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SYRACUSE The Thousand Islands girls basketball team either received wise advice or good karma during its recent practice visits from Bit Hall ahead of its quest to make school history Sunday afternoon.

Courtney Evans-Eppolito scored 20 points and the top-seeded Vikings closed with a strong fourth quarter to beat No. 5 Cooperstown, 57-44, in the Section 3 Class C semifinals at Onondaga Community Colleges SRC Arena.

Thousand Islands tied a program record with its 20th victory and next Sunday will play in its first sectional championship game since 2010, when Hall was the leading scorer for a 20-win club.

In the Class B semifinal that followed, No. 4 South Jefferson suffered a heartbreaking 51-50 loss to No. 1 Bishop Ludden after Danielle Rauch made a game-winning free throw with three seconds left.

Rauch, a junior, also became the all-time leading scorer for the Gaelic Knights in boys and girls basketball during the victory.

Evans-Eppolito matched her season high in scoring and the Vikings pulled away with a 17-7 fourth quarter to close the victory.

Anna Hoover battled through foul trouble to score 14 points for the Vikings (20-2 overall), who will play No. 3 Syracuse Academy of Science (19-3) for the Class C championship at a time to be determined Sunday in the same location.

I thought we wanted it more, we worked very hard this season, Hoover said. So it was like we made it this far, we might as well just give it all we have.

Thousand Islands held Cooperstown scoreless for the first three minutes and 30 seconds of the fourth quarter and buried a pair of big 3-pointers down the stretch to extend its lead, which stood at 40-37 entering the fourth.

Madyson Amo scored from beyond the arc to put TI up 47-39, and Ashlyn Eyles hit from deep to give the Vikings a 50-41 lead, essentially sealing the game with two minutes left.

Thousand Islands coach Pete Pettit said his team was focused on tying the programs wins record and reaching just the second title game in his 19-year tenure. He invited Hall to practice this week to give them a final motivational push.

Shes come to a couple of our games, too, and we like her support, Evans-Eppolito said. She was on that last team that made it to the finals, so she just encourages us and gave us some tips on how to calm down and take the nerves away, and just come into an arena like this and just play.

Amo added nine points for the Vikings, who avenged last years quarterfinal loss to the two-time defending Class C champion Hawkeyes (18-5).

South Jefferson senior Natalie Burdick drained a 3-pointer with 22 seconds left to tie the game at 50 points apiece, setting up a final chance for Rauch on her milestone day.

The junior guard took the inbound pass at half-court, dribbled the clock down and drove the lane to draw a foul with three seconds left.

She missed the first free throw and made the second, and the Spartans called a timeout but couldnt get a good look off the inbounds pass before the buzzer sounded to end a grueling, physical game.

Rauch converted on 13-of-17 free throws and scored nine of her game-high 25 points during a fourth quarter that featured five lead changes and two ties.

I meant to take charge the whole entire game, but I started off pretty rough, pretty slow, said Rauch, who eclipsed the school record of 1,434 points with a free throw in the third quarter.

But I knew that this is what my team needed me to do. Down the stretch, good players make plays and thats what they needed me to do.

The Spartans took their first lead of the game, 37-36, on a pair of free throws from Alyssa Stevenson early in the fourth quarter.

The Gaelic Knights (20-3) answered with a quick 8-0 run and led until Stevenson scored off the dribble with two minutes left to give South Jefferson a 47-46 lead.

Burdicks bucket, her only three points of the game, brought the Spartans back even before Rauchs game-winning foul shot.

We were down seven or eight points at one point in time, against the No. 1 seed, a really good team, and fought our way back, South Jefferson coach Michelle Whitley said. Unfortunately, a few things we didnt do well at times, made some not-so-good decisions at times and that hurts you. But, God, we were right there and unfortunately they bailed them out at the end and that was it.

Stevenson and Mara Hathaway scored 14 points apiece to lead the Spartans (18-5), who were aiming for their third straight finals appearance and 13th in the past 15 years.

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Section 3 girls basketball: Thousand Islands victorious, South Jeff loses by a point - WatertownDailyTimes.com