“Honestly, I didn’t feel much pressure. I had faith in my teammates,” said Beehler.

The Dunkirk senior, who gains attention mostly for her ability to pass the ball to her teammates, took control of the moment and finished off the game with a pair of free-throws that seemed as effortless as can be. All of the early morning workouts in the offseason paid off, while all of the sweat and tears from the Sectional Championship loss to Fredonia in 2018 resulted in redemption.

“This is a victory for all of Dunkirk,” said Lady Marauders coach Ken Ricker.

For Dunkirk, the first Sectional Championship banner since 1991 couldn’t have felt any more rewarding for the group of five senior starters who have shared the court since their one-win freshman year in 2017.

OBSERVER Photo by Braden Carmen Dunkirk’s Olivia Smith (left), Nadara O’Dell (middle) and Jessica Beehler (right) celebrate after winning a Sectional Title. The Dunkirk Lady Marauders beat Iroquois 79-76 on Sunday, at Buffalo State College.

The Dunkirk Lady Marauders saw their dreams of a Sectional Title finally come true on Sunday afternoon at Buffalo State College with a 79-76 victory over Iroquois in the Section VI, Class B1 girls basketball championship game.

“Honestly, sophomore year when we had our first chance on this stage, it was very nerve-wracking,” said Dunkirk senior Kymi Nance, thinking back to her first chance on the stage at Buffalo State College. “… I tried to work my way around that to actually bring [a title] home, but we weren’t able to do it. Today we did it, and it’s really exciting.”

Early on, it looked like Dunkirk would coast to victory after outscoring Iroquois 22-9 in the opening quarter. Nadara O’Dell had nine points in the quarter, while Nance added six of her own to guide the Lady Marauders to a sizable lead, which featured 13 of the game’s first 17 points for the girls in maroon and white.

Then, all of a sudden, Dunkirk began to struggle. In the second quarter, Iroquois outscored the Lady Marauders 25-15. After an and-one layup in the final minute by Logan Streety – who finished with a whopping 37 points in the contest – the Dunkirk lead was cut to just a single point, 35-34. Nance finished the half with a pair of free-throws to send Dunkirk into the second half with a 37-34 lead.

Iroquois traded 3-pointers with Dunkirk for each team’s first two buckets of the second half over a 1:40 stretch to open the second half. Then, Streety hit a 3-pointer to tie the game at 45-all with 5:23 left to play in the third quarter. Iroquois took its first (and only) lead of the game at 47-45 after a bucket from Emily Gordon.

OBSERVER Photo by Ron Szot

But then, Dunkirk found the hot hand and rolled the rest of the period, after back-to-back 3-pointers by Olivia Smith – on her birthday- to take a 48-47 lead at the halfway point of the quarter, then to increase the lead to 51-47.

“We usually don’t have too much of a problem with that,” joked Beehler of her team’s offensive struggles in the second and third quarters until Smith caught fire. Smith had four 3-pointers in the quarter and finished with 18 points on 6-for-15 shooting from being the arc.

“I’ve always said, whoever my shooter is, the best thing is to watch them shoot threes,” said Ricker. “I don’t remember a lot of good things from the last Sectional Final, but I remember Olivia hit a few threes. … She did it on the biggest stage today.”

Immediately after taking the lead, Dunkirk was dealt another obstacle to overcome. Nance picked up her fourth foul with just over three minutes remaining in the third quarter. Dunkirk’s already tight rotation was even tighter on Sunday, as Ricker only used two players off the bench the whole game, only one of which played an extended period of time: Tachiana Garcia. The 5-foot-1 sophomore may have only recorded seven points, but her impact was larger than life.

“Tachi [Garcia] came up huge,” said Nance. “That was really exciting to watch, especially because three or four games ago, her confidence wasn’t there as much as she’d like it to be. I told her ‘Take it all in and really play hard.’ … and today, seeing that was amazing. She’s a great role player, and I give 100 percent credit to her.”

Garcia helped steady the ship in Nance’s absence, as the Lady Marauders took the floor in the final period with a five-point lead, 58-53.

“She was just amazing. She is somebody I was seeking out after the game. She needed to know she changed the game. … She’ll be remembered forever for helping us win this game,” said Ricker of Garcia.

After Streety accounted for six points early in the final period, Dunkirk’s Amari Carter made the Iroquois defense pay for leaving her open, as she drilled a 3-pointer for a 66-59 lead with 5:38 left to play. Nance announced her presence back on the court shortly after with an and-one layup to extend the lead to 69-61 with 4:52 left to play. The Dunkirk lead stretched to as large as 77-65 with 2:36 left to go.

But Iroquois wouldn’t quit. Emily McLaughlin hit a pair of 3-pointers bookended by a pair of shots by Streety to bring Iroquois within a pair, 77-75, with close to a minute remaining. Dunkirk turned the ball over in the final minute, then committed a foul to put Iroquois’ Zoey Zienski at the line to shoot a pair, with a chance to tie the game. She hit the first, but after a time out, Zienski missed the second free-throw and Dunkirk’s O’Dell grabbed the rebound inside the final 10 seconds of play.

“We didn’t execute at the end,” said Ricker. “All of a sudden, we’re on our heels. … But we toughed it out.”

Eventually, Beehler was sent to the line to shoot a pair, and sealed the 79-76 victory.

Beehler finished with 11 points, 11 assists and six rebounds. O’Dell led Dunkirk with 22 points, along with 10 rebounds and five steals. Smith had 18 points, Nance had 16 points and Carter had 12 rebounds, along with five points. Garcia accounted for all seven of Dunkirk’s bench points.

With the victory, Dunkirk now advances to the Class B1/B2 crossover game on Wednesday at 5 p.m. back at Buffalo State College, against a familiar foe, Southwestern. Dunkirk won both meetings in the regular season, including a buzzer-beating victory thanks to Nance, in Dunkirk in January. The winner of Wednesday’s game advances to the Far West Regional at Section V on Saturday.

“It means a lot, and this means we get to go even further now. … We’ll try to go win after win. We’ll keep playing hard to get even further than we are today,” said Nance.

Beehler shared a similar sentiment, with a smile.

“Like I’ve said many times, we don’t stop,” Beehler said. “We’re not going to stop until the end.”