Wild ending gives Lady Jags overtime victory
JACKSONVILLE -- “It was crazy,” Spain Park guard Bailey Bowers said.
Crazy, indeed. Crazy that despite not leading at any point during the final three quarters, the Spain Park High School girls basketball team pulled out a 52-49 win over Gadsden City Thursday afternoon at the Class 7A Northeast Regional Tournament in Jacksonville.
With mere seconds remaining in the game, trailing by three points, Spain Park’s Claire Holt fired up her ninth 3-point attempt of the game. Just like the previous eight, it didn’t go in, but Holt followed the shot, grabbed the rebound and floated a leaner that even if it went in, wouldn’t be enough. Except the shot did go in, and somehow Holt drew a foul as the scoreboard clock hit zero.
Standing at the free throw line for what seemed like an eternity, she prepared for the biggest shot of her junior season.
“Before I shot it, I had already shot it 10 times in my mind,” she said. “I knew I could trust myself to make it.”
The Jaguars outscored Gadsden City 35-22 in the second half and overtime to get the win. In overtime, Bowers nailed a three on the first possession of the period, giving Spain Park its first lead in the game since the 2:08 mark in the first quarter. From there, the Jaguars managed to pull away before Gadsden City star Haley Troup and Tennessee-Chattanooga signee Brooke Burns hit a pair of 3-pointers to tie the game. Sarah Ashlee Barker, however, put the game away on the next possession to seal the win.
For a time, it seemed the first team to score might win -- both teams struggled to score early, but once Troup found her rhythm, she wasn’t giving it up.
The South Carolina signee took over and dropped 16 of her game-high 23 points in the first half, including a 45-footer at the halftime horn to seemingly keep all the momentum in favor of the Titans going into the break.
That momentum, however, didn’t carry over.
Spain Park held the Titans to just five points in the third quarter, and that allowed the Jaguars to get right back in the game.
“Our goal was to get the lead down to five,” Spain Park head coach Mike Chase said.
Going into the fourth quarter, Spain Park had all the momentum, but Gadsden City came out guns blazing and back-to-back 3-point baskets put the Titans back up 11 points. Chase had to call timeout and settle his girls down.
“I told them we have to battle,” he said. “We just chipped away and chipped away. That fourth quarter was amazing.”
Holt finished the game with a team-high 17 points. Bowers added 12 points and Barker finished with 11 of her own.
The win puts Spain Park one step closer to another state finals appearance, which is certainly this team’s goal.
“We have one senior [Monique Speigner] on this team, and all we want to do is win it for her,” Bowers said.
Spain Park will face Grissom in the regional final, to be held Wednesday at 9 a.m., also at Jacksonville State.