During a Lyme timeout, Brookfield fans rose to the occasion.
With the Beavers down 40-38 to the Indians, orange-wearing, Brookfield loving fans stood and cheered for their girls basketball team. As the teams went back on the court, the cheering turned to a ceiling-ringing ‘BCS’ that continued as play restarted.
It wasn’t certain until the final 24.2 seconds, but the Brookfield girls basketball team will play for the Section Three Class D title this Saturday.
Jaelyn Vleer-Elliott made 8 of her 13 free throws in the final two minutes after Madilyne Kupris stole the ball and went the distance for the tying layup. The Beavers then snared every rebound on Lyme missed shots to force the Indians to foul.
After the heart-pounding Class D semifinal ended, Brookfield had advanced by beating a good Lyme team 53-49. Brookfield will play No. 3 seed Copenhagen at 3 p.m. Saturday, March 7 back at the Onondaga County Community College gym.
Brookfield fans, who filled up their side of the 1,600 capacity gym, and Lyme fans, who almost did theirs, saw an amazing game from start to finish. Brookfield’s biggest lead was seven, just as the second quarter started, while Lyme sprinted out to a 9-0 start as the Beavers struggled to get in game mode in the first game at OCC Sunday morning.
That marked one of the extremely rare times…