EmiLee Brown hit two free throws with one tenth of a second left in regulation and Megan Cassavaugh had a career night with 17 points as Worth County pulled off an improbable 35-34 win over St. Joseph Christian Friday night as their five game winning stream stayed alive. After dropping their first three games, the Tigers have now won their last five, pending this week’s match with Mount Ayr. They overcame 24 turnovers and a ton of first half shots that went in and out.
Jill Hardy’s high post shot gave the Tigers an early 4-2 lead, but it looked like the Lions would run Worth County out of the gym, scoring eight over the next three minutes to take a 10-4 lead. Morgan Beagle hit a 3-pointer from the right wing off a pass from Megan Cassavaugh to bring the Tigers back to within 10-7 after one.
Jill Hardy knocked one down from the right wing off a pass from Kynah Steele to tie it at 12, but then Worth County had a defensive lapse and Gracie Walker was all alone for a three point play to make it 15-12. Promising freshman Jacy Jorgenson knocked one down for the Lions to put them up 17-13 at the half.
Worth County switched from a man to a zone to start the second half, and they started coming back as Braidy Hunt hit Jill Hardy in the high post, EmiLee Brown hit another one from the high post, and Megan Cassavaugh hit a free throw to put Worth County up 18-17. But Jacy Jorgenson was the sparkplug again for the lions, hitting twice to put her squad up 21-18. But Megan Cassavaugh, who had seen a ton of her shots go in and out through the first three quarters, got a kickout from EmiLee Brown and banked one home from the high post at the third quarter buzzer to make it 21-10 after three.
Ella Bowman put the Lions up 26-23 with 3:46 left, and the Lions got the ball back, but then Braidy Hunt got a tip, Kara Staton got a steal, and Megan Cassavaugh knocked one down to knot it up again at 26-26 with 3:05 left.
At that point, the St. Joseph Christian announcers thought that the first team to 30 would win, and it looked like the Lions would finally take control as Gardner and Freudenthal hit back to back threes to make it 32-26 with 2:14 left. The Lions had a chance in transition to make it three possessions, but they missed a contested layup and a putback try, which meant the Tigers were still breathing. Braidy Hunt missed a 3-pointer, but Megan Cassavaugh was there for the putback with 1:22 left to make it 32-28.
This time, Christian elected to pull it out and take some time off the clock. They got it down to 54 seconds, when Jozlynn Bennett hit what looked like the dagger, a 12-footer from the high post as she was hammered on the play. That made it 34-28, but with a chance to make it three possessions, Bennett missed the free throw and Worth County got the ball back.
Jill Hardy drove down the left baseline and was stuck behind the basket, surrounded by two red shirts with 43 seconds left. Worth County had a bunch of turnovers that night, but Hardy made an impossible pass to Megan Cassavaugh on the right wing that somehow got through, and Megan was wide open for a 3-pointer that cut it in half at 34-31.
Bennett missed two more free throws with 34 seconds left, and Jill Hardy drove down the left side of the free throw lane and drew a foul, hitting both free throws with 20 seconds left to make it 34-33, meaning Worth County would have a chance to tie or win it no matter what happened. Jill Hardy knocked the ensuing inbounds pass out of bounds, meaning that Christian could not run the floor on the ensuing inbounds play, making it a lot more difficult to get in. The Lions managed to get it in, but could not get the ball up the floor, and Worth County forced a ten seconds violation to get the ball back with 10 seconds left and a chance to win.
This was similar to a game between Worth County and Grace Schottel’s King City squad in 2018, when Worth County unsuccessfully tried to dribble out the clock or draw a foul with a two point lead, committed a ten second violation, and King City sent it to overtime and won. This time, it was the other way around.
Megan Cassavaugh drove the lane, got it to EmiLee Brown, got it back, drove again, and got it to Morgan Beagle for a good look inside. Beagle’s shot rolled off an invisible lid and out as Jill Hardy was jumping up and down at the top of the key trying to will the ball in. But EmiLee Brown was fouled on the putback try with one tenth of a second left, and went to the line with a chance to tie or win. Both of Brown’s shots bounced off the rim and into the basket to give the Tigers the improbable win.
Megan Cassavaugh had 17 points, a career high. Jill Hardy had 8, EmiLee Brown 4, Morgan Beagle 3, Braidy Hunt 2, and Kara Staton 1.
Morgan Beagle had 8 boards. Jill Hardy had 6, EmiLee Brown 5, Megan Cassavaugh 4, Kynah Steele 3, Braidy Hunt 2, and Kara Staton 1.
Jill Hardy had 3 assists. EmiLee Brown, Megan Cassavaugh, and Kynah Steele all had 2, while Morgan Beagle, Braidy Hunt, and Kara Staton had 1.
Megan Cassavaugh had 5 tips. Braidy Hunt, EmiLee Brown, and Morgan Beagle had 3 tips, Kara Staton 2, and Kynah Steele and Jill Hardy 1.
Braidy Hunt had 5 steals. Jill Hardy had 4, EmiLee Brown 3, Megan Cassavaugh 2, and Elizabeth Brown, Morgan Beagle, and Kara Staton 1.
No comments:
Post a Comment