Brelynn Bellamy's Buzzer-Beating Three-Pointer Stuns St. Rose

Above photos by Tom Smith: #42 Brelynn Bellamy, #23 Sajada Bonner, #44 Sarah Furch, #11 Rahmena Hendreson, #22 Madison Doring and #13 Sarah Karpell

TOMS RIVER – Fourth-seeded St. Rose took a 37-36 lead after junior Lauren Lithgow rebounded and put-back an errant shot by teammate Mikayla Markham with under 10 seconds left in the game.

Undeterred, Saint John Vianney’s Rahmena Henderson took the inbound pass, sprinted up court and out of the corner of her eye found Brelynn Bellamy alone in the right corner before letting go of a one-handed dart to the junior forward.

Bellamy didn’t blink. With the Lancers still holding onto one timeout she made the split-second decision to take the open shot and she drained it at the buzzer getting all net. Her shot lifted the top-seeded Lancers to memorable 39-37 victory over fourth-seeded St. Rose in the semifinals of the Shore Conference Tournament Tuesday night at the RWJ Barnabas Health Arena.

“To be honest I thought Rahmena was going to shoot it,” an overjoyed Bellamy said after the game. “But she passed it to me and there’s only so many things you can do, so I shot it and I was happy I made it for my team and happy we got the win. After what happened last year, it was crucial that we win this game.”

In last year’s Shore Conference Tournament final the Lancers were blown out by St. Rose 56-31 making Tuesday night’s win taste extra sweet.

“We’ve been talking about that loss since preseason,” said Bellamy, who had a team-high 12 points with four rebounds, two assists and two steals. “We were not going to take another loss from them, and today was really big that we did not let that happen because two weeks from now we’ll probably play them again.”

The Lancers and Saint Rose will both be competing the NJSIAA South Non-Public A Tournament this season whereas most recently the Purple Roses were grouped in the Non-Public B.

“We had one (timeout) left. I was going to let the play get to halfcourt, and I was going to put something in,” said Saint John Vianney coach Dawn Karpell, who picked up her 300th career win at Saint John Vianney Tuesday night in a way she’ll never forget. “When I saw Rahmena break, I felt we had some numbers. So, I like our chances with her attacking the glass because they were in transition.”

Henderson instead dished it to Bellamy and what transpired will go down as one of the greatest happenings in Saint John Vianney girls basketball history for a program that is chocked full of such defining moments.

“I looked up at the time, saw that we had eight seconds left and knew we needed a bucket really fast,” said Henderson, who contributed two points, two rebounds, three assists and a steal as the first man off the bench. “I saw Bre up the floor and knew if I could get the ball to her, she was going to knock down the shot.”

Both Henderson and Bellamy had their chances to add to the Lancers slim 36-35 lead with time winding down but failed to convert from the free throw line allowing St. Rose to stay in the game and eventually a chance to win it.

“The fact that Rahmena kicked it to Brelynn was kind of fitting because the two of them missed foul shots in the last two minutes and they didn’t hang their heads,” said Karpell. “They talked about how they could redeem themselves, and make that play to win the game.”

The two teams struggled to hit shots from the outset and seemed tight throughout most the contest with the Lancers scoring a season-low 39 points after averaging 66.5 points per game, but in the last four minutes of the game things really heated up.

Junior guard Sarah Karpell, who had a fine all-around game with eight points, three rebounds, three assists, three steals and a blocked shot, sandwiched a full-court layup off a steal and a three-pointer around a Lithgow 3-pointer to put Saint John Vianney on top, 34-31, with 3:32 to play.

St. Rose senior forward Lucy Thomas then scored underneath pulling St. Rose to within one, 34-33, before Bellamy finished off a Henderson assist to give the Lancers another three-point lead, 36-33. Bellamy was fouled on the play but failed to complete the three-point play.

Markham made it one point game, 36-35, with 1:12 to play before Henderson had a chance to put the Lancers up by three but missed the front end of a one-and-one situation with the ball rolling out of bounds giving possession to St. Rose.

With 10 seconds left Marsicano fed the ball to Markham who put up an air ball just inside the three-point circle that Lithgow corralled and put back up for what looked like the winning points giving St. Rose a 37-36 lead - and the rest is history.

St. Rose held a 8-7 lead after the first quarter and 18-17 at the half and Markham’s halfcourt bomb as time expired in the third-quarter handed St. Rose a 28-27 lead entering the decisive fourth quarter.

The Lancers were forced to play much of the fourth quarter with Bonner and senior Madison Doring both in foul trouble but the deep SJV bench, led by Henderson, stepped up.

“Everyone on our team contributes,” Henderson said. “When someone is out, we all know we have to step up and contribute. Everyone can lead the team.”

Senior forward Sarah Furch, whose steal and layup gave the Lancers 29-28 at the start of the fourth quarter, finished with seven points and six boards while Bonner added seven points and a team-high nine rebounds.

For St. Rose, Markham led with 10 points, seven rebounds, three assists, four steals and a blocked shot while Lucy Thomas added seven points, a team-high 11 boards and two assists. Lithgow chipped in with nine points and Marsicano contributed seven points, five rebounds, and three blocked shots.

The Lancers (24-1) – ranked No. 1 in the state - will now face second-seeded and No. 2 Manasquan (23-2), who beat third-seeded Red Bank Catholic 55-37 in Tuesday’s semifinals, in the Shore Conference Tournament final at 6:00 p.m. at Monmouth University on Saturday.

Saturday’s matchup between the two schools will be their first meeting since Saint John Vianney’s 65-58 double-overtime victory in the 2016 Tournament of Champions final.

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