Lobo's late shot gives St. Paul Class S state title

UNCASVILLE - Sometimes a moment can seem like a lifetime.

When it's a good moment, like the one the St. Paul girls basketball team

enjoyed on Saturday afternoon at Mohegan Sun Arena, that's just how long

the memories will last.

Courtney Lobo hit a fadeaway jumper for the tie-breaking shot with 18

seconds remaining - a shot which hung on the rim for a couple of tense

moments before falling through - and later grabbed the game's final

rebound in the last second of play after St. Paul's defense prevented an

open look as the Falcons won the Class S state title with a 39-37

victory over Portland.

What proved to be the game-winning shot came just 32 seconds after Lobo

(6 points) had missed the front end of a 1-and-1 opportunity, after the

teams entered the final minute of play tied at 37.

"Honestly, I didn't think it was going in," Lobo said of her basket,

which slowly rolled through the hoop after she made an off-balance shot.

"My heart stopped for about four seconds," as the shot hung on the rim,

St. Paul coach Joe Mone said.

St. Paul's defensive effort in the final 50 seconds helped set up Lobo's

shot and sealed the game in the end.

Amber Litwinko (team-high 14 points and 9 rebounds) grabbed the rebound

off Lobo's missed free throw, but stepped out of bounds in the process.

Then Portland's Brittany Schroll traveled with 34.9 seconds remaining as

the Falcons pressured her on defense.

That set up the Falcons' final offensive drive, with Claire Consonni (4

points) getting the pass to Lobo underneath for the shot.

Lobo admitted that keeping her focus for the final 50 seconds after

missing the potential go-ahead free throw wasn't easy.

"It was really hard, because I've been struggling with free throws all

year," she said. "So, to put that behind me and play through it was

really difficult."

But the Falcons' work wasn't done after that shot, as Portland still had

time to respond.

"After Courtney hit the shot, everybody's cheering and celebrating, but

everybody keeps forgetting you've got to play 17 seconds of defense,"

Mone said.

St. Paul got back quickly on defense, and Portland called a time out

with 6.2 seconds remaining to set up its final play.

"We wanted to get a shot off with enough time to rebound, and we did,"

he said.

That shot came from Lindsey Dionne (second on the team with 5 points),

who had two St. Paul defenders in her face as soon as she touched the

ball on the right corner. She put up a desperation shot with two seconds

to go and Lobo snagged the rebound and held it as time expired.

He added, "We preached defense from day one. I begged them to just

concentrate on that, and everything else would fall into place."

Fall into place it did, as the Falcons claimed their first state

championship since a 42-31 victory over Old Saybrook in 2001.