Payton Craig moved past sister Haley into second in North Harrison’s all-time scoring list, getting 1,760 career points as North Harrison won the rubber game of the series between them and Mercer 47-36, identical to the first time they played them. With her subsequent 19 point effort against Worth County, she finished her career at North Harrison with 1,779 career points. According to the Albany District Tournament Program, Jill Wilcoxson is still 10th on the all-time state scoring list with 1,927 career points, which is first at North Harrison. She played from 1994 to 1997. The North Harrison website lists her with 1,963 points, but with three question marks beside it. With the win, they matched their win total from the 2015-2016 season, when they won 23. That season and this one were their two best seasons since 2003-2004, when they won 24 games.
While the scores were identical, North Harrison didn’t need any late heroics this time to down Mercer. The difference between their HDC Tournament loss and Friday’s game with the Cardinals was the rebounding battle – they had a crazy 48 boards Friday, doubling their total from the second time they played them, when they had 24. They did a much better job of creating contested looks, and there were plenty of green shirts around the ball on both ends of the floor.
When North Harrison won, they handed Mercer their first district loss since 2009, when the Cardinals lost to Newtown-Harris.
It looked like North Harrison would take control of this one early, as Payton Craig scored six of North Harrison’s seven points as they slowly built up a 7-3 lead, aided by the stingy defense they had emphasized since their previous 44-42 loss to Mercer. But then it looked like this one might go down the tubes as all of a sudden, Aubrey Wilson went off again, getting all 10 of Mercer’s points as the Cards built up a 10-7 lead after one.
This time, it was Emma Craig who came to North Harrison’s rescue as she suddenly started finishing as well as she has all year, scoring 10 points in the second period as North Harrison regained the lead. Olivia Babinski fed her inside twice, Payton Craig twice, and she added a putback as North Harrison scored nine straight to make it 20-11. Wilson struck again, but Carly Rinehart, back from her second shoulder injury of the year, hit from three to make it 22-14.
The momentum threatened to swing again in Mercer’s favor as Jazmine Main scored off a drive, missed a free throw, but Esabel Holt got a rebound to make it 22-18 without North Harrison touching the ball going into the half. But the big difference from Games 1 and 2, which saw North Harrison trailing at half, was Payton Craig’s play on Morgan Eastin, whose ability to cut away from the ball hurt North Harrison the first time. She was scoreless the first half, as was Larayne Kost, who was shut down by Olivia Babinski and held scoreless.
Holt, who hurt North Harrison in Game 1, scored off a drive to start the second half, but then North Harrison got the momentum back after Payton Craig pulled up, took advantage of some lazy defense, and hit a three and then Mercer, down to six players, got four fouls from both Kaylee Duckworth and Holt.
Missed free throws hampered North Harrison’s ability to pull away, but Addie Slaughter got a fourth chance putback and then Payton Craig got a putback and a steal to make it 30-21 before Main, a sneaky player who hangs underneath the basket and collects putbacks, did so at the buzzer to make it 30-23 after three. Meanwhile, North Harrison adjusted to shut down Mercer’s scorers; Payton Craig moved to Wilson and shut her out in the second half until the closing seconds after Wilson had scored 14 of Mercer’s 18 in the first half. Brandy Rivet moved from Wilson to Kost, who she shut down and held scoreless in the second half, while Babinski took Eastin and held her in check for the most part.
Eastin went off to start the fourth quarter to cut it to 32-28, but then North Harrison got scoring from an unlikely source as Addie Slaughter hit Olivia Babinski inside to stop the bleeding. North Harrison got into foul trouble during the next stretch as Emma Craig picked up her fourth foul and Addie Slaughter her fifth, but Slaughter cut inside to score off a pass from Mason Cracraft before fouling out and Payton Craig hit two free throws as they took time off the clock while Wilson could not get free against the stubborn defense of Payton Craig.
Main got a putback to make it 38-31 with 2:23 left, but then Holt picked up her fifth foul with 1:31 left after North Harrison had taken a big chunk of time off the clock. Brandy Rivet missed the 1-1, but Emma Craig grabbed the offensive board and made one of two. Mercer couldn’t do anything and Emma scored off a drive to make it 41-31 with 1:09 left.
After being bottled up all night by Babinski and then Rivet, Kost got open for a split second for a good look at a three, but then Brandy Rivet closed out in a hurry, leaped into the air, and stuffed Kost as Mercer saw one of their last chances slip away.
Rivet hit a free throw, Main got a putback, but Rivet hit another with 27 seconds left to keep it at four possessions as Mercer burned their fourth timeout. But then Emma Craig got a steal and threw it to Payton for a layup to make it 45-33. With that basket, Payton Craig passed Haley on the all-time scoring list at North Harrison.
Mercer rushed up the floor and got a triple from Wilson with seven seconds left, but Olivia Babinski hit two free throws with 1.8 seconds left to close it out.
Payton Craig had 18 points to lead North Harrison. Emma Craig had 14, Olivia Babinski 6, Addie Slaughter 4, Carly Rinehart 3, and Brandy Rivet 2.
Olivia Babinski had 2 blocks, both in the fourth quarter back to back as Mercer was making a futile effort to come back. Brandy Rivet and Emma Craig had 1 each.
Emma Craig, Addie Slaughter, and Payton Craig all had 11 boards as the Shamrocks had three in double figures in rebounding. They nearly had four as Babinski had 9 more. Brandy Rivet and Mason Cracraft had 2, while Carly Rinehart and Kami Gibson had 1 each.
Payton Craig had 3 assists. Olivia Babinski, Addie Slaughter, Emma Craig, and Mason Cracraft all had 2, while Brandy Rivet had 1.
Payton Craig had 5 tips and 3 steals, while Emma Craig had 1 steal.
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