If you want to watch an exciting, nail biting, heart racing, on the edge of your seat, crowd roaring, feet stomping, hand clapping, fans screaming, heck of a game... come to any Lake Highlands versus Richardson girls basketball games.
Talk about exciting!
We got in a bind after losing to
Berkner and we knew we had to win against Richardson in order to stay in 2
nd place alone. The scenario going into the game was if we lost, we would be tied with Richardson for 2
nd place. If Richardson won, we would both have four losses. If we won, we would have three losses and they would have five losses. Obviously, we had to win!
I knew in my heart that somehow, some way, we would pull it off because it was senior night for five very special ladies: Chasity Dodson,
Jani Jones, Alex Williams, Britney Thompson, and
Mkari Warmsley. I knew we would win for them, for their special night, and to stay in second as we are seeded for the play-offs soon.
The Lady Wildcats did just that...
We won the first quarter 10-6 (+4)
We lost the second quarter 9-15 (-6)
We lost the third 9-10 (-1)
We won the fourth 12-9 (+3)
With about 30 seconds on the clock we began to stall and keep the ball on our end of the floor. We called a time out with about 15 seconds left and decided how we would score to defeat Richardson. We were going to feed
Jani the ball at the high post area for a high percentage shot. However, Richardson knew our intentions to get the ball to
Jani and said they were not going down that easy. As Sam dribbled down to get a good angle for her pass to
Jani with 8 seconds left, Richardson swarmed
Jani with a double team. Sam knew she was the next in line to shoot. She dribbled to the corner and shot a great shot from the short corner while one of the Richardson defenders went for the block. The ball hit the rim as time expired and bounced out.
The game was tied at 40. We were headed into overtime! I told the girls that we wanted to make sure that we used the entire clock for our shot or possibly two shots if we got an offensive board. However, we wanted to make sure that Richardson did not have time to get a shot off if they got a defensive board. The girls executed the game plan perfectly. We did miss the shot, but I told the girls, "if we go into overtime, we go into overtime... that is fine, we have the momentum right now."
As overtime started we had four players with four fouls:
Jani Jones, Alex Williams, Chasity Dodson and
Tierra Scott. The three seniors had gotten into foul trouble early and had only played about half of the game.
Tierra had gotten her fouls late in the game and they were because she was hustling and working hard on defense. With four of our top players in foul trouble, I had to devise a plan to keep the ball in our hands as much as possible in overtime. I decided to start
Jani, Sam,
Tierra, Hannah and Alex. I know three of these players had four fouls, but Chasity's ankle was killing her and
Kosi could not go back in after the half because her knee popped out of place. I told the girls they could NOT FOUL because we all had a lot of fouls and we only had a few subs including Bridget and Trish. The girls realized they had to play poised and as a team to defeat Richardson, and stay out of foul trouble.
I knew that someone would step up and take the role as the leader for our team and I wanted to see which one wanted to surface this game. Thinking it would be a senior, I was shocked when Sam grabbed my attention as she knocked down a huge three in overtime with a LOT of pressure from Richardson's tight man-to-man defense. When I saw the look in Sam's eyes as she shot the three, I knew she was going to make the game winning shot when it came down to the buzzer like she did the first time we met Richardson.
There is a look that any ex-athlete knows and when you see it in one of your athletes' faces, you know what they feel, you know what they are capable of, and you know they have made their mind up that they are REFUSING to LOSE. I saw that look that has been etched on my face many times in Sam's eyes as she shot that three.
The best players for Richardson scored field goals, and one of their players made 2 of 2 free throws.
Jani drove in and hit a nice jumper inside. Trish got fouled on a put back and made one of two free throws, and with Sam's three, it was tied again 46 all as they clock ran down. As Richardson got the ball with about 30 seconds left, they went into their stall game.
Tierra Scott pressured their guards and created a turnover. We got the ball back and when we missed a shot, Richardson drove down the floor and began to stall.
Tierra again pressured the ball and the Richardson player stepped out of bounds.
As we got the ball back there was five seconds on the clock. I decided to spread Richardson's tight defense and throw them off as we lined up horizontally across the gym floor. Hannah screened down for
Jani who flashed up for the ball. Sam sprinted in after inbounding the ball and Trish was on the ball side block to start with, Hannah filled the other block, and
Jani began to drive as
Tierra sprinted as the trailer.
Jani was going to be the first option because she has led our team in scoring. However,
Jani realized that Richardson was double teaming her again and one Richardson player even looked to take a charge as
Jani went up.
Jani noticed the girl about to flop and passed off to Sam as she filled the left guard spot. Sam caught the ball and shot the same shot that we ended regulation with on the opposite side of the floor. Richardson's same shot blocker went up to block Sam's shot to the wall, but this time she caught Sam's hands and Sam took the hit for her team. As the foul was called, Sam was off to the free throw line to shoot two. I called Sam to me before she shot and said, "Sam, you only have to make one." When I saw the look on Sam's face again, I couldn't help but smile. I knew they were both going in when she walked back to the line. Sam had missed the last three free throws in the fourth quarter before these two free throws, and before that made five for five in the 3rd quarter and beginning of the fourth.
I knew she had missed the last three before these two, but I saw that look in her eyes and had no doubt in my mind that she was going to make these two.
Sam shot the first one... SWISH! Nothing but net! (Hannah told me the next day that after Sam made the first one she just starting grinning and was grinning the whole time when she shot the second one.) SWISH! Again, nothing but net! We were up by two with .26 of a second left on the clock. Richardson called a time out.
My favorite part of the whole game was when the team came in for that time out. I began telling the girls how we would line up for their inbounds play and I looked at
Jani.
Jani was not paying attention to me at all and was just staring at the side of Sam's face. Sam was completely focused on me. When
Jani finally spoke up, I almost laughed... which I never do in the heat of battle.
Jani said, "Sam, I love you!" (**Note: if you do not know
Jani, I have NEVER EVER EVER heard her say she "loves" anyone - it was history in the making**) She was so happy that she could not even focus on me, what I was saying or anything besides the fact that Sam knocked down those two game winning free throws on her senior night, for her senior year, and most importantly, for our team!
As I got
Jani's focus back, we decided to put Hannah up so they could not roll the ball out and put Sam and
Tiera at half court and
Jani in the middle and Trish back.
Richardson ran a play where they threw the ball from man to man out of bounds and then tried to launch it down the floor. Our clock man accidentally started the clock when they threw it across instead of out. The official waved off the play and had the clock reset because time had expired before the ball was in play.
Richardson was furious because Hannah had guarded the ball and tried to make it difficult for them to make a pass. When they passed across she sprinted to the other passer and ran into one of their girls. Both girls were moving and ran into each other, so it was a no call.
However, if the Richardson girl would have been set, it would have been a foul on Hannah. Richardson thought she was set and was upset that Hannah was not called for the foul. The official said the clock ran out before the two made contact. I was not sure if he was right, but I knew both girls were in motion. After watching the film, he was right. The time expired first before the contact was made. The call was right and thank goodness we did not want to go into double overtime. The clock was reset with .33 of a second left because they could not get it to stop exactly on .26. Richardson inbounded it and the time expired as the ball touched the hands of one of their players.
Our student section and JV players sprinted out on the floor to meet the Varsity girls for a celebration! We had defeated a very talented team on our home floor to keep our second place title!
Varsity Standouts:
Sam Couch - 13 points, 8 of 12 free throws, game winning free throws, 3 rebounds, 3 steals
Jani Jones - 12 points, 2 of 3 free throws, 8 rebounds
Tierra Scott - 11 points, 3 of 4 free throws, 8 steals!!!!, 2 rebounds
Trish Jones - 5 points, 6 rebounds
Hannah Wedding - 5 points, 2 rebounds
