By Rob Centorani
Staff Writer
UTICA _ There was nary a spot on the floor Hamilton could call a haven Saturday.
Davenport defenders _ some pesky, some athletic and some physical _ contested everything but the Emerald Knights' school colors in a Class D state quarterfinal at SUNYIT.
A full-court zone press coupled with a hybrid half-court defense harassed Section Three champion Hamilton into a 9-for-37 shooting performance as the Wildcats advanced with a 34-24 girls basketball victory.
Senior Sam Meyerhoff scored a game-high 20 points, but she was only part of the reason Davenport is off to the state final four for the first time since 1992.
"I was so, so pleased and impressed with our defense," 31st-year Wildcats coach Ray Preston said after his 577th victory. "We made them work so hard to get the ball up the floor. I saw one of their girls bent over in the first quarter because they had worked so hard."
The scene of harried Emerald Knights ballhandlers attempting to dribble between two and sometimes three defenders often repeated itself. It resulted in turnovers or Hamilton taking so much time to get into its offense that it attempted poor shots to avoid shot-clock violations.
"We just wanted to pressure, pressure, pressure," said Jackie Gilley, a 5-foot-4 senior guard who chased the ball from baseline-to-baseline all afternoon. "This was one of our best defensive games this year. We tried to keep a lot of pressure on them and make them work hard, and turn the ball over as much as possible."
Added Meyerhoff: "We watched them on tape and they didn't get pressed at all (in a 40-30 victory over New York Mills in the Section Three final March 6). We pressed all the time and we knew if we came out and played the type of defense we played against Schenevus (a 49-33 sectional semifinal win), just having that want to win, we'd come out on top."
Next for the Wildcats (20-3) is a state semifinal against Section 10's Harrisville (18-3) at 10:45 a.m. Saturday at Hudson Valley Community College in Troy. It'll mark the fourth final four for Preston, who took Davenport to the state final in 1982 and 1989, and to the semifinals in 1992.
Davenport's girls have never won a state championship.
"It's really awesome to do it for (Preston) and for us, because he worked so hard as a coach for us this year and other years," Gilley said. "It means so much to all of us."
On Saturday, Davenport's defense was so dominant that the Wildcats won despite shooting 10-for-51 from the field. Normally, teams lament what might have been after shooting displays such as that, but the Wildcats led by at least eight points over the final 6 minutes, 20 seconds.
Davenport took a 23-18 lead into the final eight minutes.
Kate Swantak and Gilley each hit jumpers 25 seconds apart that increased the lead to nine. Swantak made a 17-footer from the left side. Then Meyerhoff kicked a pass out to Gilley, who converted from just inside the key to make it 27-18 with 6:20 to play.
"We had a timeout after that and Mr. Preston said was like, Those were two pretty good shots,'" Meyerhoff said.
When Meyerhoff made two free throws with 2:49 to play, Davenport led, 29-19.
Meyerhoff's 2,102 varsity points are tied for sixth in Section Four history with former Spencer-Van Etten standout Evie VanHouten. Next on the list are 2005 Milford graduate Shannon Weir (2,116) and all-time Davenport scoring leader Rena Goble (2,121).
Heading into this season, Meyerhoff said she wasn't certain the Wildcats had enough to get this far after losing three starters to graduation.
"Jackie and I were the ones coming back who were guaranteed starting spots," she said. "Everyone has been working so hard to get into the rotation. Everyone is fighting for their position on the floor. It's been so much more competitive than it's been in the past.
"To get to the final four, that's something I've never experienced," she continued. "No one on this team has experienced it. We're so excited right now."
Midway through the first quarter, Meyerhoff hit back-to-back three-pointers to give the Wildcats the lead for keeps. The first came from left of the key with 3:52 left and the second from the key with 3:00 to go to make it 11-7.
In a raggedly played second quarter, Meyerhoff hit a pull-up jumper on the left wing with 7:25 left to make it 13-9. Then two free throws by Meyerhoff with 4:12 left in the half made it a six-point spread.
But Hamilton rallied behind a deep three-pointer by Katie Weeks with 3:05 left in the half and a free throw by Weeks with 42.8 to play to make it 15-13.
At halftime, Hamilton had attempted 13 shots, but 5-for-25 shooting by the Wildcats kept the Emerald Knights close.
"I said at halftime we played really well, but we haven't put them away," Preston said. "Now, we have to kick it up another notch. I thought the whole game, we made their best players work so hard to get set up on offense."
Hamilton junior Jordan Peterson drew the lion's share of Davenport's attention. She might have been the best athlete on the floor but rarely found room to operate.
"Jordan is a very talented player," Meyerhoff said of Peterson, who finished with 13 points on 5-for-16 shooting from the floor. "We knew she was averaging 20 points. That was not going to be able to happen today for us to win. We knew we'd have to shut her down."
Added Peterson: "Their press forced turnovers just like they wanted it to. They're definitely the best defensive team we've faced all year."
Harrisville advanced with a 55-51 win over Section Two's Argyle at HVCC on Saturday.
The other semifinal matchup pits Section Six's Clymer (18-4) against Section Nine's John A. Coleman. They'll play at 9 a.m. Saturday. The final is noon Sunday at HVCC.
"We want to play our hearts out and win," Gilley said.
Davenport 34, Hamilton 24
CLASS D STATE QUARTERFINAL
Saturday at SUNYIT
Number before team indicates section
4-DAVENPORT (20-3): Jackie Gilley 2-8 3-4 7, Kate Swantak 1-5 1-2 3, Katie Brown 2-5 0-0 4, Lauren Hotaling 2-5 0-0 4, Lauren Hotaling 0-3 0-0 0, Rebecca Hotaling 0-1 0-0 0, Emily Marsh 0-0 0-0 0, Brittany Chase 0-5 0-0 0, Sam Meyerhoff 5-24 8-9 20. TOTALS: 10-51 12-15 34
3-HAMILTON (14-8): Jenna Whyatt 1-5 0-0 2, Katie Weeks 2-10 1-2 7, Jordan Peterson 5-16 2-7 13, Katherine Keever 0-5 0-0 0, Hillary Hanson 1-1 0-0 2. TOTALS: 9-37 3-9 24.
Davenport11 4 8 11 _ 34
Hamilton9 4 5 6 _ 24
Three-point field goals: D 2 (Meyerhoff 2); H 3 (Weeks 2, Peterson).
Rob Centorani can be reached at rcentorani@thedailystar.com or 607-432-1000, ext. 209.
