Lady Knights follow near-perfect OT blueprint to win
Keegan Uhl and the Lady Knights displayed a smothering defense and some timely shooting in crafting a nearly perfect overtime blueprint in their win over New Philadelphia.
When building a house, everyone needs a quality blueprint.
The same can be said for a basketball game, when a solid blueprint is a key to victory.
The West Holmes Lady Knights concocted a pretty strong blueprint on how to win in overtime that most teams would love to emulate.
In a game that teetered back and forth between the visiting New Philadelphia Quakers and host West Holmes Lady Knights on Thursday, Dec. 14, four quarters wasn’t enough to decide a victor.
Both teams exhibited both good and bad qualities throughout the contest, neither being able to carve out more than a six-point lead.
But then came a nearly flawless performance in the four-minute overtime period that saw the Lady Knights zoom to a 10-point lead en route to a 46-37 victory.
In the early going, West Holmes would dominate play but couldn’t pull away because Quakers forward Ellie Mason was going Michael Jordan on WHHS, scoring all eight Quakers points to keep things close.
The second period saw a 1-5 New Philadelphia team playing hard, pushing out to a 21-15 lead on the shoulders of Jazzee Barker and Cecelia Espenschied.
West Holmes head coach Lindsy Belden said her halftime speech to her team implored them to give more energy, and they listened, especially Briar Cline, who poured in eight of her game-high 14 points in the third quarter to give WHHS a 35-34 lead.
“I basically said someone is going to have to step up and make plays, and Briar really responded,” Belden said. “We were standing and watching and waiting for them to make shots, so we had to step up our effort.”
Then came a back-and-forth final period that ended in high fashion when Barker followed a missed shot with time running out with a follow-up toss that danced around the rim and fell in as the horn sounded, sending the game to overtime.
West Holmes could have gone south following such a devastating moment when victory was ripped from their grasp, but instead it fashioned an overtime effort that one could use as a hand guide on how to win in overtime games.
Defensively, the Lady Knights were simply ferocious, and at the 2:40 mark, Zalina Proper drained a huge 3-pointer, only to be answered by Mason’s and-one to tie it.
Not to be outdone, Proper went down 19 seconds later and ripped another triple to give the Lady Knights a lead they would not relinquish.
“The first half was a little rough for me,” said Proper, who had scored all of two points coming into the overtime period. “I just made sure I squared up and set my feet on those overtime threes.”
Her effort brought West Holmes to a whole new level of energy on defense, and it showed.
“We wanted to pressure the ball as much as possible to make them uncomfortable,” Proper said. “We had to keep the energy up.”
A steal by Chloe Patten helped her split a pair of free throws. Moments later Allie McMillen made a steal and was fouled on her run to the hoop, where she made two free throws.
Another McMillen steal led to a layup, and Keegan Uhl put the finishing touches on a transfixing overtime period by nailing two free throws to complete the period with the Lady Knights scoring 13 points.
Putting it in perspective, WHHS scored as many points in the four-minute overtime period as it had scored in both the second and fourth quarters combined.
“The two threes by Zalina were huge,” Belden said. “But I thought our defense was the real reason we were able to pull away. We really worked hard down the stretch. Now we have to figure out how to play like that for four quarters, and then maybe we won’t have to go into overtime.”