North Harrison’s girls survived a first-round scare from Tri-County, put up a better-than-expected fight against Princeton, and then won handily over Pattonsburg to secure third place last week in the Gilman City Tournament.
The Shamrocks were coming off a heartbreaker against Worth County, and they were locked into another tight game with Tri-County in the first round. North Harrison led for the first quarter in a period that saw a lot of ice-cold shooting. The Shamrocks led 8-7 after one, but Lily Turner’s free throws put Tri-County up to stay for a while. They were firing on all cylinders for a while, getting scoring from Dani Critten, Addison Dodds, and Allee Prescott as they built up an 18-12 lead before Jaxcynn Hansel grabbed an offensive board for North Harrison and fed Lani Briggs on the baseline at the buzzer to make it 18-14.
That play seemed to spark the Shamrocks as Jaxcynn Hansel suddenly started dishing off dimes at will in the third. Lani Briggs started off the scoring with a drive, then hit a pullup after Hansel grabbed an offensive board. Jaxcynn hit Lani, who slashed and scored again, then Jax cleaned up on a fast break to put the Shamrocks back in front 21-20.
The lead continued to grow after Hansel fed Ava Rinehart, who got to the line and hit two free throws. Hansel skipped to Hali Smith, who drove and finished. Lani hit a free throw; then, Jaxcynn rebounded the second one and found Hali Smith for two. Hansel capped off the run with two free throws, making it 30-21 at the 2:57 mark of the third.
But then Tri-County switched to a zone, chipping away, and the Shamrocks nearly melted down like they did against Worth County, with the Mustangs closing to within 30-25 by the end of the quarter.
The hacking and fouling that had hurt the Shamrocks against Worth County haunted them again as well as some rebounding lapses. Tri-County switched to a press in the fourth quarter, and panic set in. By the mid-point of the fourth quarter, the lead was gone and the Mustangs were in front 35-30.
Ava Rinehart resurrected the Shamrocks chances with a 3-pointer, and then Addison Milligan knocked one down from the high post to make it 36-35. North Harrison had to start fouling, and Alexis Neely’s free throw made it 38-35, but Lani Briggs knotted it up at 38 with 20 seconds left.
There was a heartstopping moment as Lani Briggs, not knowing the situation had changed, was rushing the ball-handler in an effort to foul and get the ball back, only for Tri-County to take timeout first with 16 seconds left. Tri-County could not get a shot off, as Gracie Young stole the ball in the paint and held it for the last few seconds to force overtime.
Lani Briggs slashed and scored, and Hali Smith added a free throw to make it 41-38, only for Addison Dodds to knot it right back up at 41 with 2:02 left. Both sides missed chances down the stretch to break the tie. Finally, Gracie Young knocked down a shot from the baseline to break the tie and stole the ball back as Tri-County was setting up a 3-pointer. Young made one of two to make it 44-41. Alexis Neely missed the tying three, and Lani Briggs secured the board to clinch the game.
In the Princeton game, the first half was back and fourth, with North Harrison taking a 21-19 lead at the half. But Princeton started taking control and led 32-26 after three before pulling away to win 45-33.
That set up a third place matchup with Pattonsburg. The Panthers were playing without Addie Iddings (flu), but it didn’t look like it would matter at first, as the rest of the cast started getting to the line at will and crashing the boards hard. Jayden Goble split two defenders and hit two free throws, Cheyenne Miller turned a steal into a free throw, Annabelle Gardner turned an offensive board into two free throws, Carly Pittsenbarger hit from the wing, and Gardner slashed and scored to put Pattonsburg up 9-5.
At that point, Pattonsburg looked like it was controlling the game; they were outrebounding the Shamrocks, with Gardner grabbing six at that point.
But all of a sudden, Hali Smith went beast mode and went totally bezerk on the boards, grabbing 22 for the night, a career high. By the end of the first quarter, the Pattonsburg lead was gone and the rebounding margin was even. Lani Briggs knotted it at 9-9 at the end of the quarter.
Pattonsburg was in a triangle and two on Lani Briggs and Ava Rinehart, but Addison Milligan started picking it apart at will. Normally a role player, she stepped up and had six in the second quarter. Jaxcynn Hansel, Lani Briggs, and Hali Smith all chipped in as the Shamrocks built up a 19-11 lead at the half.
The question was whether the Shamrocks could make the lead stand up, seeing that they gave up a 10 point lead against Worth County and nearly lost a nine point lead against Tri-County. The Shamrocks fell back into their habit of hacking and fouling in the period, with Pattonsburg getting six of its ten points from the line in the period. But North Harrison did enough to keep the lead, with Addison Milligan going backdoor after Hali Smith grabbed an offensive board and Milligan twice hitting Hansel backdoor to force them out of the triangle and two.
Carly Pittsenbarger, Annabelle Gardner, and Jayden Goble all chipped in to whittle away at the Shamrock lead, getting to within 23-18 at one point and 27-21 at another. But Ava Rinehart hit a 3-pointer as time was winding down after Addison Milligan grabbed an offensive boards and the Shamrocks led 30-21 after three.
After being bottled up for three quarters, Ava Rinehart suddenly got the hot hand in the fourth, knocking down a 3-pointer, beating the defense down the floor and getting a pass from Hali Smith, and slashing and scoring on another. The Shamrocks led by as much as 40-21 before they started running out the clock and subbing freely for the last four minutes before winning 40-24.
No comments:
Post a Comment