Make It 3: St. Rose Tops St. John Vianney Again

All Kasey Chambers could think about was how much she wanted the ball.

With her St. Rose team leading St. John Vianney by a point with less than 5 seconds left, she wanted to finish things off for once and for all.

And when Vianney's Lyndsay Rowe inbounded the ball from the endline, Chambers made a beeline for it, intercepting the pass and dribbling out the clock as St. Rose beat the Lancers, 34-33 to win the NJSIAA Non-Public South A championship at Jackson Liberty High School on Wednesday night.

St. Rose advances to the Non-Public A title game on Saturday, where the Roses will face Immaculate Heart.

"I had just missed a free throw and turned the ball over," Chambers said. "All I could think is 'I can't let my team down.' I wanted that ball. That was my ball."

"Then all I could think was 'please don't foul,' " she said. "I wanted those last 4.7 seconds to go by as quickly as possible."

It was the third time St. Rose defeated St. John Vianney this year, including a 30-27 overtime victory in the semifinals of the Shore Conference Tournament.

Vianney closed the gap to 32-30 on a basket by Jill Brunori with 1:59 left, but St. Rose's Sarah Kurtz, who finished with 7 points and pressured Brunori all night, drove for a layup that put the Roses (28-1) ahead 34-30 with 1:30 left.

Brunori scored to make it 34-32 with 1:18 left and after a couple of furious sequences at both ends, Brunori was fouled by St. Rose's Samantha Clark with 7.9 seconds to go, but missed the first of two free throws, leaving it 34-33 and setting up the final furious seconds

Clark finished with 12 points for St. Rose.