GUILDERLAND -- The defense that the Guilderland girls’ basketball team used was almost offensive. At least it was to Catholic Central.

The Lady Dutch held the Crusaders to eight second-half points and came back for a 37-32 win at the Section II Class AA quarterfinals at Shenendehowa High School on Saturday.

Guilderland played in the semifinals on Wednesday night at Hudson Valley Community College against Bethlehem, an upset winner over top-ranked Shen on Saturday.

Guilderland beat Bethlehem, 37-31. The Lady Dutch will play Saturday night at 5:15 against the winner of the Colonie-Amsterdam game.

Up from behind

On Saturday, the Lady Dutch overcame a nine-point deficit, 24-15, at halftime by using an aggressive defense and finally finding some offensive continuity.
"Our offense is predicated on holding the ball and working the shot clock down to around 10 and then going to the basket," said Guilderland Coach Frank Cacckello. "We’ll either get a good shot or get fouled. We’ll have seniors on the line when it counts."

Despite holding CCHS to three points — a jump shot and a free throw by senior Stephanie McBride — the Lady Dutch still trailed, 27-24, at the end of the third frame.

Guilderland’s defense got even stingier in the beginning of the fourth quarter, and took the lead with 6:30 left in the contest. It was the first time the Lady Dutch led in the game.

Two free throws by senior Nikki Branchini made the score 27-26 and Mary Kate O’Connell gave the Dutch the lead on an inside basket.

Branchini threw a nice pass to Meghan Carroll who made a lay-up.

After McBride made a foul shot, Guilderland added to its lead.

O’Connell made another inside basket to make the score 32-28, with 2:25 left in the contest.

Then McBride was called for an offensive foul picking up her fifth to disqualify her from the game.

The Dutch took advantage of McBride’s absence. The Crusaders missed the senior who will be playing at Division I Wagner College next year.

"Very tense"

And though Lauren McCormick made an inside basket — the first field goal of the frame for CCHS — with 43 seconds left, Guilderland made five out of six free throws down the stretch to seal the win. O’Connell made one, Kristin Pezze made two, and Branchini made the final two that put the lid on the outcome.
"It was very tense," Pezze said after Saturday’s game. "Our defense led us to the win. In the second half, we knew where we were and had a big gap to fill. We came out and left it all on the table.
"Our offense was setting up way out," Pezze added. "We made adjustments to move it in. We attacked and got to the line."

McBride led all scorers with 17 points. But the next top Crusader scorer had six points.

Pezze led the Dutch with 12 points. O’Connell scored seven, Branchini added six, Tricia Loux chipped in with five, and Carroll scored four.
"We switched offenses," Cacckello said. "We were in an overload situation with Mary Kate, Nikki, and Kristin. We wanted them to have the ball. We wanted Mary Kate underneath in rebounding position"We came out aggressively. The kids out there needed to do that.
"We knew Stephanie was in foul trouble. That is a situation we didn’t want to be in. We pressed a lot and we jumped back into it. We worked hard to get back to be put in that situation."

On to the semifinals

It will be the first trip to Hudson Valley and a spot in the sectional semifinals since 2005, where they made an appearance in the finals, but lost to Colonie.
"I go back to the team that first went to Hudson Valley," Cacckello said of his 2004 team. "We beat Maginn and they are eerily similar. We were in foul trouble early. We were diving on the floor to beat them. What a game."

Guilderland advanced to the quarterfinal game with a win over Schenectady last Wednesday. The Lady Dutch used a strong first half to win, 46-37.

The scrappiest player for the Lady Dutch was junior Danielle Burns. She guarded McBride for most of the game.
"D. Burns was outstanding," Cacckello said. "Kristin did a good job guarding McBride, too, but we wanted to free her up to play more offense. That was a Division I player she played."

The Dutch ran into foul trouble late in the game, as Branchini, Pezze, and Carroll had four fouls in the fourth quarter.
"We were able to keep them on the floor," Cacckello said. "I told my assistant Jim Mazzone that we are throwing it all on the table and we are playing to win the game."
"I didn’t have any doubt that we would win," Pezze said. "We were going to do what we could to win. We put it all out there."

And that resulted in Cacckello’s third trip to Hudson Valley in his six years as the Lady Dutch’s coach. It will also be Pezze’s third trip to the final four.
"I’m so happy to be going back my senior year," she said. "It’s great to go to Hudson Valley. We haven’t been there in two years. It’s a good trip."
"Growing up, Glens Falls is the boys’ basketball chapel," Cacckello said. "Hudson Valley means the same thing to the girls. We made it our goal. It means we are in the top four of Section II Class AA. It’s an unbelievable accomplishment. But we’re not in this thing to finish in fourth place. It’s exciting. We know we can win this thing."