Hartwell, Clark power Schroon Lake to Class D supremacy

PLATTSBURGH | Schroon Lake and Chazy were deadlocked at 13-13 after the first quarter, and then the 3-pointers started to fall. The Wildcats buried nine of their 10 3-pointers over the final 24 minutes to fuel their 51-33 victory in the Section VII Class D girls basketball championship. Olivia Hartwell and Sloan Clark contributed to the outside shooting barrage with five 3-pointers apiece on Saturday, March 1 at Clinton Community College. Hartwell finished with a game-high 29 points to propel No. 19-ranked Schroon Lake to its first sectional crown since 2008. "Our team is a family, and we all just put our hearts into this," Hartwell said. "At the beginning of the season, we really didn't think this would be possible. We really had to work our butts off, and we did. It feels great." The Wildcats had to overcome a nightmare start. They trailed the Eagles 9-0 with 4:59 left in the first quarter, but Schroon Lake caught fire late in the first half. Clark swished a pair of 3-pointers, and then Hartwell added another. Hartwell's 2-point field goal capped the Wildcats' 11-1 run. It gave Schroon Lake its biggest lead of the opening half at 26-18. "We just kept shooting," Hartwell said. "Sloan's a great shooter, but she sometimes starts slow. We kept our heads in the game, and we just knocked them down." Clark contributed 16 points to the winning cause. "We trust each other, like, when we pass, we know something good is going to come out of it," Clark said. "We have shooters on this team – me, Olivia, Taylor (Bush) – really all of us can shoot well." Chazy's Carly LaPierre scored 10 of her team-high 12 points in the first half, but she was held to only two made free throws the rest of the way. The Wildcats' defense held the Eagles to only four baskets in the second half. "We studied how they get the ball to her," Clark said. "We made a switch at halftime to sandwich her between two defenders. When she put the ball down, we had two people there to trap her." Schroon Lake advanced to the state playoffs, where it will face No. 8-ranked and undefeated Chateaugay. The Bulldogs (23-0) defeated Chazy, 58-32, on Jan. 22. "We all have great chemistry," Clark said. "We've been playing together since youth commission. We just need to keep working hard in practice and show up for each other."

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Hartwell, Clark power Schroon Lake to Class D supremacy

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