A late third quarter drive by Kami Gibson, blowing past four Winston defenders, sparked North Harrison as they went on to break open a tight game in the fourth and pull away for the 44-29 win at the HDC Tournament. The win gave them the third place trophy. After dropping a four point heartbreaker to Tri-County, their second close loss this year at the Tri-County gym, they managed to avenge their Winston loss, in which the Redbirds used a last second three to beat the Shamrocks in Winston back in January. Emma Craig went beast mode in the win, getting 18 points and 17 boards; Jayliegh Robins added 12 points.
The Shamrocks have been playing well defensively during their recent stretch. But they have been struggling to score. They have finally been showing signs of coming out of their scoring slump, getting 44 in Friday’s win after getting 47 in the Grundy County win.
North Harrison struggled with missed free throws in the first quarter as they missed three from the line. A pair of inside shots and a free throw from Emma Craig and Kami Gibson was offset by a pair of Winston 3-pointers in a defensive struggle before Emma Craig converted a 3-point play after getting a pass from Erin Virtue in the high post to make it 8-6 after one.
Jayliegh Robins got on the board in the second on a free throw; Emma Craig then threw a wraparound pass to her to make it 11-6. Winston hung around thanks to making a couple of shots behind the arc; Teagan Caldwell’s triple cut it to 15-12. But then one of the red shirts took her eyes off Erin Virtue, who slipped to the other end of the lane and got a pass from Trendi Johnson to make it 17-12 at the half. Winston had a pair of tough luck plays; a double dribble wiped out a chance to tie it at 11 early in the period, and a putback try that would have cut it to 17-14 was wiped out by the buzzer on a close call.
Winston continued to hang around in the third quarter thanks to North Harrison shooting 2 for 6 from the line. Winston, after playing a sagging man to man in the first half, came out pressuring North Harrison; they jumped some passes. Offensively, they were slashing to the rim a lot more. Finally, they got it tied up at 23 before Jayliegh Robins’ putback put North Harrison back in front 25-23 with 30 seconds left in the third.
Winston took a quick shot but corralled the ball in the corner and called timeout to set up a last second shot to tie. But instead of holding it for the last shot, they threw up a 3-pointer that missed, and North Harrison got the board. They held it for the last shot, Kami Gibson blew past four defenders, and instead of the game tied or Winston up 1, North Harrison was up 27-23 after three.
There were three factors that allowed North Harrison to pull away instead of let Winston hang around and win it in the end in addition to Kami’s play at the end of the third. First, both Jayliegh Robins and Emma Craig had big quarters for the Shamrocks. Secondly, they got in the bonus at the start of the fourth. Thirdly of all, they got to the line and made their free throws, shooting 7 for 10 in the period.
Winston kept it between 4 and 6 for the first few minutes of the fourth, but then Jayliegh Robins’ steal and drive with 5:06 left opened the floodgates and made it 33-27. Kami Gibson hit Emma Craig inside, Emma Craig hit two free throws after securing an offensive board, and Jayliegh Robins hit a free throw to make it 38-27.
Even Robins’ missed free throw didn’t matter as Emma Craig got the offensive board and the possession continued. Camden Castleberry hit Jayliegh Robins backdoor, and then Emma Craig hit two free throws and added a putback for the dagger. Defensively, North Harrison held Winston scoreless for a five minute stretch until the game was already decided.
Emma Craig had 18 points for the Shamrocks. Jayliegh Robins had 12, Kami Gibson 7, Erin Virtue 4, Trendi Johnson 2, and Camden Castleberry 1. North Harrison shot 13 for 25 from the line.
Emma Craig had 17 boards. Jayliegh Robins had 3, Trendi Johnson and Halle Morgan 2 each, and Kami Gibson, Camden Castleberry, and Erin Virtue 1 each.
Emma Craig had 4 assists. Kami Gibson had 3, Trendi Johnson, Jayliegh Robins, and Camden Castleberry 2 each, and Halle Morgan and Erin Virtue 1 each.
Jayliegh Robins had 9 tips. Emma Craig had 4, Trendi Johnson and Kami Gibson 2 each, and Halle Morgan and Camden Castleberry 1 each.
Jayliegh Robins had 4 steals and Kami Gibson 3.
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