York Suburban girls beat Northern York in overtime to claim first District 3 title

HERSHEY — Janay Rissmiller may not have been in her comfort zone at the free-throw line in the final seconds Friday night. But the York Suburban senior didn’t blink in the face of adversity.

Rissmiller had been fouled on the floor with the Trojans trailing Northern York by a point and 19.3 seconds remaining in overtime of the District 3 Class 5A title contest at the Giant Center. That meant the all-state guard had to go to the charity stripe to shoot the biggest free throws of her career.

After struggling at the line over the past few weeks, Rissmiller fought off the nerves and doubts running through her mind in the most clutch time of the year. Her first attempt nearly came up short, but took a fortunate bounce off the front rim before rolling through the hoop to even the score. Her second shot left her hand perfectly and hit nothing but net, putting the Trojans up by a point as the Hershey crowd rose to its feet.

The Suburban standout wasn’t done just yet. Needing a big defensive stop to secure the victory, Rissmiller used her legs to deflect two inbounds passes out of bounds. Rissmiller also got a piece of a third one, ultimately deflecting the ball to teammate Paige Garner with 4.8 seconds left. Garner sank one of two attempts to stretch the lead to two before Northern's last-second heave at the buzzer came up short, setting up a frenzy on the court as the Trojans celebrated a 37-35 victory and secured the school’s first-ever District 3 title.

“Janay is a big-time player,” York Suburban coach Jess Weaver said. “She’s made for big-time games. She’s a senior and that’s what I call 'senior time.'”

Rissmiller, who played without a nail on her big toe when the Trojans dropped last year's District 3-5A final to Greencastle-Antrim, wasn’t about to leave Hershey without a title — and a bit of the chocolate bar that the team was given after their semifinal victory over West York.

“This is just so unreal,” Rissmiller said. “I was ready for it. Last year didn’t turn out how I wanted, so this year I gave it my all. I gave it 110% and I just wanted to pour everything I had out on the floor.”

Suburban’s victory wouldn’t have been possible had Rissmiller not exorcised her personal demons at the foul line. After shooting over 70% from the stripe in the regular season, the lefty had made just 9 of 21 in her previous four contests. Her overtime buckets brought her to 6 of 8 on Friday.

“I’ve been in a little slump lately, so I just had to relax and take a breath,” Rissmiller said. “I’m a senior, and I had to do senior things.”

Northern York called timeout with 8.6 seconds left before Rissmiller's three deflections ultimately led to a turnover, the kind of play Weaver has come to expect from her star guard.

“We’ve been in these moments before,” Weaver said. “And Janay was locked in. She’s the best defender in the state of Pennsylvania, in my opinion, and she wasn’t getting scored on in the last possession of the game. No way.”

Rissmiller was far from the only reason the Suburban girls are taking the first-place trophy home to York, however. Up and down the roster, players came up big in key moments.

After the Trojans trailed 12-9 at halftime, junior Lydia Powers did everything short of put the team on her back in the second half. She scored 11 points after intermission to help Suburban build a 25-16 lead with 6:50 remaining in regulation.

“It just shows you what kind of kid she is,” Weaver said of Powers after she fouled out. “She came right to the bench and she was cheering and making sure that the player who came in for her was locked-in and ready to go.”

After Powers fouled out in overtime — initially unbeknownst to her — freshman Julia Gerber came off the bench and immediately knocked down a huge 3-pointer that pulled the Trojans within a point.

“She shot that thing with confidence,” Weaver said. “A huge shot for her, and she’ll never forget that one for the rest of her life.”

Garner struggled with foul trouble for much of the night, but the junior center came up with the big steal in the final seconds before adding a key free throw to double the lead. Natalie Homisak filled in when Garner was on the bench and drained a big 3-pointer that helped spur the Trojans in the third quarter. Homisak also pulled down four big rebounds late in regulation and in overtime to sway the momentum.

When you add up all those contributions, you get a District 3-5A championship, which had been the goal ever since the Trojans fell short a year ago.

“This just feels wonderful,” Weaver said with a smile. “It’s been a long time coming for the program. First one in program history. Ton of credit to the Northern basketball team … they gave us a battle tonight.”

The Polar Bears certainly battled, mixing up defenses and pressures to hold the Trojans to just nine points in the first half. And after falling behind by nine points in the fourth, Northern York turned up the defense to even the score with a quick 9-0 run.

“I thought we did a good job, especially early, with our zone that kind of kept them off-balance,” Northern coach Lucas Zampelli said. “Once the ball started going in — for both teams — it opened up. They kind of pushed us and I think that’ll be good for us moving forward.”

Senior Siena Ondecko led the Polar Bears with 15 points, 13 of which came in the second half and overtime. Hannah Freese scored all eight of her points in the first half to go along with nine rebounds.

Both Suburban and Northern will host first-round contests in the PIAA tournament next week. The Trojans will be at home against Indiana, the No. 7 seed from District 7 (WPIAL). The Polar Bears will host Lincoln Park, the WPIAL's No. 6 team.

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