By Quint Turner

After mounting a valiant comeback, Meadowdale’s girls basketball team was unable to hang on, losing 43-42 in the final seconds to the Shorecrest Scots Thursday night at Meadowdale.

The Lady Mavericks were down 36-23 going into the fourth quarter, The team was struggling throughout the game, unable to get rebounds on the defensive side of the court since post player Tianna Nugent is out for two weeks with a hand injury. In addition, the offense had not been sharp, shooting only 4 of 20 from three-point range and less than 50 percent at the charity stripe.

The game turned around as the offense sprung alive and the defense started to force turnovers. The Mavs took a 42-41 lead with 30.6 to play after Mackenzie Bretz hit one of two from the free throw line. The Scots came back the other way, passed down low to Onyie Chibuogwu, and she was able to hit a tough lay-in over Ndey Sonko to make it 43-42 Scots with 7.6 left. The Mavs had no timeouts and tried to go down the court, and Sonko attempted to dribble through three defenders but traveled in the process with .4 left. The Scots inbounded the ball, and that was the game.

The first quarter was incredibly low-scoring. It took three minutes before Bretz hit a lay-in for the first points of the game for either side. The big reason for the lack of scoring was defense for both teams. The Scots played a traditional man-to-man defense while the Mavs kept two players in the paint to prevent the Scots from getting easy shots; the three other players played man-to-man. It took another two minutes before Uju Chibuogwu hit a three for the first points of the game for the Scots. The Mavs went right back up when Bretz hit another lay-in while being fouled. She hit the free throw and it was 5-3 Mavs with 2:40 to play. Julianne Kossian hit a three to make it 8-3 Mavs with 25 seconds left, and that was how the quarter ended.

The Scots finally scored another field goal a minute into the second quarter. O. Chibuogwu got the ball in the paint and put up three shots in a row with the third one finally getting into the basket. The Scots dominated the boards for most of the second and third as the Mavs struggled in boxing them out and rebounding.

Kossian scored another three to put the Mavs up 11-6, and Annie Schlachter responded with a three of her own after the Scots hit a free throw to make it 11-10 MHS with 5:20 left. Schlachter answered with another three immediately after to put the Scots up 13-11, and then Kathryn Lindsey joined in the fun with a three of her own, making it 16-13 Shorecrest. Jaclyn Barhoum hit a three as well to cut the deficit to 18-16 Scots. With a minute left in the quarter, the Scots made their last three of the half when Keegan Monson drained one, giving the Scots a 22-18 lead at halftime.

Shorecrest turned the physicality up a notch in the third to earn more offensive rebounds and intimidate the Mavs, and it worked for the most part. They held Meadowdale  to just five points in the quarter while scoring 14 themselves to extend their lead. Alyssa Reuble put the Mavs on the board in the second half when she dribbled past the defense and hit a lay-in to make it 24-20 Shorecrest. Back the other way, Lindsey Shattuck drove into the paint, put up a lay-in and was fouled. The shot and free throw afterwards went in, and it was 27-20 Scots.

The physical nature of the Scots eventually angered MHS Coach Troy Parker enough that when Bretz was called for a reaching foul with 3:15 left, he yelled at the refs and was given a technical foul for it. Schlachter hit both free throws, and the Scots scored again on the possession after when O. Chibuogwu got her own rebound and put it back in.

The Scots had a 33-23 lead at that point. With 2:14 to play in the quarter, a very bizarre play occurred. U. Chibuogwu got the ball at the top of the key, and Bretz came up to challenge her. U. Chibuogwu turned from Bretz with the ball and then hit her with an elbow just as Bretz was reaching in for the ball. Both players were called for a foul simultaneously. Since the Scots were in the bonus, U. Chibuogwu was awarded a one-and-one while the elbowing foul was considered an intentional foul, and Bretz got two free throws. U. Chibuogwu was supposed to take her free throws first. But the referees let Bretz take her free throw shot first before U. Chibuogwu. Bretz made her first of two awarded free throws. Then the refs got together and decided that the shot did not count because Bretz’s shot was out of order – U. Chibougwu was supposed to take hers first by rule. The point was taken off the board.

U. Chibougwu made the first shot and missed the second. When Bretz got her chance again, she missed both. The Scots ended up with a 34-23 lead as a result of this simultaneous foul. After the Mavs inbounded the ball, O. Chibuogwu stole it away and went on a breakaway that ended with a lay-in to make it 36-23 Scots. The quarter ended that way.

The Mavs started a comeback in the fourth. They went on a 18-4 run for the first 6:40 of the quarter, and it began when Sonko spun away from the defense while in the paint and hit a lay-in. Bretz fouled out with 4:30 to play, but 12 seconds later, so too did U. Chibuogwu. When U. Chibuogwu fouled out and Sara Fjortoft went to the free throw line, she was still inside the play area when Fjortoft took her first free throw. Fjortoft missed, and Coach Parker tried to say that it didn’t count because U. Chibuogwu was still on the court and had not been substituted. The refs said the first shot counted as a miss, and then Fjortoft hit the second. That point would come back to haunt the Mavs. The paint now seemed to be more open to the Mavs, as they climbed back in. Kossian hit a third three pointer to make it 38-33 Scots, and on the next possession Reuble stole the ball away and went down the court for a lay-in to get the score to 38-35 with 3:45 to play.

A few more free throws got the score to 38-37 with 3:00 to play, but the Scots responded with a lay-in by Shattuck to increase the score to 40-37. Sonko hit two free throws a few seconds after, and then Reuble capped off the 18-4 run by dribbling through the defense and laying the ball in to make it 41-40 with 1:20 to play. With a minute left, Schlachter was fouled while shooting, and she made one of two free throws to make it 41-41. The Mavs milked almost all of the 30- second shot clock before Reuble drove to the basket and was fouled while putting up a shot with 30.6 left. She missed the first, but then the refs saw she had blood on her jersey. The Mavs had two timeouts at the time and were forced to burn one. When that timeout was over, Coach Parker must’ve seen something wrong with his team’s set up as he took his final timeout.

Bretz made the second free throw to make it 42-41, but now the Mavs had no timeouts. That would come back to haunt them when the Scots ran the game clock down to seven seconds before O. Chibuogwu hit the winning lay-in, making it 43-42. With no timeouts, the Mavs had to stampede down the court and got it to Sonko at the top of the key. She tried to dribble past three defenders with a second left, but was called for traveling, and the game was over. The Scots won 43-42.

Meadowdale falls to 3-4 (2-2 in conference). The Mavs’ next game in San Diego Dec. 27, when they are playing in tournament over the winter break. The Scots are now 3-5 (2-2 in conference), and will play a non-league game Friday night at Ingraham High School at 5:45 p.m.

Meadowdale scoring: Sara Fjortoft 1; Keely Hayes 2; Madison Parker 3; Jaclyn Barhoum 5; Mackenzie Bretz 5; Ndey Sonko 7; Julianne Kossian 9; Alyssa Reuble 10
Shorecrest scoring: Kathryn Lindsey 3; Keegan Monson 3; Bella Kemp 3; Uju Chibuogwu 5; Lindsey Shattuck 8; Annie Schlachter 9; Onyie Chibuogwu 12

Sports correspondent Quint Turner is a student at Meadowdale High School.