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Sheldon edges Bronaugh for third place
Nevada Daily Mail
BRONAUGH ---- Playing with only four players for the final two minutes of the game, the Sheldon Panthers junior high girls basketball team defeated the Bronaugh Wildcats 23-21, Thursday night in the Golden Valley Vernon County Conference tournament semifinal game.
Sheldon boys coach Tyler Judd filled in for the girls coach, Syndi Edwards, who was under the weather. However, Edwards was at the game and present on the bench.
Trailing 2-0 midway through the first quarter, Sheldon's MecKinzie McCartney banked in a 12-foot jumper, then followed that up with another jump shot, to give the Panthers a 4-2 lead.
"It's always good to see a couple of shots go in early," Judd said. "With junior high girls, confidence comes and goes. When you see shots going in, it effects their defense, too."
Wildcat guard Kaleigh Byram drained a 3-pointer from the left wing just before the first quarter horn sounded, giving her team a 5-4 lead.
Leading by a point, Panther point guard Mahalia Swink came up with a steal and dished to Brooklynn O'Conner for an easy layup, handing Sheldon an 8-5 lead. The steal was the second of the quarter for Swink.
Late in the second quarter, Byram drained her second 3-pointer of the game, this time from the right wing, slicing the Panther lead to 10-9.
O'Connor opened up the third quarter with a driving layup, putting the Panthers up 12-9. Sheldon pushed the lead to 16-11 when O'Connor found an open Swink for two points.
With both defenses playing at a high level, the Wildcats finally broke through with a Paige Wait bucket from underneath the basket, and a Braxton Million jumper that went down, which cut Sheldon's lead to 16-15 midway through the fourth quarter.
With 3:32 left to play in the game, Swink calmly knocked down a midrange jumper, giving Sheldon some breathing room with an 18-15 lead.
Shortly after Swink's clutch bucket, she fouled out of the game, picking up her fifth foul. Since Sheldon only had five players available, they were forced to play the remaining two minutes and change with only four players.
"She (Swink) was disappointed because she got a couple of cheap ones (called on her)," Judd said. "She had just made a play at the offensive end, and came down and felt she was getting in a rhythm a little bit offensively.
"And she's a team player. She felt bad for the girls and not just her."
Trailing 20-16, Bronaugh point guard Mattie Earnest's steal in the back court led to a fast break, in which she was fouled driving hard to the basket. Earnest made the first and missed the second free throw.
Earnest continued her stellar defensive play, coming up with another steal in the Panther back court. This time Earnest was slowed in transition before getting to the basket, but was fouled later in the possession and sent to the charity stripe for a 1-and-1 with 1:50 remaining in the game.
Earnest sank the first one cutting the Panther lead to 20-17, but was off target on the second.
After coming up with a defensive stop, Earnest again earned a trip to the line for a 1-and-1, where she hit the first and missed the second, making the score 20-18 with 1:31 left in the game.
Needing a stop, Bronaugh wound up committing a non-shooting foul on O'Connor. However, since the Wildcats were over the limit, O'Connor went to the line for a 1-and-1, where she knocked down both free throws, extending the Panthers lead to 22-18 with 1:20 showing on the clock.
With a chance for Bronaugh to cut into the lead, Byram connected on one of two free throws, as the Wildcats trailed 22-19 with 1:02 remaining.
With 37.7 seconds left on the clock, Bogart extended the Panther lead to 23-19 after hitting a free throw.
"Obviously, it was going to come down to free throws and we made a couple. The backboard help us," Judd said with a laugh.
With less than five seconds left to play, Wait was fouled under the basket. After hitting the first free throw to bring Bronaugh to within 23-20, Wait was instructed to miss the second, in hopes of getting the rebound and kicking out for a 3-pointer to tie the game. However, Wait's attempt to miss the free throw was unsuccessful, with the ball hitting the glass and banking in.
With 1.5 seconds left, Sheldon inbounded the ball and ran out the clock.
"We just had to hang on and take care of the ball," Judd said. "We hung on with one of our better players fouled out."
Judd said he was impressed that his team was able to pull out the victory short a player.
"Those other four girls stepped up and won the game for us," he said.
For Sheldon, O'Conner finished with 8 points.
"We had to have other people step up tonight and we did," Judd said. "Brooklynn O'Connor ----it was the best game I've ever seen her play."
Byram connected on two 3-pointers, finishing with 9 points for Bronaugh.
"Any time you win two games in a tournament, that's great," Judd said. "I was just soaking it in tonight. These girls have put in a lot of hard work all year. And it's good to see their hard wok rewarded."