White, Sabers finish undefeated, win D2 championship

MANCHESTER – There haven’t been too many seasons like this for the Souhegan High School girls basketball team and there haven’t been many players at Souhegan like Jane White.

And there certainly haven’t been many championship games that have ended like Saturday’s Division II title game between White’s No. 1 Sabers and No. 2 Lebanon.

After falling behind by as many as 15 points in the first quarter, Souhegan chipped at Lebanon’s lead for the next three until White’s 3-pointer with 10 seconds left gave the Sabers their first lead since early in the game.

Two free throws from White in the final second closed the door on the second undefeated season in Souhegan girls basketball history, as the Sabers knocked off Lebanon 47-44 at Southern New Hampshire University.

White finished with a game-high 28 points, which included a basket in the final 10 seconds in each quarter, and Christan Wojtas added 13 points for Souhegan (22-0).

“Her drive, her will to want to win,” Souhegan coach Jeremy Faulkner said of how White was able to help the Sabers dig out of their hole. “She is the backbone of this team. She took them on her back. Sometimes, in timeouts, she took charge and told the players where she wants them. She’s just a great leader.”

Through the first 16 minutes, it looked like the dreams of an undefeated season where going to be crushed.

After White scored the first basket of the game – a 3-pointer 10 seconds in – Lebanon went on an 18-0 run. Half of that came off 10 Souhegan turnovers as Trina Scheie had 10 of her 21 points in the quarter and the Raiders (20-2) had 16 points in the paint.

The Sabers were able to cut the lead to four, 20-16, with 5:22 left in the half, but Lebanon had it back out to nine with a minute to play until White’s 3-pointer at the buzzer made it a 29-23 game at halftime.

“We just came out flat,” Faulkner said. “Not playing with our feet, just reaching in on everything. Letting them get to the hoop at will. It was just flat out sloppy in the first quarter. We told them the way we’ve got to get back into it is defense.”

While Faulkner had the Sabers switch to a zone late in the first quarter because of early foul trouble – Lebanon was 11-of-15 from the line in the first half – he went back to the defense in attempt to neutralize Scheie in the second half.

“She is so strong,” Faulkner said. “You’ve got to front her, you can’t have her be calling for the ball with both hands showing. We did a great job denying and the weakside girl came over and took the other side away. We did a great job with our zone. They couldn’t get any outside shots off.”

Since Lebanon wasn’t scoring, the Sabers were able to take their time and get points where they could. White’s layup at the end of the third made it 34-33 Raiders going into the fourth and Souhegan tied the game on two free throws from White with 5:37 left in the game.

The Raiders went back up by three a moment later, but each time Lebanon was able to get a lead, Souhegan tied the game.

With 37 seconds left and the game tied at 42, Lebanon’s Moriah Morton made two free throws to give the Raiders the lead one more time.

White brought the ball inbounds and took her time getting down the floor. Once there, she dribbled around the 3-point line, eventually stopping in front of the Sabers’ bench and launching a shot from beyond the arc.

“I saw the clock and I figured we had 33 seconds, I knew what I had to do,” White said. “I was patient, I slowed it down. It actually slipped a little bit. I was worried, but it went in and it never felt better.”

And as it turned out, it came not a moment too soon.

“I was a half-second away from calling a timeout,” Faulkner said. “Half a second.”

The coach did call one right after the basket to set his defense and Lebanon turned the ball over at the other end. A foul sent White to the line with nine-tenths of a second left and she sank both free throws, bouncing up and down at the line between the two.

When Lebanon’s last-second heave was off the mark, the Sabers jumped around the court together, celebrating a title that seemed improbable just a short time before.

“We always come out sloppy in the first half,” Faulkner said. “There wasn’t one second in that game that I didn’t think we’d be right there at the end. I didn’t know if it would fall our way, but I knew that we would claw back into it.”