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HOLLAND – Annie Crudele didn’t have a good grip on the basketball, thanks to a New Hope defender who got a piece of the ball. Springfield’s sophomore guard didn’t really get all that good a look at the basket either.It didn’t matter.
All that mattered was that Crudele nailed the shot from the top of the key as time was about to expire in Friday night’s District One AA quarterfinal, giving the Spartans a 55-53 lead over the stunned Lions.
“We had a play, but it was for 10 seconds,” Crudele said. “I heard my coach saying, ‘Go, go, go.’ I looked at the clock and saw nine seconds, and I just went. I had to take it.
“We really wanted this game. We made it work.”
The final 2.9 seconds ticked off the clock without the Lions so much as collecting a shot, and the Spartans – who trailed by as many as 14 in the third quarter - had earned the dramatic come-from-behind win.
“It’s just so great – I don’t even know how to describe how excited we all are,” said junior Morgan Smith, who led all scorers with 16 points. “We have gone to districts before, but we always lost in the first round.
“We wanted this game so much. We had a great season, and this on top of it is just awesome.”
Crudele’s late-game heroics didn’t seem like even a remote possibility after watching the Spartans stagger through a first half that saw the Lions put 33 points on the board, which included five three-pointers.
“We had watched a few of their games, and we knew they were going to be a threat from the three-point line,” said Springfield coach Sarah Gibbs, whose team trailed 33-21 at the intermission. “We started out with a focus on that, but I think we were almost too focused on it to where we were over thinking where we were, and we weren’t defending them well.
“At halftime, we talked about how we needed to defend them to shut down their strengths.”
The game was the first half of a twinbill with a nightcap that pitted a pair of District One AAAA boys’ powerhouse squads - Pennsbury and Central Bucks South - in a quarterfinal contest that played to a sold-out house.
“We were definitely shell-shocked the first half,” Gibbs said. “I think they were intimidated. I think they were not really ready to play in a big arena in front of all these fans.
“I think they felt the pressure of winning a district game because none of these girls have ever won a district game.”
Any nerves the Spartans may have felt in the first half disappeared in the second half.
“When we were in the locker room, we were like, ‘We have to get our energy up’ because you could see how low we were at the beginning of the game,” Smith said. “We all picked each other up. We were fired up. “
The Spartans began to chip away at the Lions’ lead by nailing some long-range bombs of their own. It was a 41-30 game after Smith nailed a trey at the 2:32 mark, and after a New Hope miss, Elise DiFilippo buried a three-pointer.
Maggie Canavan completed the trifecta when – after another Lion miss – she hit nothing but net on a trey to make it a 41-36 game, and in a span of 67 seconds, the Spartans had trimmed nine points off New Hope’s lead.
New Hope extended its lead to 44-36 after Alyssa Isler, who led all scorers with 27 points, completed a three-point play to open the fourth quarter. It was a 44-40 game after Briana Scafidi buried a trey, but Isler answered with a bucket at the other end.
Smith converted back-to-back baskets to pull the Spartans to within two (46-44), but again Isler converted a three-point play to up the Lions’ advantage to five. Canavan, who scored all seven of her points in the second half, connected on a basket to make it a three-point game, and the two teams were deadlocked 49-49 after DiFilippo buried a baseline trey with 2:59 remaining.
“We don’t hit a lot of three’s, but we said we knew that three was going in,” Gibbs said. “We told her to throw the ball to the corner, and we knew there was no way she would miss that. We could just see it.”Smith, who came up with a steal, connected on a pair from the foul line to give the Spartans a 51-49 lead, and after Crudele pulled down the rebound of a Lion miss, Smith – who had eight points in the quarter - buried a shot from the outside to put the Spartans on top 53-49.
“That is Morgan,” Gibbs said of Smith. “That is exactly the kind of player she is and the kind of person and teammate she is. That is when she shines when she knows her team needs her to.”
The Lions rallied to knot the score after Isler turned a steal into a basket with 30 seconds remaining, setting the stage for Crudele’s last-second shot.
“She lost control of the ball – the defender hit it, and she fought through it to get it off,” Gibbs said. “We told her, ‘If you get contact, you will get to the foul line.’
“She just did everything in her power to get that shot off.”
Crudele wasn’t finished just yet. Since the Spartans had a foul to give, she intentionally fouled the New Hope player who received the inbounds pass near midcourt, ensuring there would be no shot, and the big win was in the books.
“That was our play – if we couldn’t get anything, we would just foul because it wasn’t a one-and-one yet,” Crudele said.
The Spartans have earned a date with Lower Moreland in a district semifinal game on Tuesday, but for one night, they were enjoying their memorable win.
“This for us was a huge win,” Gibbs said. “This is a team of some of the hardest working girls with the biggest hearts, and they really want it.
“They want to win, they want to get better, and they want people to recognize that they’re getting better. They’re really trying to change how people perceive Springfield.”
SPRINGFIELD (MONTCO) 55, NEW HOPE 53
Springfield (55) – Annie Crudele 5 0-2 10, Morgan Smith 6 3-4 16, Briana Scafidi 5 3-5 14, Maggie Canavan 3 0-0 7, Elise DiFilippo 3 0-2 8, Molly Wheatley 0 0-0 0. Totals 22 6-13
New Hope (53) – Molly Guinan 0 0-0 0, Alyssa Isler 8 10-14 27, Erin Moss 2 0-0 4, Tess Frelick 5 0-0 14, Sarah Staudenmeier 1 0-2 2, Laura Park 3 0-0 6. Totals 19 10-16 53.
Springfield 12 9 15 19-55
New Hope 14 19 8 12-53
Three-point goals: Springfield – Elise DiFilippo 2, Maggie Canavan, Briana Scafidi, Morgan Smith. New Hope – Tess Frelick 4, Alyssa Isler.
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