 Unfortunately, for the Lincoln Junior
High girls on the seventh-grade basketball team, the scoreboard
at Tri-Valley Middle School in Downs showed one point more for
Washington Central, and the Lady Trojans saw their season conclude
after a 28-27 overtime loss on Wednesday night.
In a hard-fought contest that could
not be contained in the 24 regulation minutes, Washington Central
advanced to Saturday's quarterfinal matchup against Assumption
Central A&M. As for the Lady Trojans, the season ends at 18-4.
The game got off to a good start
for Lincoln as Danielle D'Andrea's steal and lay-in got the Lady
Trojans on the board. A free throw from Josalyn Owens extended the
Lincoln lead to 3-0 before Washington Central, also the Trojans,
tallied their first basket on a putback after a rebound. Both teams
went back and forth, with D'Andrea hitting a couple of free throws
and a runner in the lane, alternating with Washington's Bailey Bambrick hitting her first shots from the low block. Emma Bergman's
free throw extended the LJHS lead to 8-6, but the game was quickly
tied on an outside jumper from Washington's Hayley Crum. Washington (21-1) ended the first
quarter on a 6-0 run, taking their first lead at 10-8 after another
low post move and basket from Bambrick.
Lincoln started strong
again in the second quarter as D'Andrea hit a 12-foot baseline
jumper, but that was quickly answered by an outside jumper by Ashley
Crum. I'm sure no one knew how the circumstances of that shot would
possibly change the game.
After a turnover, and during a
timeout, a question was raised about whether Crum's shot was a 2-
or 3-pointer. The official nearest the play signaled a 2,
while the baseline official opposite the play had lifted his arms to
signal a 3-pointer. Before play resumed, the officials huddled
at the scorer's table and ruled the basket a 3-pointer, adding
one point to Washington's score.
There it is again, one point.
So, in a rare occurrence when a
team comes out of a timeout trailing by more than they did going in,
Lincoln went on a defense-fueled 6-0 run to take the halftime lead
at 16-15. The run started on a lay-in by Owens after a turnover,
followed by D'Andrea going coast to coast after a rebound, while
Bergman's lay-in got the Lincoln contingent off the bleachers and to
the top of their lungs. The parents, friends and family in
attendance were loud, but nothing like the excellent turnout by the LJHS students supporting their classmates. The Lady Trojans
tightened up their defense even more, keeping Washington off the
board for the rest of the half. After being outscored 13-8 in the
first, Lincoln clamped on the defense, outscoring Washington 8-2 in
the second.
It was obvious how Washington felt
they would have the best chance to win, and that was to get the ball
inside to Bambrick. Their first points of the second half again came from Bambrick on the low block. Lincoln took the lead back as D'Andrea
scored off an out-of-bounds play. Up 19-17, Washington tied the
contest by crashing the boards for two offensive rebounds, scoring
on the last.
The fourth quarter may have only
lasted six game minutes, but ask anyone in the crowd, it seemed
implausible to squeeze that much anxiety into just 360 seconds. Rebounding again hurt Lincoln as Bambrick put Washington on top with
another offensive rebound score. A steal and subsequent 15-footer
from D'Andrea knotted the game at 21. After a free throw with under
three minutes to go gave Washington a 22-21 lead, Bergman's steal
and basket at 1:30 put LJHS up 23-22. With a little over a minute
remaining, it was another free throw to tie the game. The game
ticked to under a minute, and the Washington crowd thought they
watched the game-winner go down as Bambrick scored from down low
again with 37 seconds to go. However, just as quickly as LJHS fell
behind, D'Andrea quickly got downcourt and hit an eight-footer to
even the score at 25.
Neither team could score for the
rest of regulation, so how about some free basketball? By the way,
remember the shot that was changed from a 2- to a 3-pointer? Just think, if that call had gone the other way, LJHS theoretically
could have won in regulation.... by one point.
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Nevertheless, Washington struck
first with a free throw from Josie Morgan. A steal and lay-in by
Morgan stretched the lead to three. As time ticked down to 23
seconds, Rylee Mills, who played tough defense all night, trying to
keep Bambrick out of the lane, was fouled as she hit a 12-foot
jumper to bring the Lady Trojans to within one.
With the ball back to Washington,
they moved to a four-corners offense to eat up the clock. When
Lincoln fouled with 8.8 seconds to go, it was up to Morgan to either
ice it for Washington or give LJHS one final chance. When Morgan
missed both, Mills tracked down the rebound in the corner. As the
Lady Trojans moved upcourt, it was tough defense by Washington that
prevented Lincoln from getting that final shot. As the ball
trickled out of bounds, the horn sounded, and the season for the
Lady Trojans was over.
One point. Final score of 28-27. Sure, both teams had opportunities to keep the game out of overtime,
and there's no way to know for sure what would have happened had the
ruling on the 3-point basket been different. One area where LJHS struggled was at the free-throw line, finishing just 5 of 16.
However, Washington had their issues as well, making only 3 of 10.
Was there sadness? Sure there
was. These girls have been at it since September, and now, just
like that, the season is done.
D'Andrea led the scoring with 17 points,
with Bergman adding five, Owens scoring three and Mills chipping in
with two.
A sudden end to a great season. A
campaign with 18 wins and a regional championship. Congratulations,
ladies, and thank you for a wonderful season.
As listed in last
week's story, here are the members of the regional championship
squad, in alphabetical order: Carrie Benjamin, Emma Bergman, Grace Bossingham, Aubria Cannon, Cierra Crowell, Danielle D'Andrea,
Madison Fulk, Sami Johnson, Kelsey Lee, Rylee Mills, Josalyn Owens,
Belle Smith, Ariana Spencer and Brittany Trent. The coaches this
season are Megan Hoffert and Deb Rodgers.
Scoring by quarters:
LJHS (18-4) 8-8-3-6-2 27
WCentral (21-1) 13-2-4-6-3 28
Good luck to the eighth-grade Lady Trojans tonight. They will be taking on
Warrensburg-Latham at Blue Mound Meridian for an 8-3A regional
championship. I guess the only thing better than one regional
championship would be two. Good luck!!
[By JEFF BENJAMIN]
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