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Chris-tal Clear: For Erin Whitney and the heartbroken Hawks, the trip was still worth it
Highland senior Erin Whitney stood answering a certain reporter's questions and twice forced a smile to her face.
Her Hawks had, for the third straight season, come up one game shy of a state championship — thrice bested by Walsingham.
Whitney kept trying to put on a brave face.
“I think the whole team's mindset is that we have to brush it off,” she said. “Yeah, we played and it didn't happen.”
Her eyes, red from nearly an hour of tears, belied her nonchalance.
No one knew how big Saturday's game was for Highland better than Whitney. In four years on Highland's varsity, all under coach Donald O'Meara, Whitney was part of 102 victories, four conference regular season titles, four conference tournament wins and four VIS Final Four trips.
Yet, you have to think that the three state finals losses will linger. Despite Whitney's best efforts to be friendly and amiable, it did not take a psychiatrist to know that she was hurting.
Denae Davis and Hannah Safren and Reba Tutt and all the other so-called star players received much of the attention during Whitney's Highland days. But Whitney was just as important. She played with a never-ending enthusiasm, battling for rebounds and diving for loose balls. She was undersized, yet never backed down in any matchup.
Whitney's motor never stopped. Neither did her brain. Constantly coaching her teammates on the floor, aware of all scenarios, Whitney put everything possible into making Highland a state power.
So even as the player that O'Meara constantly called the “heart and soul” of his team talked of moving past Saturday's loss, you could not help but feel for her.
“I still think we're the best team,” Whitney finally admitted. “If we had another 30 seconds, it would have been a different ballgame altogether – just a little bit more time.”
This seemed like the year Highland would get over the top.
Walsingham came into Saturday 28-1 overall, but minus several of its stars from the past few seasons.
If a 28-1 three-time defending state champ ever appeared ripe for the taking, this was the time.
And if you did not feel that way going into Saturday, the first quarter might have changed your mind.
Walsingham came out jittery and sloppy. On the other side, Highland looked focused. So when Hawk junior Maire Shaughnessy — the owner of exactly zero 3-point makes all season — swished home two bombs, seemingly dropped down from the basketball gods, a Highland win just looked like destiny.
“Honestly, I thought at the beginning of the game that this was our year and that just solidified it,” said O'Meara of Shaughnessy's unexpected hot streak.
Sadly, everything paled in comparison afterward.
Highland hit a rare drought in the second quarter and never recovered. A 14-12 Hawk lead turned into a 25-14 deficit.
Only a Whitney layup with 40 seconds left in the first half saved Highland from a scoreless second quarter. “Everybody was just looking for a little bit of hope in the second quarter,” Whitney said.
Her late basket gave them a burst of life, and the Hawks even scrapped back within four. Once again, though, it was not to be.
The optimists out there will see the last three state title results and point out that Highland lost in 2006 by 25 and by 13 last year. So a five-point defeat with a far from perfect effort appears to show progress.
In reality, that probably makes this even more upsetting.
Highland, honestly, was outclassed in 2006 and 2007. Not this time. The Hawks could have won on Saturday. They had more weapons, plenty of experience and that needed sense of desperation.
That Walsingham still found a way was understandably heartbreaking for Highland.
The Trojans implemented a great game plan centered around talented senior Kelly Korkowski and crushed Highland again.
“It's really depressing,” junior Maire Shaughnessy said, her eyes too bearing the results of a lengthy cry. “I really wanted this this year.”
There is something to be said for what Highland has accomplished. I suppose that will be the lingering message for the Hawks. A ridiculous number of teams would give anything for three straight state finals appearances.
Unfortunately, these Hawks had bigger goals. The biggest goal, really: this team wanted a state title and nothing less.
Instead, the Hawks accepted their runner-up trophy in a fitting scene — Whitney took it and raised it to the crowd as her eyes welled.
Hopefully soon, she will look back on what Highland has accomplished, the pain gone, and smile for real.
Whitney and her Hawk teammates certainly deserve to.
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