun if she at first didn’t exactly realize what she had done.

The highly touted freshman entered Christ the King with expectations of being the storied program’s next big star, with a career filled with big shots and big moments. Calhoun had yet to have that signature instance in her first season and wasn’t quite aware that she had produced it.

“I didn’t realize at first that we were up by one,” Calhoun said of returning to a crazed CK bench. “I hit the 3 and I was like, ‘Oh. We are up by one point.’ After I saw that, I was like now we had to lock it up on defense.”

Down five and with senior star Bria Smith fouled out, Calhoun, who scored 18 points, connected on the biggest shots of her early career in the game’s final two minutes. She buried an open 3-pointer from the right corner and came back and drained a contested trey with less than a minute play right in front of the Royals bench.

It gave Christ the King the lead for good in an eventual 55-52 win against St. John the Baptist in the CHSAA Class AA girls basketball state semifinals at St. Dominic in Oyster Bay. CK faces rival Nazareth 4 p.m. Sunday at Holy Trinity in the final. The Lady Kingsmen won two of the three meetings this season.

“I love her now,” Smith said, who was the first to greet her teammates after the final horn. “I love her so much. It was like my whole career put on [the line]. I’m speechless.”

Added CK coach Bob Mackey: “She was due.”

The Cougars (20-7), who watched their star Alexis Smith foul out with 6:00 to play in the game, had one last chance with 11. seconds left after forcing a shot clock violation. Rayne Connell picked up Dartmouth-bound Kamala Thompson (12 points) the length of the floor and watched her slip and loose the handle. Lauren Nuss picked up the loose ball and was fouled with a broad smile on her face with 3.6 seconds remaining.

“There is one thing that I am definitely confident with and it’s my free throws,” Nuss said. “They were playing music when we were going out there and I just have the music playing in my head. It was very comfortable.”

She made both to make it 55-52 and Aliyah Smith’s last ditch shot from halfcourt was off the mark. Alexis Smith led the Cougars with 13 points, Brianna Thomas had 11 and Anastasia Williams and Kristen McMahon each added 10. Bria Smith,dropped in 11 points, Oden had nine, Connell eight and Nuss seven for the defending state Federation Class AA champion Royals (21-8).

They survived Baptist’s initial blitz of full court pressure and physical rebounding with Jessica Wasserfull, Nuss and Connell eventually joining Calhoun, Smith and Oden on the glass.

“I think they were tired of listening to us yell at them, ‘Rebound, now rebound, rebound, rebound,’” Mackey said. “I think they just got tired. They decided let’s shut us up.”

The game was one of the rare occasions where the CK supporting cast picked up their McDonald’s All-American leader. Bria Smith, who couldn’t put her finger on why, was struggling to make simple layups and her normally powerful drives and pullup jumpers were bouncing out.

She picked up her third and fourth fouls in the opening minute of the fourth after Alexis Smith hit a top of the key 3-pointer to put SJB up 44-41 after an even first three stanzas. Calhoun had a big putback, Nuss a physical driving hoop and Connell finished hard to the rim. But CK still trailed 52-47 with 2:30 left following a Williams steal and score before Calhoun took over.

“The first one got me going,” Calhoun said. “And then the second one, I saw it there. I took it. It went in.”

So the Royals move on.