PSA girls —
they were
sooooo close
The hardest thing about Putnam Science Academy’s girls’ basketball team losing in the semifinals of its national championships tournament is knowing that they were realistically good enough to win it all.
That they were close. That another basket here, another stop there, one less turnover in the fourth quarter…it all makes the hurt hurt more.
And the tears that were steaming down a lot of faces late Saturday night tell the story of just how close they came, and what they believed about themselves.
The Mustangs were down as many as 10 points in the third quarter but rallied to take the lead in the fourth before finally succumbing two wins shy of its first national championship, losing 67-64 to Winston-Salem Christian Academy. It was the third straight year the Mustangs have lost to the Lions in the Final Four.
“First of all, I am so proud of this team and how they played,” coach Devin Hill said afterward. “I’m not sitting here saying, ‘If we did this’ or ‘If we did that’ or ‘If they just listened.’ No. They did what I asked them to do. They were locked in. They played hard.
“The thing that makes it tough…I thought we were going to win. Not just this game. I thought we were going to win (the championship). We were good enough to, we were deep enough to, we were tough enough to. Sometimes, it just doesn’t work out the way you want it to or the way you think it should.”
Ines Goryanova had 16 points, Genevive Wedemeyer had 14, and KC Cedano and Janeya Grant both finished with 13 in the loss.
PSA trailed 49-39 in the third and was in danger of getting blown out by the combination of strong play from Winston-Salem, missed shots on its end, and some unfavorable whistles by the referees. But the Mustangs settled things down and eventually grabbed a 54-53 lead after Goryanova made two free throws and Grant had a steal and layup.
The game went back and forth from there, with no team taking a lead bigger than four points the rest of the way. PSA was down 64-60 with a little more than 90 seconds to go, and missed one-of-two free throws and turned it over on successive possessions. Winston-Salem got the lead to 67-61 with foul shots before Grant hit a 3-pointer just before the buzzer for the final score.
Sunday’s consolation game was a different story as PSA never really seemed into playing for third place and dropped an 86-70 decision to S3 Academy of Virginia in a game that really wasn’t that close by the end.
“We came in with no energy from the start,” Cedano said. “Warmups, everyone was quiet. The bench was quiet. On the court, we were just letting them do whatever they wanted to do. No one had any leadership, no one took a stand. We just all stayed quiet and got embarrassed.
“For me, there were plays that I took off and that I was lazy. I should have played harder. My shot was off too, which isn’t really the problem. I should have played through that.”
The score was tied at 39 at halftime before the wheels fell off.
“We came here with really good energy, and we wanted to win a ring badly,” Goryanova said. “The first three games the energy was there, we were playing hard, playing with heart, like we actually wanted to win. Then this last game, our energy was down. I feel like we gave up before the game even started just because we knew we couldn’t win anything.
“That includes me. I started giving up too. I feel like that let the team down even more. But we are a team that cares. (Sunday) was just not that at all.
“And now we’re left saying the same thing we said last year, that ‘Next year is our year.’
They advanced to the Final Four with wins Friday afternoon and Saturday morning.
In the opening-round 77-44 win, Astou Ndiaye provided a spark off the bench, scoring 15 points and grabbing eight rebounds.
The Mustangs, who learned shortly before the game that they were guaranteed a spot in the second round because their original opponent had forfeited, came out understandably flat. Still, they led 27-15 after the first quarter and 42-30 at halftime.
Ndiaye keyed a run in the third quarter that put PSA in firm control, knocking down a pair of 3-pointers and scoring on a drive to the basket while drawing a foul.
Goryanova finished with 10 points, five rebounds, five assists, and five steals, while Grant had 13 points and Wedemeyer added 10.
Their 58-51 win over 1-of-1 Prep Black in Saturday’s quarterfinals was “winning ugly” as Hill said, but a spark of energy to start the third quarter gave the Mustangs life, and they finally took the lead in the fourth quarter.
Goryanova led the way again, finishing with 14 points and six assists, while Sophia Fontaine gave a gutsy seven-point, five-rebound, four-block effort. Grant had 12 points and seven rebounds and Wedemeyer added nine points (including 5-of-6 from the free throw line down the stretch) and four steals in the win.
By Stephen Nalbandian
Sports Information Director
Putnam Science Academy

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