Krause: Spartans star Rudolph is having a state tournament for the ages

Idle chatter while counting the hours to Saturday and the St. Mary?s-Hoosac Valley Division 3 girls state championship basketball game (10:45 a.m. at the DCU Center in Worcester for those interested):It?s not often that a high school senior can be seen as a transcendent figure. Usually, those adjectives are saved for the brightest of stars … guys like David Ortiz, or LeBron James or — in 2011 — Tim Thomas.But what Brianna Rudolph has done for the Spartan girls during the tournament certainly fits the definition. She has just taken over and — twice — carried her team on her back.There really are no adequate adjectives to describe her game Tuesday against Archbishop Williams. It wasn?t simply that she scored 31 points, although that would have been enough.It?s the way she did it. It wasn?t easy going for the Spartans for large stretches of that game, as Williams? bigger players were really creating problems. But Rudolph just seemed to have the attitude that said, “I don?t care … I?m going to go to the hoop … you?re going to have to either foul me or take the hardest charge I can dish out … but I?m going to go there regardless.”It?s that fearlessness that coaches covet among their players. It?s what makes the greats great. You may win, you may lose, but the great ones refuse to be intimidated.Most of the time, these players win. But if you beat them, they?re going to make you earn it.Rudolph said it best when she said after the game that she didn?t want to leave the TD Garden with the feeling of “what if, or if only.”One can assume she?ll feel the same way about the DCU Center Saturday. One way or the other, it?ll be great sports theater. And anyone who loves watching high school kids play sports really should make it a point to get there Saturday and watch her. This will be the last opportunity to see her until the summer, when she?ll most likely play in the Agganis game.Other tourney talk: Most fans of school sports would agree that the winter tournaments are easily the best. It might have something to do with the fact you?re indoors and the frantic cheers of fans have nowhere to go so they resonate more. The back-and-forth between the school cheering sections is a lot of fun … and it?s something you don?t see at baseball games; and don?t see to the same degree in fall sports.Unless you were from Watertown Tuesday, you had to have a special place in your heart for the kids from Cardinal Spellman in the Division 3 state semifinal. Last summer, one of their alumni, Joey Glynn, a terrific football/basketball player for the Cards, died suddenly during a summer league game.His death shattered the Brockton school … and the Bentley University campus as well, where Glynn was a member of the Falcons? team.Tuesday, the players wore warmup jerseys with Glynn?s number on the back, and a good number of fans wore basketball jerseys with his number and name on them.The prevalent chant: “All for Joey …”Anyone who wasn?t touched by that isn?t human. And it seems like there was some divine intervention going on, too, as Spellman rallied from a double-digit deficit to win the game in overtime and punch its ticket to Worcester Saturday to play Tyngsborough. Joey?s presence will be felt there, too, I?ll bet.Along similar lines, the Danvers winter teams dedicated their seasons to slain teacher Colleen Ritzer. And while the Falcons? boys fell to New Mission in the Division 2 North final last Saturday, they only lost by 11 points and they gave the Titans all they could possibly handle … certainly nothing to be ashamed of.I?d be remiss if I didn?t give the English girls a shoutout. It?s easy to be magnanimous when you win, but when you lose, and you?re still able to face the beast that is the Boston-area media, it says a lot.There were no three kids in Greater Boston more heartbroken than Catherine Stinson, Deidra Newson and Diondra Woumn after losing to Braintree Monday. But they all sat in the media room at the Garden and answered