The Saline Reporter
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Hornets lose thriller to Indians, 41-39
By Jerry Hinnen, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: January 10, 2008
In the end, the Saline girls' basketball team had its shot against Tecumseh. It just didn't drop.
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The Hornets' Beth Ormsby had an open look at a last-second three-point attempt that would have beaten the visiting Indians last Friday. But the shot missed just left and Saline suffered its third loss of the season, 41-39.
Despite the narrow margin of defeat, Saline head coach Jason Pickett wasn't about to pin the outcome on any single play, Ormsby's shot included.
"We got an open look coming out of the timeout. We'll take that," Pickett said, "But it's not on (Beth). It shouldn't have ever come to that. We just didn't execute our offense in the third quarter. We didn't have to play the whole fourth quarter trying to catch up."
Saline looked to be in control after a Kristen Nye basket capped an 8-0 run to start the second quarter and gave the Hornets a 17-8 lead. After three free throws from Natalie Wright, Saline still led 24-16 with 1:27 to play in the first half.
But Tecumseh would score the final four points of that second quarter and the first seven of the third, an 11-0 spurt that put the Indians in front 28-24. A Lauren Zakrasjek basket with 4:56 to play in the period stopped the bleeding and Ormsby would score with just 0.8 seconds left, but Saline would nonetheless go into the fourth quarter down 34-32.
The Hornets would only score a single Kaitlin Ward basket over the period's first five minutes, but the good news was that the Saline defense held Tecumseh without a single point in that time, and when Ward scored again with 2:57 to play, the Hornets had retaken the lead.
It didn't last long as Ward's basket with 2:06 would prove to be the final Saline points of the game. An Indian basket with 1:54 left tied the game at 39 and a free throw put the visitors ahead again, 40-39, 14 seconds later. After an exchange of turnovers, Saline's Madeline Winters drew a shooting foul with 1:15 left, but missed both ensuing free throws to keep Tecumseh in front.
The Hornets were eventually forced to foul and the Indians hit one of two with 16.4 seconds remaining. After a timeout, Saline got the ball to the open Ormsby to the left of the key for the potential game-winner, but the shot missed and Tecumseh escaped.
The loss dropped Saline to 5-3 overall and 2-3 in Southeastern Conference play.
"The first half we shot 61 percent from the field. We did some really good things, executed really well," Pickett said. "For whatever reason, we just didn't keep it going.
"We got some good looks, but we don't good looks, we want better looks," he said.
All 11 Saline players who saw the court scored, but none scored more than Ward's and Amara Karapas's six points each. Wright and Sarah Hoffman each added five points, followed by Nye and Kristy Chapman with four each, Angie Hollis, Ormsby, Zakrasjek, and Patti Vaassen with two each, and Winters with one.
Nye led the team with five rebounds.
Saline played without regular starting point guard Monica Mezger, out via injury. That opened the door for Vaassen to see increased playing time.
"She came in and gave us a lift," Pickett said. "She did a nice job."
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