Niskayuna Claws Back To Beat Shaker

February 24, 2021

Niskayuna 47, Shaker 44

Wednesday marked my second night of the week in the Suburban Council & third straight day watching AA hoops, and this one was more than worth the visit as it went down to the final buzzer. Host Niskayuna roared back from a double digit deficit in the 2nd half, and a big three in the final minute from an underclassman gave them the edge for good on their senior night.

Olivia Olsen hung a game high 26 points in Niskayuna's comeback W.

The 1st quarter set the stage for what was to come. Shaker had the better of things early - a 7-0 spurt gave them a quick edge and they bumped their lead to 7 when KJ Gordon (Shaker 2021) scored to make it 13-6 - but Niskayuna answered back with an 8-0 run of their own to get on track. Olivia Olsen (Niskayuna 2021, Providence signee) had her prints all over the opening quarter, and her 11th point of the frame tied it at 16 to end the action-packed start. She scored again to start the 2nd, but Niskayuna would eventually go on a long scoring drought and fall behind as Shaker reeled off 10 straight. Seven of those came from Maddisyn Mahoney (Shaker 2021, Fairleigh Dickinson signee) off a couple post buckets & a banked three, with the latter stretching their lead to 28-19 with 1:12 left in the half. Olsen finally ended the long scoreless stretch with a basket in the final minute to make it 28-21 at the half in favor of Shaker.

The Bison extended their lead early in the 3rd, getting baskets from three different players while scoring 6 of the first 8 in the frame. Another Mahoney bucket gave them their largest lead at 34-23 with 5:04 left in the 3rd. Niskayuna would dig in & battle back from there though, as Shaker went on an extended scoreless stretch of their own. Heather Schmidt (Niskayuna 2022) started the run, then two Olsen buckets were followed by a Kathleen Birmingham (Niskayuna 2023) layup to extend the run to 8-0. After Kaelah Carter (Shaker 2022) stopped the drought of 4:20 with a bucket, Birmingham answered with a three to cut Niskayuna's deficit to 36-34 through 3 quarters.

There were three ties & three lead changes in the final 8 minutes alone. Olsen tied it to start the 4th and Niskayuna briefly grabbed the lead back at 38-37 with a Ryleigh Endres (Niskayuna 2022) bucket at the 5:02 mark. Shaker grabbed it back on the ensuing possession with a Kelly Kirker (Shaker 2021) trey. Both teams would go scoreless for nearly three minutes before Olsen tied it at 40 with 2:09 left. Mahoney briefly gave Shaker the lead again with a basket on the ensuing possession, but Endres picked a pocket on their next possession and finished at the other end to tie it again at the 1:22 mark. It was Mahoney again for Shaker on the next possession, as she put back her own miss to put them up 44-42 with :55.3 remaining. That set the stage for Birmingham, who after a Niskayuna timeout & advancement, got free off a handoff from Olsen and canned a left corner three to give the hosts a 45-44 lead. Shaker had a chance to regain the lead, but a pair of missed free throws forced them to foul into the bonus - Olsen split a pair - and a turnover on the ensuing possession forced another foul, where Endres split a pair to extend Niskayuna's lead to 47-44 with :05.1 remaining. Shaker got off a long contested attempt with a couple seconds left, but it missed its mark as Nisky completed an entertaining comeback on its senior night.

Olivia Olsen dropped a game high 26 points, 11 in the 1st quarter, for Niskayuna. Kathleen Birmingham contributed 12 in the win including the eventual winner. For Shaker, Maddisyn Mahoney led the way with 15 points, including two consecutive tie-breaking buckets in the 4th quarter. There was balance behind her, with four players contributing 5-7 points.

Maddisyn Mahoney led Shaker in the books with 15 points on Wednesday.

#ThoughtsFromTheBaseline

- The game segment. Pretty fun battle. It had its ragged, helter-skelter moments, but there was decent flow, the individual matchup of Liv Olsen/Maddi Mahoney lived up to its billing in my head as they both were impressive (more on that below), and the competitive nature of the 4th quarter - where every possession felt 'big' - was the cherry on top. These are the games that get the competitive juices flowing.

- The Liv Olsen segment. She had 26, which as the one player that the opponent is gearing their defense around, is impressive in itself. What caught my eye is how she scored it. The 6'2" forward is known more as a top 1% type athlete, and rightfully so considering she can legitimately play at rim level. However, these primarily weren't 'athlete' points. Turnaround jumpers, midrange off the catch, a pull-up midrange off the dribble, even a catch & shoot three. Her shooting stroke continues to improve, she continues to look smoother with the ball in her hands, and she showed improved feel for the game when it comes to understanding where help defense is coming from & making the right read in the post. When she was actively involved in the offense and getting touches, they were better for it. Compared to others at/near her level, she's still pretty young to the game as she didn't get 'serious' with it until her high school years. Exceptionally high ceiling, continuing to show development, adding tools to her game... and the scariest thing is we probably haven't seen the half of it yet.

- The Maddi Mahoney segment. I think I did one of these after their game against Colonie, so I'll change the approach this time. Out of her 15 points, the most impressive to me was a bucket in the 3rd quarter. She caught it outside the free throw line, faced up, threw enough of a ball fake to make her defender (Olsen) get vertical, exploded forward on a drive (with good footwork), one dribble, pass fake on the drive, long final step, great right-hand extension on the layup attempt while (legally) using her off arm, which was all enough to get it over Olsen's outstretched arm, and she laid it up soft & put a little English on it as it found its mark off the glass. I describe it like that to say this - this is something that wasn't in her game in the past, and not only did she do it with success, it looked fluid. Add a little face-up game to what she already brings... I'm familiar with many of the primary bigs in the NEC, and I think if her development continues, she truly could make early impact at Fairleigh Dickinson.

Kathleen Birmingham finished with 12 points for Niskayuna, including the eventual game winner in the final minute.

- Credit to Niskayuna for the comeback - not just because of the physical aspect, but also because I felt like they were losing it a little mentally/emotionally as Shaker extended their lead. They pulled it together, made a couple positive plays which helped change the momentum - and in high school basketball, momentum means the world when you have it - and clawed back.

- That's about it for the game, but words can't describe how good it felt to walk outside after and not be frozen to the core. Nothing like upstate NY's late February slight warm-up before we enter our 3rd winter! Also, a thank you goes to Niskayuna athletic administration for allowing media - and myself - in the gym for home contests. This was a good one to see!