GRANBURY — Playoffs.
The postseason adds a flavor of intensity to any game. That flavor exploded when the Poolville Lady Monarchs recovered the ball with 1:09 to go in regulation tied 46-46 with the Hubbard Lady Jags. After running the clock down to 12 seconds, the Lady Monarchs tried to run a play to get an open look.
The result was a deflected desperation shot and with it, the hopes of claiming Poolville’s first bi-district banner in 30 years, as the Lady Monarchs lost in overtime 56-49 to the Lady Jags.
“We knew [Rayven] Cornish was guarding Lacy [Meeker] and she had four fouls,” said Poolville head coach J.D. Meeker. “We also knew they were not going to give her the jump shot. It was just a play we call 5-out, but we run the baseline. We were going to get Lacy the ball in the corner and then Allison Hines was going to come from the other corner. We knew Cornish was not going to take the charge and she could not have stopped Lacy from driving by her, but Allison’s girl could have and if she would have, Lacy would have dumped it to Allison, then we would have gotten the bucket and won the game. That is what I was thinking, take the last shot and get the lay-up. For whatever reason, we just had a hard time tonight.
“They gave a great effort and I am proud of them for not giving up when we were down by seven in the third period. We had a good play set up, but we had a lot of things set up tonight that did not work out — free-throws being one of them.”
Free-throw shooting, especially late in the game, was detrimental to Poolville’s chances of winning. The Lady Monarchs were 15-of-34 from the free-throw line, but were 7-of-16 from the charity stripe in the fourth period and in overtime.
While Poolville struggled from the line, Hubbard excelled, hitting 18-of-24 free-throws, including 11-of-13 in the final two stanzas.
Hubbard’s Africia Lang led all scorers with 24 points, while Iesha Simmons and Cornish both finished with 13 points.
“We were trying to go right at Cornish all night after she picked up her fourth [foul],” Meeker said. “That was the only place I wanted to go with the ball. I thought Lang did a great job. Simmons was a player we were real nervous about tonight, but I thought Tiffany Walton really locked her down. I don’t know what she scored, but it was not near her average.”
Things looked bleak for the Lady Monarchs in the third period, as they were down by seven with 6:03 to go. But with three putbacks, Poolville took its first lead since 4:04 mark of the second period with a putback by Lacy Meeker with 2: 44 to go. Hubbard took back the lead heading into the fourth period, but never had a lead larger than three until 1:01 was left in the overtime session. Even then, a free-throw by Jennifer Flowers made it 52-49 with 44 seconds to go in overtime. But the Lady Monarchs were limited offensively with both Lacy Meeker and Hines both fouling out in the extra frame. The Lady Monarchs were able to get the ball back, but Lang picked up two late steals and took them the other way for two uncontested layups with the final seconds dripping off the clock.
The loss drops Poolville’s final season total to 14-16.
“I thought they stepped up and played hard tonight,” Coach Meeker said.
The Lady Monarchs lose five seniors.
Hubbard 56, Poolville 49 (OT)
Hubbard 10 16 11 9 10 — 56
Poolville 13 9 14 10 3 — 49
HUBBARD — Africia Lang, 24; Rayven Cornish, 13; Iesha Simmons, 13; Abby Weatherby, 3; Sara Fletcher, 2; Simone Johnson, 1. Free-Throws: 18-24. 3-pointers: 0.
POOLVILLE — Lacy Meeker, 19; Allison Hines, 17; Jennifer Flowers, 9; Cassandra Goodwin, 4; Tiffany Walton, 2. Free-Throws: 15-34. 3-pointers: 3 — Flowers, Goodwin.
Sports
Hubbard brings down Poolville
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