Duffy's a point guard who handles well

Christine Duffy has been running the Archbishop Williams basketball team since she was a freshman point guard, so she was suitably qualified to declare something wasn't quite right with her club.

With six minutes to go in yesterday's Division 3 EMass final at TD Banknorth Garden, the Bishops were trailing a persistent Pentucket team whose resolve was growing as the minutes ticked away.

"I don't think we had our heads in the game, for whatever reason," reported Duffy, the diminutive senior who modeled her game after former University of Connecticut star Sue Bird.

Although Duffy was mildly concerned, it wasn't until Pentucket junior center Kirsten Daamen followed up a missed jumper by Erin McNamara to propel her team to its first advantage of the day, 45-43, that Duffy began feeling something entirely different.

Genuine annoyance.

Here's what was bugging Duffy. Archbishop Williams never has won back-to-back state championships in girls' basketball, and the feisty senior, who stands 5 feet 5 inches on her very best day (and, most likely, on her tiptoes) already had determined her team would be the first to pull that off. The Bishops won it all last season against Granby, and if they planned on repeating, they needed to knock Pentucket back on its heels, and quickly.

"When I looked up at the scoreboard and saw we were actually behind, I said, 'OK, enough,' " said Duffy.

And that is when the experience kicked in. That is when a kid who grew up loving a game that favors "all the trees" under the basket called upon the skills she perfected in pick-up games against boys who were stronger and bigger and, of course, much, much taller.

"You learn regular layups aren't going to work," Duffy said. "You learn to develop some other moves."

Immediately after Daamen's basket, Duffy signaled for the ball, motored up the court, executed a textbook give-and-go, then scooped in an off-balance layup that looked every bit of Sue Bird - and a little Rajon Rondo for good measure.

It was a graphic reminder that Archbishop Williams had the poise, the talent, and, yes, the point guard to make it look like they had it all along.

Although Pentucket hung around until the final buzzer, Duffy's game-changing hoop punctured the Sachems' dreams of an upset. And, when Daamen (16 points, 5 blocks) crashed to the parquet with a left leg injury with 1:54 to play and her team trailing by 6, it was over. Archbishop Williams moved on, a 59-53 winner.

That means Duffy (who scored 12 points) and fellow senior star Casey Capello will have a chance to make history after all. It means this crafty point guard with the no-look passes and fastbreak feeds that span half the court will have another opportunity to distribute her wares.

"They're at a different level," lauded gracious Pentucket coach John McNamara. "When they were down 2, I looked at them and you couldn't tell whether they were up 10 or down 2.

"Duffy runs the show. She's something else."

Duffy set the tone on the opening tip. First, she laid a perfect pass on the hands of her center, Valerie Driscoll, who floated it in underneath. This was a major improvement from when Driscoll started playing with her team's floor general.

"The first couple of times in practice, I got the ball banged off my head," Driscoll confessed. "Duff just told me, 'Keep your eye on the ball.' "

Good advice. Duffy heeded it herself after Driscoll's bucket when she turned up court, put her head down, and feigned a retreat to the defensive end. Then, in an instant, she wheeled around, stripped McNamara clean, and laid it in for 2.

You may have noted Pentucket's coach also shares the last name McNamara. As he watched his daughter get hoodwinked by Duffy, he feared the worst.

"I thought, 'Oh no, this could be a meltdown,' " he said. "Erin is only a sophomore. But I give her a lot of credit. She came back."

And so did Pentucket. The name of their game has been and always will be defense. The Sachems close out 3-point shooters. They double in the post, they deny lanes, and they box out.

That often rattles the opposition. But not a veteran team such as the Bishops, who appeared to be as calm as if they were playing in a preseason scrimmage, even as Pentucket, particularly Ashley Viselli, matched them basket for basket.

"Our kids are loose, and they're confident," said Archbishop Williams coach Jim Bancroft. "I can't think of any time all season that they had that deer-in-the-headlights look."

What a difference a year makes. Driscoll, whose spirited battle in the post against Daamen was an intriguing subplot, said her first time to the Garden in 2007 was far more nerve-racking.

"Last year I was freaked out," Driscoll confessed. "I was saying, 'Oh, this is the Garden. This is where the Celtics play.' This time it wasn't like that. It was, 'Oh, this is where we won last year.' "

Same venue, same result. The Bishops advanced, and Pentucket went home heartbroken.

The Sachems got all but 2 of their points from the trio of Daamen, McNamara (15 points), and Viselli (game-high 20). Daamen is a junior, and Viselli and McNamara are sophomores. They will be back.

Christine Duffy won't. She's still undecided on her college choice, but that is the furthest thing from her mind at the moment. "I'm just having a blast with this team," she said.

The point guard said she never felt yesterday's game was in doubt, even when the scoreboard suggested something different. Her coach was not surprised to hear it.

"She has so much confidence," Bancroft said. "Every year we've given her a little more responsibility. To be honest, a lot of times we just sit on the bench and let her call the game."

Good strategy.

Jackie MacMullan is a Globe columnist. She can be reached at macmullan@globe.com.