Lady Garnets Shock No. 1 Walter Panas to Capture Section Basketball Crown

The upstart Rye girls upset top seed Walter Panas 53-47 — they also avenged a 19-point blowout loss earlier this season — to capture the Section 1 Class AA Gold Ball Saturday in thrilling fashion.

To say Rye’s youthful hoopers proved unfazed by the stakes of the game or Panas’ impressive postseason resume — two-time defending section champs and the 2023 state champs — is an understatement. 

“When we played Panas earlier this season they beat us by 19,” said Rye Coach Margo Hackett after the game. “As soon as that game ended … I hoped we would play them again because I knew we could beat them. The girls did it tonight. They deserve all the credit.”

As they have all season, Panas (22-2) started five seniors, including two of the top players in Section 1: Cadence Nicholas and Sophia Tavarez.  

Rye (21-3) countered with one of the youngest starting five’s in Section 1: one senior ( Molly Kennedy), two juniors (Paige Tepedino and Phoebe Greto) one sophomore (Frankie Chiaravalle) and a freshman point guard (Stella Maresca). And the first player off the bench, Charlotte Storz, is an eighth grader at Rye Middle School. 

Maresca calmly hit three huge 3’s in the first quarter to help Rye to a 14-12 lead after one quarter of play. Panas surged in the second quarter, however, behind strong interior play from Nicholas to level the game 26-26 heading into halftime. 

Just as in Rye’s semifinal win over Tappan Zee, Storz once again played shut-down defense, often against Panas’ triple-threat senior wing Nicholas. It was a showcase performance for the eighth grader.

In the second half, it wasn’t the number of buckets Rye’s Greto scored, it was how and when she scored them. Often with Panas post players giving her little space to operate, Greto somehow finished shot after shot in traffic or on a fast break.  With each Greto basket and rebound, Rye inched closer to victory.

“Last year, we didn’t have the season or record we wanted. And this year, even though we were nearly undefeated all year long, I’m not sure teams took us seriously,” said Greto, who earned All-Tournament Team honors. “Tonight we played for each other, not for ourselves. We said we had to want it from the opening tip-off.  We had to want it more than they did.  And somehow we just did it!”

The final two minutes on the game clock took 15 excruciating minutes to complete for the heavy underdogs. But the Garnets never flinched, instead executing like champions down the stretch.  

The Rye girls team will now move on to the New York State regional tournament.