TROY -- Buckets didn't come easily on Wednesday night at Hudson Valley Community College, but the Mechanicville girls' basketball team got going just enough to get the job done.
Following a low-scoring first-half, Mechanicville's defense stayed strong in the second, while various players stepped up on offense.
After the No. 2 seed Mechanicville secured a 39-28 victory over No. 6 Tamarac in the Section 2 Class B semifinals, the group awaited head coach Mike Cavotta in the locker room.
"They dumped water on me when I walked into the locker room. They were pretty excited," Cavotta said. "It feels great. We worked really hard for four months, just like everybody else. Tamarac's a great team, we had to play them three times and it was a battle."
"That was amazing," Mechanicville's Tanner Eiseman said. "I've never seen him that proud of us or that happy before. It was a great feeling."
The first half ended with Tamarac leading 13-10. The Bengals scored nine points in the first quarter and four in the second, while Mechanicville scored six in the first and four in the second.
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"It can definitely be tough coming into this building, not having a whole lot of time to feel out the court ahead of time," Eiseman said of the struggle to score. "It really was a struggle to get in a groove, but once we got it going, we didn't stop."
Eiseman got going in the second quarter, and carried some of that momentum into the third, as Mechanicville was able to take a lead. However, once Eiseman picked up her fourth foul, someone else needed to step up.
Ava Gaspie was up for the task, as she scored all of her six points in the fourth quarter. Elle Richardson, Molly DiSiena and Riley LaPierre also added clutch buckets for Mechanicville down the stretch.
"We're always neck and neck with Tamarac, it's always a back-and-forth game," Gaspie said. "We all have each other's backs. When Tanner got her fourth [foul], someone else had to step up and make those shots."
"Our group was resilient and we stuck to our game plan," Cavotta added. "They have a great player, Kayla Beaudoin is as good as anybody and we did a really good [defending] her today."
Eiseman, who scored 11 points in the game, saw all of her points come between the second and third quarters. Richardson, who scored all of her second points in the second half, had five in the third quarter.
Defensively, Mechanicville did not allow Tamarac to score in double-digits in any quarter.
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"It was a big focus to cover up Kayla since she's one of their better players," Eiseman said of Mechanicville's defensive focus on Beaudoin. "If we had had her marked up, we matched up well with their other players."
In addition to Eiseman's four fouls, Richardson and Gaspie also had four, while DiSiena had three. However, all four players were able to stay in the game.
"I think it just makes us want to play harder, and to play better defense and not foul," Eiseman said of playing in foul trouble.
Mechanicville now moves on to face No. 1 Voorheesville in the Section 2 championship game on Saturday at 4:15 at HVCC.
"I can't wait to get here and to see the crowd that's going to show up," Eiseman said. "It's going to be fun."
Tamarac 9 4 7 8 -- 28
Mechanicville 6 4 16 13 -- 39
Tamarac scoring: Hayden 0-2-2, Frierson 0-1-1, Beaudoin 1-4-6, Barbera 2-0-5, Darling 3-2-14. Mechanicville scoring: Gaspie 2-2-6, Richardson 3-1-7, LaPierre 1-1-3, DiSiena 2-2-6, Dowd 3-0-6, Eiseman 4-3-11. Team scoring: Tamarac 6-9-28, Mechanicville 15-9-39.
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