THUNDER BAY – Danielle Charles saved her best for last.
The Hammarskjold Vikings guard broke free in the final minute of Monday night’s senior girls’ high school basketball championship, took a pass from Esme Whalen and made no mistake on the lay-up, the bucket handing her team a come-from-behind, 43-42 win over a St. Ignatius Falcons squad that did all it could to retain the title it took from their cross-city rivals the year before, snapping Hammarskjold’s four-year hold on the trophy in the process.
It capped a furious second-half rally, that saw the Vikings begin the third quarter trailing by 11, but slowly chip away at the St. Ignatius lead, focusing on playing a tighter defensive game as a way to create more offensive opportunities.
Charles, who turns 16 on Tuesday, was held to just one point in the opening half, but erupted for 11 in the final 20 minutes, including the game-winner.
“It means so much. It was really stressful though, having that pressure on me,” said Charles, whose team will host the NWOSSA regional on Friday and Saturday.
“It was really special. It was hard being down the whole game, pretty much, but we knew we could win. We’d played them before so we knew we had to play our best, come together as a team.”
It helped that guard Hana Whalen, who could only manage five first-half points, was able to escape the Falcons clutches in the second, pouring in 11 points of her own, including a statement three-pointer 15 seconds into the third that declared the Vikings weren’t about to settle for a second chance on Tuesday, afforded the team as the No. 1 seed.
Whalen and Charles combined for a 6-0 run to close the third, the former hitting a basket to start the fourth the closed the St. Ignatius lead to 32-30.
“It was probably the most exciting game I’ve ever played,” Whalen said. “It was definitely a great way to finish the season for both teams. I was very lucky to be a part of this game.”
Whalen, who topped all scorers with 16, said they took things basket by basket in the second half, looking to retake the lead for the first time since they jumped in front of the Falcons 7-6 in the first.
“That’s basically what we did and we had to have better defence to make one stop at a time and our offence took care of itself from there,” Whalen said, adding she found a way to finish after the break, something she was unable to do for most of the opening two quarters.
“It wasn’t really working for me in the first half and then I was able to get a little more open. I really wanted it, so I was really aggressive.”
Amy Stieh regained the lead for the Vikings, with five minutes to go, but the Falcons fought back immediately, Erica Vidotto throwing up a prayer to put St. Ignatius back in front 39-38. She’d finish with 15 to lead the Falcons.
Esme Whalen secured the lead again for Hammarskjold on the fast break, but Andie Maylen took it back with 31 seconds left on the clock. Vidotto had a chance to up the lead to three, but missed a pair of free throws, setting the stage for Charles’ last-second heroics.
Vidotto had one last shot at the game-winner, but a suffocating Vikings defence saw her shot fall well short of its target as time ran out.
