DEDHAM, Mass. — Berkshire girls basketball trailed for nearly the entirety of Sunday's Class B Large championship game against fourth-seeded Lawrence Academy.
But, as time wound down, coach Junior De La Hoz kept referring to a crumpled up sheet of game notes.
One message on his paper: "Trust your teammate."
That trust endured as the seventh-seeded Bears weathered shooting slumps and deficits. It showed up when senior Chloe Egan told the huddle to get freshman Sammie King a 3-point look — the shot that would tie the game with 45 seconds left.
And it proved the difference as Berkshire captured its first NEPSAC championship in 33 years, prevailing 61-57 in overtime at Noble and Greenough on Sunday.
MORE GIRLS CHAMPIONS: Class AAA — Hoosac beats New Hampton | Class AA — Darrow beats Worcester Academy | Class A — Sacred Heart beats Loomis Chaffee | Class B Small — Hamden Hall beats Kimball Union
Senior guard Alivia Mauer won MVP and hit a huge 3-pointer to open overtime, finally giving the Bears (22-6) a lead they would not relinquish. She and other sharpshooters were on-and-off behind the arc but didn't waver in their confidence.
"We've been through so much this year — it's like, what else can happen in this moment?" De La Hoz said. "Just keep working. We say this, and it's for all the time, either when you're winning or losing: Keep working."
Lawrence Academy (19-8) and its young roster surprised De La Hoz with its size and toughness. Sophomore Kiera Paradis, despite taking multiple hard falls and getting her upper left leg taped up, nearly willed the Spartans back to victory in overtime with two late 3s. She finished with 13 points and senior Mya Lambert led the Spartans with 14.
Physicality became the theme down the stretch in a defensive contest. Berkshire's top two players, Egan and Pearl Dickson, struggled to score as the focus of Lawrence Academy's defense. But King made timely late shots right up until she left the game in overtime following a scary knee injury. She finished with 12 points, and Lana Orietas (12 points) also reached double figures.
Berkshire was an expected Class B Large title contender. But this year threw a lot of things at them on and off the court. Egan's father passed away unexpectedly during the season and Mauer lost her grandfather. On the court, they hit rough patches and fell to seventh in the seedings.
De La Hoz has cried twice on the Nobles court this winter. First, it was when Berkshire blew a 26-point lead to Governor's and lost at the Nickerson Showcase. Sunday instead evoked tears of joy.
"Obviously, I love winning, and l absolutely hate losing, and I try not to think of losing at all,” he said. “I tell my kids, (win) everything: win the drill, win this, win that, because we want to win.
"But Chloe's that passing away (and) Alivia Mauer's grandfather — it's just a lot. These kids never gave up on what we were. We set a goal; we had a map and we were gonna get to Nobles. Just to see them do it, man, it's crazy."
