Thursday, February 18, 2010

Lady Hornets Basketball Team Wins Dramatic Victory

On Friday, Feb. 12, the North Kansas City High School Lady Hornets basketball team defeated a tough Belton team after being down by 12 points in the first half. That set up a matchup on Monday with Raytown for the conference championship.

Earlier this year Raytown traveled to Northtown and beat the Lady Hornets by 42 points. That was the team’s only conference loss going into the championship game. Like the Lady Hornets, Raytown also had one loss on their record. Going on the road to play their opponent and winning was obviously not going to be an easy task for Northtown.

The game started, and the Hornets kept it close. Several missed free throws caused the team to be down by six points at halftime. In the second half, the girls again kept it close, but couldn't seem to turn the corner and come out ahead. At the end of the fourth quarter it was obvious to everyone that it wasn't going to be the Lady Hornet’s night. Down by 10 points with 1:58 left in the game, the girls turned the ball over, which basically sealed their fate.

Then the unthinkable happened! The Hornets stole the ball and scored (down 8), stole the ball and scored again (down 6). With 52 seconds left the team fouled Raytown. They missed their free throws. Northtown dribbled down the court and scored with 32 seconds left (down by 4). After a forced Raytown turnover, Brittany Williams drove the lane and made a basket. She also was fouled with 13 seconds left on the clock. She hit one free throw to put the Hornets down by one.

After a timeout, Raytown had the ball. The Hornets locked down on defense and forced a Raytown turnover. With 10 seconds left, Northtown got the ball back. Lexus Bradley drove to the free throw line and put up a shot that was partially blocked. Starr Santee grabbed the rebound, and with 4 seconds left, completed the most dramatic comeback victory in recent memory by hitting the game winning shot.

With the win the Lady Hornets became the second Northtown team to win the conference championship in the last 24 years. The win also brought their overall season record to 18-6.
*Submitted by: Coach Jeff Klein

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