TROY — Madalyn Barrows is the lead component for the Oxford Academy girls’ basketball team and the senior guard, who is bound for Division II Shepherd University, certainly drew the attention of the defense from Bishop Gibbons on Saturday in the Class D state semifinals at Hudson Valley Community College.
But as the Golden Knights soon discovered, the other members of the Blackhawks are capable as well.
Oxford Academy confounded Bishop Gibbons’ strategy of focusing the majority of its attention on Barrows by draining 7 of 14 attempts from 3-point range in the first half and advanced to Sunday’s title game with a 75-54 victory over the Golden Knights.
Barrows did her normal damage, finishing with 27 points, nine rebounds, four assists and four steals. Ella Kelsey added 14 points and reserve Jocie Finch contributed 11 points, including 3-for-3 accuracy on 3-pointers.
“What we saw on film and what they did were two different things,” Bishop Gibbons coach Pat Moran said. “We knew No. 3 Barrows was really good. We knew their man press was really good and we had to get them out of it. They had other girls step and hit shots that we were going to give because statistically they weren’t hitting all season. They did. Kudos to those kids.”
“Our game plan was watching (Barrows). We knew that she could shoot 3s and that she was their whole team, basically,” said Bishop Gibbons junior guard Angelina Deitz, who tallied 16 points. “She could do everything. They started coming out and hitting 3s. It shocked us. We had to adjust our defense. By the third quarter, it was too late.”
Third-ranked Oxford Academy (22-5), the champion from Section IV, reached HVCC on the strength of a 70-44 state quarterfinal win against Smithtown Christian.
Entering Saturday’s contest, Bishop Gibbons (15-8) was ranked No. 12 in the state poll. A week earlier, the…
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