A grand moment for Dover's Krenzer

DOVER — Katrina Krenzer was the victim of a surprise party Tuesday night.

She scored on a nifty spin move early in the second half when the buzzer sounded, the game was stopped and the senior center wondered what all the fuss was about.

That’s when she was informed she had just become the seventh player in the history of the Dover High School girls basketball program to reach 1,000 career points.

“I knew I was in decent range but I had no idea I was that close,” said Krenzer, who came into the game needing nine points to hit the milestone. “I had no idea what was happening. It was definitely surprising.”

As it turned out, it wasn’t even her biggest basket. That came with less than 10 seconds left in the fourth quarter when a layup off an entry pass from Morgan Raineri provided the margin of victory in a 52-50 win over Concord that snapped a three-game losing streak.

Despite being in foul trouble most of the night, the 6-foot-1 Krenzer tied for game-high scoring honors with 16 points as the Green Wave improved to 3-11 in Division I.

“She wasn’t feeling well tonight,” said Dover coach Dan Casey. “She’s been sick the past couple days and we weren’t sure she was even going to play tonight.”

Krenzer joins a select group that includes Karen Vitko, Lynne Richard, Jill Downer, Jess Clark, Seana Boyle and Curran Leighton, who was the last before Krenzer to reach the plateau in 2009.

“It means a lot,” Krenzer said. “I was looking forward to it. That was one of my goals since I was a freshman.”

“I think she scored almost 100 points when she came in as a freshman,” Casey said. “She was a swing player. I can remember a playoff game when she scored a game-tying basket to send us to overtime as a freshman, and lots of expectations were placed on her. She’s been living up to those challenges every season. I’m very proud of her. It’s a great accomplishment.”

Dover trailed by seven points midway through the fourth quarter when 3-pointers by Samantha Romps and Raineri, sandwiched around a strong drive to the basket by Krenzer, fueled an 8-0 run and gave the Green Wave their first lead, 49-48, since 2-0.

After the Crimson Tide’s Quinn Daniels (team-high 16 points) gave the visitors the lead on an offensive put-back with 1:40 remaining, Krenzer tied it at 50-all on a free throw with 1:06 to play.

“As we started taking the points off and getting closer and digging away, we realized it was within our grasp and we could do it if we all worked together,” Krenzer said.

Krenzer’s layup made it 52-50 in the waning seconds. Concord (4-10) had a chance to pull even but missed the front end of a one-and-one with 2.9 seconds left and Dover was able to hold on.

“We knew before the game (Krenzer) needed nine so our goal was to hold her to eight,” said Concord coach Tim LaTorra. “She’s a tough player.”

Raineri finished with 13 points and a big assist on Krenzer’s game-winning basket. Kylar Buchholz had 11 points for the Crimson Tide, who led after each quarter until the end but couldn’t put the Green Wave away despite Dover going 1 for 7 from the foul line in the final two minutes.

“We kept grinding the whole game,” Casey said. “We were just trying to take what they gave us. I don’t think we really led until the last minute or so of the game.”

GREEN WAVE 52, CRIMSON TIDE 50

CONCORD (4-10)

Buchholz 4-2-11, Lengle 3-1-7, E. Cox 1-3-5, Blinn 2-2-6, Daniels 6-4-16, White 1-1-3, M. Cox 0-2-2, Nault 0-0-0. Totals: 17-15-50.

DOVER (3-11)

Djanabia-James 3-1-7, Kat. Krenzer 7-2-16, Romps 3-0-8, Raineri 6-0-13, McNutt 2-1-6, Kai. Krenzer 0-2-2, Govoni 0-0-0, McCoy 0-0-0, Ka. Cantwell 0-0-0, Ky. Cantwell 0-0-0. Totals: 21-6-52.

Concord 16 16 10 8—50

Dover 13 16 8 15—52

3-Point Goals—Concord 1 (Buchholz), Dover 4 (Romps 2, Rainieri, McNutt).