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WABASH -ÊFourteen years, Manchester players waited.
They waited to cut down the nets.
They waited to raise the trophy in the middle of their huddle.
They waited to be called sectional champions.
The wait ended Saturday.
The Manchester Squires girls basketball team claimed its first sectional title since 1984 by beating North Miami 64-44 in the Northfield Sectional championship game. Manchester, which ended the season ranked ninth in 2A, improved to 19-3. North Miami finished at 16-7.
Manchester coach Jody Shewman, decked out in Manchester colors -Êred blazer, white shirt, black pants - raised both fists in the air and pumped them when the horn sounded to end the game.
Then she walked over to one end of the gym, climbed up the ladder and cut down her portion of the net. When she sat down and put on the headphones to do radio interviews, she carried the net with her. When she talked with print reporters, she clutched the net in her hands.
The net served as a reminder just how far Manchester had come. Only two short years ago, the Squires failed to win five games in one season. Shewman took over as head coach last year, when they won 14 but didn't win the sectional title.
"This is such a great feeling," Shewman said. "The program has been down for a little while. No one ever really showed us much respect. These kids have worked so hard in practice, in the offseason. They deserve so much. This tops it right now."
For the second straight night, no one on the court could top a freshman in scoring. Jessica Hicks, a 5-foot-11 freshman forward, led Manchester with 18 points and eight rebounds in Friday's 73-35 semifinals win over Wabash.
Not even changing her uniform number from 33 to 52 before the championship game could slow her. She led all players with 18 points and nine rebounds. She hit 8 of 10 shots from the floor and scored 12 of the 18 in the second half. Once she got the ball in the low post, the Warriors couldn't stop her. She was the girl all the radio stations wanted to talk to first.
"For a while, (Hicks) was our go-to girl," Shewman said. "As a freshman, that's a lot of pressure. It didn't even faze her."
And what would Hicks have done had she been told at the beginning of the year that she -Ênot Megan Eckert, not Katie Parker, not Jodie Peden - would score the most points for Manchester in two straight sectional games?
"I would have laughed at you," she said. "I've always dreamed about this, getting to the championship.
"At first I came off the bench to start the season. Then (Shewman) moved me into a starting position. Then she kept working with me and began using me more and more."
But Manchester couldn't have done it without Eckert, Parker and Peden.
Parker finished with 14 points, five steals and four assists. Peden had nine points, eight assists, four rebounds and three steals. Eckert chipped in with nine points and five rebounds.
For three quarters, a North Miami team that relied on only six players and played three games in five days kept up with the Squires. But in the fourth, Manchester, a deeper team that got to the finals after winning one game, had more energy. The Squires' defense tallied seven steals as they outscored the Warriors 25-10 in the last quarter.
"They hung right in there with us," Shewman said. "I thought coming in they might be a little more tired than we were, but they gave everything they had. Luckily we got a big enough lead that we could hold."
Scoring runs highlighted this game, and none was bigger than the one Manchester went on to close out the fourth quarter. The Squires held a tedious 44-40 lead with five minutes left in the game, but they outscored the Warriors 20-4 from then on to turn tedious into a blowout.
The Warriors had their fans to thank for that. Parker, a 5-5 guard, scored eight of her 14 points in the last quarter.
She had tossed up an air ball earlier, so North Miami fans rode her every time she touched the ball.
Wrong person to razz. Parker has played varsity since her freshman year.
"The fans, they were yelling stuff, but we didn't let it get to us," Parker said. "I was getting the 'air ball' big-time from them. The only way to shut 'em up was to score, so ..."
She did. All eight came in a row. Because of her, the Squires went from hoping to win to blowing the thing open.
After Hicks scored to bump Manchester's lead to 46-40, Parker scored the next eight Manchester points to turn it into a 54-41 game with three minutes to go.
Her biggest baskets arguably took place with 3:36 left. She tore through the lane, spun around, hit a layup and drew a foul. She raised both hands and grinned -Êtake that, loud-mouth Warrior fans. Her three-point play put Manchester's lead in double digits at 51-41 for the first time in the quarter. More importantly, that was the basket that handed the Squires the momentum they rode to the win.
Before Manchester's 20-4 run to end the fourth, there was a 22-3 Manchester run that sandwiched halftime, followed by a 14-2 North Miami run at the end of the third quarter.
With North Miami leading 17-15, Manchester ended the first half on an 11-0 run to take a 26-17 halftime lead. Reserve Christy Markstahler finished with only four points, but she triggered Manchester's 11-0 run by scoring the first two baskets. Once Markstahler handed the Squires the lead, they kept it until the horn sounded to end the game.
The Squires started the second half the way they ended the first half. Hicks scored six points in an 11-3 Manchester run that increased the Squires' lead to 37-20.
Then Manchester's offense fell apart. The Squires scored no field goals in the final four minutes of the third quarter. The Warriors went on the 14-2 run to pull within 39-34 to start the fourth quarter, only to see Manchester widen the gap once they closed in.
And the Squires had their 64-44 win.
"As a coach, you never want to get overconfident, and I didn't want my kids to be overconfident," Shewman said. "We're human. The No. 1 team in the state (Woodlan) got beat in the first round of the sectional. I kept telling the kids it's anybody's game. Deep down, I figured we could win it."
They did, so Manchester's 14-year wait is over.
NORTHFIELD ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
First Team
Megan Eckert (Manchester)
Abby Wilson (Northfield)
Jessica Hicks (Manchester)
Katie Parker (Manchester)
Tara Emery (North Miami)
Mandy Sopher (North Miami)
Jami Savage (North Miami)
Staci White (Northfield)
Honorable Mention
Jodie Peden (Manchester)
Sarah Garvin (North Miami)
Kristina Williams (North Miami)
Lauren Keys (Maconaquah)
Gina Curtis (Wabash)
